26 Jan 2024 --- Attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea are intensifying and causing F&B costs to rise globally, with insurance prices soaring and delivery times lengthed as vessels circumnavigate dangerous channels. Inflation is also increasing, bringing serious concern to the industry that a COVID-19-style economic collapse could be on the horizon. Iran-backed Houthi militants began hijacking and bombing ships in the Red Sea following Israel’s invasion of Gaza, in what the group says are acts of solidarity that will continue until the conflict in Palestine ends.