One of the leading sea shipping companies in the world, with several regular services to Libya, the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), announced earlier this month that prices of shipments from Far Eastern ports to various regions of the Mediterranean, including Libya, will increase.
Prices for Libya-bound 20-foot containers will rise from US$ 4,350 to US$ 4,750 and 40-foot containers from US$ 5,500 to US$ 6,300.
The new prices will kick in from April 2025 and will remain in effect until further notice.
Increased prices, and lower dinar exchange rate for Libyan?
From a Libyan perspective, the increased shipping prices will not only increase the cost of imports which are going to be passed on to consumers but will also increase the demand for Libya’s finite hard currency.
This is likely to increase the black-market foreign exchange rate of the Libyan dinar against the main hard currencies. Today, the dinar is trading at over LD 7 per US$.
