The UN refugee agency says the Middle East war has sent its freight rates soaring, hitting the delivery of aid to refugees in the wider region and Africa, AFP reports.

Shipping rates from UNHCR’s three main source countries for emergency supplies — India, Pakistan and China — have shot up by nearly 18 per cent, the agency says, while delivery delays and port congestion are also having an impact.

Every extra dollar spent on fuel and higher war-risk shipping insurance premiums is a dollar less that can be spent in the field, UNHCR adds.

“The Middle East crisis has generated far-reaching ripple effects well beyond the region, with growing consequences for global humanitarian supply chains and the delivery of aid,” spokeswoman Carlotta Wolf tells a press conference in Geneva.

The agency has rerouted sea cargo via Jordan’s Aqaba Red Sea port, and has switched to land corridors, including truck routes from Dubai across the Arabian peninsula and Turkey.

“For some shipments, costs have more than doubled, such as transport costs for relief items from UNHCR’s global stockpiles in Dubai to our Sudan and Chad operations, which have increased from around $927,000 to $1.87 million,” says Wolf.