400 million dollars is estimated to be lost for each hour that passes without trade passing through the well-known Suez Canal in Egypt, which means losses of 8 billion a day. It is estimated that around 19,000 ships cross this famous canal a year, which represents 10% of international trade.

If we look at these figures, we can quickly realize that this truly represents a crisis, since the now-famous "Evergreen" has managed to close the passage for the first time since the so-called Yom Kippur War in 1973.

At the moment, it is difficult to estimate how long the Canal will be closed, given that the ship is more than 400 meters in length and loaded with 20,000 containers, which greatly complicates the possible alternatives to be able to free the ship and end this situation.

Among other economic impacts, this situation may cause a shortage of different products in the coming weeks if the situation continues, possibly generating higher oil prices, since it is an important shipping route for crude oil that comes from the Persian Gulf. At the moment the brent has risen just over 2.50%.

Although this incident may cast doubt on the future viability of these large ships, and future alternatives to these large shipping companies, the sector does not seem to be resisting in the financial markets, given that giants such as Taiwanese Evergreen or the Norwegian Maersk are experiencing increases in today's session of 3.24% and 4.50% respectively.

If we look at the Maersk daily chart, we can see that in recent months it has followed a clear upward trend until it forms a double top in the area of ​​annual highs (green) that has led it to trade at 13,450 Norwegian kroner at its average of 18 sessions.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Source: Maersk daily chart of Admiral Markets MetaTrader 5 platform from November 26, 2019 to March 26, 2021. Taken on March 26 at 12:50 CET. Note: Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results, or future performance.

Price evolution of the last 5 years: 

• 2020: 40%
• 2019: 35%
• 2018: -26%
• 2017: -3%
• 2016: 20%