Irish export businesses are being advised to engage with their freight carriers and look at their supply chains as disruption to shipping continues in the Red Sea.
There are growing concerns attacks by Houthi militants on commercial shipping could affect supply chains for months.
Close to 20% of global trade transits through the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
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The situation is leading to elevated spot freight rates and delays to container lead times.
Ireland's location at the edge of Europe means it is at the end of the supply chain and the limited availability of containers will be felt more acutely here.
Simon McKeever, CEO of the Irish Exporters Association, said, "We're beginning to hear from our members that looking out to February and March that spot rates are beginning to be affected."
Speaking on Morning Ireland, he said, "Right now a container costs $4,000 to ship from Shanghai to Rotterdam. Some companies are being charged up to $10,000 from February. The Covid high was $14,000 and last November it was trading down around $2,000 so we are looking at a similar kind of effect that happened during Covid."
"For our factories, they are going to see increased prices coming in, and I think we're getting back to a situation like we saw during Covid where there's going to be a scarcity of container boxes," he said.
Mr McKeever warned businesses to expect a huge increase in business costs.
