Update: Middle East Conflict

Previously advised parts of the central Middle Eastern air corridor remain largely closed as war continues through the Middle East.

Tel Aviv, Damascus, Kuwait, Bahrain, Baghdad, Doha & Tehran are all affected, as Qatar Airways, Etihad and Emirates continue with embargos in place. Many planes are at this stage still locked out of returning to the Middle East and grounded at airports around the world as the situation continues to develop.

Global capacity is starting to feel the flow-on effect of the closed airspace through the Middle East, with alternative routing attempting to absorb the pressure.

Please continue to expect delays as the airfreight and seafreight routing challenges continue to evolve.

MFAT announced last week that exports to the Persian Gulf represent 3% of New Zealand's total exports. While not considered high, these are dominated by dairy into the UAE and Saudi Arabia; key markets for our whole milk powder and butter products. 22% of New Zealand's fertiliser is additionally imported from the region.

As a result of the ongoing struggles to export oil through the Strait of Hormuz, fuel prices are starting to become affected on New Zealand shores. While New Zealand doesn't directly import crude oil from the Gulf region, Asian countries which we import refined product from have high dependencies on the Middle Eastern oil supply.

We've had notice in the last few days of diesel prices expecting to jump by 40+ cents per litre; these have already increased by 20.6 cents or 11% in the last 28 days.

We expect higher Bulker (fuel) costs to follow suit as shipping lines look to recover costs associated with new routing as well as their increasing fuel costs.

If you have any questions, please reach out to the Hobbs Global Team.