Greek shipping billionaire Evangelos Marinakis has said shipowners may be better off paying transit fees to use the Strait of Hormuz than continuing to bear the mounting costs of route disruptions and lengthy detours around Africa.
Speaking at the TradeWinds Shipowners Forum in Athens, Capital Maritime Group founder Evangelos Marinakis said shipowners may be better off paying transit fees than dealing with the costs associated with the Strait of Hormuz remaining closed.
“For me, it is better to pay a fee of $100,000 or $200,000, depending on the size of the cargo or the size of the vessel, than to have all this hassle,” he said, adding that “all this money can pay for all the damage of what has happened so far”.
Better to pay a fee than have all this hassle
Marinakis, whose shipping empire includes about 185 vessels and 35 tankers, said operators have spent years paying additional costs linked to instability in the Gulf and the Red Sea.
