A.P. Moller-Maersk, the world’s second-biggest ocean shipper, told its customers to prepare for the possibility that the Red Sea crisis extends into the second half of 2024.

“Unfortunately, we don’t see any change in the Red Sea happening anytime soon,” said Charles van der Steene, the regional president for Maersk North America. “We’re advising them the longer transit routes could last through Q2 and potentially Q3. Customers will need to make sure they have the longer overall transit time built into their supply chain.”

According to CNBC, van der Steene said that Maersk has added about 6% more vessel capacity to its schedule in order to keep the flow of trade moving, further adding to the company’s operational costs.

“Our advice to our customers is specifically about building upon the uncertainty by being agile,” said van der Steene. “Customers need to have the ability to enter the North American market from different endpoints. Be it the West Coast, Gulf or the East Coast. Our preparation of services very much depends on one-to-one work with our customers to identify what is their best alternative.”

Van der Steene also explained that shippers will need to dedicate more resources to comparing the predicted costs of their supply chain to the actual costs of their supply chains.

“Many of our customers factor a cost per unit cost for their supply chain into their budgeting, which basically is what they need to make their results work,” he said. “If that fundamentally shifts and changes, it could have a pretty significant effect on their overall costs.”