Rising transport costs reducing funds available for lifesaving aid, UNICEF Warns

The agency has raised concerns that increasing transport costs and persistent delays are making it harder to deliver essential supplies to children in need.

Nearly 100 days after the latest escalation in the Middle East, UNICEF says the consequences are being felt far beyond the region, with disruptions to global shipping and transport networks affecting humanitarian operations worldwide.

The agency has raised concerns that increasing transport costs and persistent delays are making it harder to deliver essential supplies to children in need. From vaccines and nutrition products to education materials, the cost of moving humanitarian goods has climbed sharply in recent months.

According to UNICEF, every additional dollar spent on transportation means less funding available for critical supplies. At a time when humanitarian organizations are already facing funding shortages, the situation is forcing difficult decisions about which communities can be reached first.

Delays and higher costs threaten aid deliveries across Africa and Asia

The disruption of major shipping routes has led to longer delivery times and mounting operational expenses. Maritime diversions around the Cape of Good Hope are adding between two and four weeks to shipping schedules, while congestion at ports across Africa is creating further bottlenecks.

The impact is already visible in several countries. Air freight costs for vaccines shipped from India to Ethiopia, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have risen by as much as 70 percent. Transportation costs for Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food from Kenya to Somalia, South Sudan and the DRC have increased by around 30 percent.

In Nigeria, rerouting syringes for a polio vaccination campaign aimed at protecting 12 million children added an extra US$200,000 to transportation expenses. In Mali, a 36 percent increase in international freight costs is putting pressure on budgets, creating concerns about whether enough nutrition supplies can be purchased for vulnerable children.

Afghanistan is also facing challenges. Route closures have forced nutrition supplies to travel through Georgia and across the Caspian Sea, extending delivery times by nearly two months.

Several key African ports, including Beira, Conakry, Abidjan, Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, are experiencing significant delays. Countries that rely on these trade corridors continue to feel the effects as supplies move more slowly through the system.

UNICEF expands alternative supply routes to keep aid moving

UNICEF estimates that the current disruptions could delay some critical humanitarian supplies by four to six months. For children living in crisis zones, such delays can have serious consequences, particularly when lifesaving vaccines or nutrition treatments are involved.

Despite the challenges, the agency says it is working to maintain the flow of essential goods. Alternative air, land and sea routes have been activated, procurement is being accelerated and supplier networks are being expanded.

The organization is also increasing local production. UNICEF now partners with more than 20 manufacturers of therapeutic food in countries including Ethiopia, Kenya, Haiti and Egypt. Producing supplies closer to where they are needed reduces dependence on long international shipping routes.

Together with the World Food Programme and other UN agencies, UNICEF has secured temporary commitments from major shipping companies to suspend surcharges on humanitarian cargo, generating an estimated US$2 million in savings.

Still, UNICEF warns that humanitarian agencies cannot absorb rising costs indefinitely. The organization says that when supply chains break down, children are often the first to suffer. It remains committed to delivering aid and ensuring that disruptions do not compromise the health, safety and future of millions of children around the world.