Importers face higher shipping costs

Economic casualty: A man walks near the trade port in Mariupol, Ukraine. The Russia-Ukraine war threatens higher costs for fuel, grain, industrial metals and other raw materials used in Asian-made consumer goods headed for Europe and beyond. — AP

NEW YORK: Importers from London to Warsaw will soon face higher shipping costs, longer delays and an obstacle course of sanctions to navigate as Russia’s widening assault on Ukraine complicates the movement of cargo between Europe and Asia.

President Vladimir Putin’s invasion, and retaliatory steps designed to paralyse the Russian economy, are heaping new disruptions on supply chains that never recovered from unprecedented shocks caused by the pandemic.