Climate risks could impair long-term viability of world’s key waterways

Climate risks could impair long-term viability of world’s key waterways

Dubai, United Arab Emirates: According to a new paper published today by Marsh, the world’s leading insurance broker and risk advisor, the future of some of the world’s most important shipping lanes – including the Suez and Panama Canals and other sea-facing port and terminal infrastructure – could be impaired from risks associated with climate change. According to Marsh, this could have implications for regional economies, global food security, and supply chains in the medium and long term.

Marsh’s paper, High seas: Enabling a climate resilient Suez Canal, which includes modelling data provided by XDI (the Cross Dependency Initiative, a leading physical climate risk analysis provider), examines how physical climate change-related risk is impacting key waterways, with the Suez Canal as a case study, and outlines methods to build resilience at a local level.

According to the research, rising physical climate risks, such as coastal inundation and extreme heat and wind events, could directly impact key shipping lanes and associated operations at ports and terminals along the routes.

The paper highlights that rising sea levels are linked to coastal inundation risk and could challenge the integrity of infrastructure and port operations along the Suez Canal due to potential disruption to the loading, unloading,