SHIPPING has found itself in the middle of multiple geopolitical headaches in recent years.

Having been forced to reroute around the Cape of Good Hope in the face of Houthi rockets and spend thousands — maybe even millions — on compliance tools to stay the right side of Western sanctions on Russia and Iran, it must now dance around the latest directive from Türkiye.

Agents will now have to prove that neither their vessels, nor their owners, have any affiliation to Israel before they are allowed to dock at Turkish ports.

This will most likely come out in the wash. Shipping companies, including some of the big container lines, will find a way to get cargo to where it needs to be, most likely by transhipment in another eastern Mediterranean port.

But it’s yet another problem the industry will have to navigate. Don’t forget, no shipowner is responsible for what happened on October 7, or the death and destruction that has followed in Gaza, just like they were not responsible for the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

They also were not responsible for the tariffs issued by Washington, or the retaliations issued by Beijing.

Navigating this growing minefield has become a condition of business in the past 18 months, and it all costs money, whether its increased fuel around the Cape of Good Hope, or the chartering of a Japan-built vessel in anticipation of a USTR port fees proposal we’re still waiting to be finalised.

It’s true that disruption is often the shipowners’ friend. Red Sea rerouting in particular has kept the wolf from the door of several sectors, not least the container industry, where overcapacity has been nicely soaked up by the extra days at sea.

But the directive from Ankara is just another example of how the life of the average employee in shipping is becoming more difficult through no fault of their own.

It’s not shipping’s job to referee global conflicts, but once again it will have to work its way around another potential headache to keep goods on shelves and food on tables.

Joshua Minchin
Senior reporter, Lloyd’s List

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