The Red Sea conflict is adding 3% to overall shipping demand as it continues to pump cash into the industry almost a year after it began, a Clarksons Research executive said.

“From an economic perspective, it’s actually been a benefit, because you need more shipping requirements,” managing director Stephen Gordon said.

“It has tightened up the market, and that’s put a lot of cash into the shipping system, as have many of the other disruptive events that we’ve been tracking over the last 24 years,” he said at the Xinde Marine Forum, while also acknowledging the distress and challenges in a more political context.