New York Art Week Faces a More Fragile Shipping Network as Iran War Disrupts Logistics
As New York’s spring fairs gather momentum, the art market is contending with a less visible but consequential problem: the movement of works across borders has become harder to predict. The war in Iran has strained global logistics, especially routes tied to the Middle East, even as most galleries showing in the city this month say their shipments are still arriving on time and their plans remain largely intact.
The pressure is coming from several directions at once. Airspace closures, fewer available flights, and higher fuel costs have sharply reduced art shipments to and from the region. Robin Eckstein, regional manager for the Middle East at Hasenkamp, said the conflict has removed flexibility from the system. “What used to be flexible is now fragile,” he said.
The Strait of Hormuz, a vital passage in and out of the Persian Gulf, remains effectively closed, forcing carriers to rethink routes. Alexander Bradford, manager of global business development and sustainability at Gander & White, said sea shipping is not an option under current conditions and that flights are vulnerable to cancellations, delays, or rerouting. He added that prices continue to rise alongside oil costs.
Oil futures have stayed above $93 per barrel since reaching a multi-year high of $119.50 on March 9. The International Energy Agency has also warned that physical oil prices recently hit record highs near $150 per barrel. For logistics firms, the issue is not only transport itself, but the chain of decisions around it: routing, customs, insurance, and risk planning.
That has led to a broader shift in behavior. Eckstein said clients are booking earlier, building in more buffer time, seeking additional approvals from lenders and insurers, and planning for contingencies more aggressively than before. In some cases, he said, costs have increased by as much as 2,500%.
Even so, the impact on New York’s fairs has been uneven. Organizers at Independent and Tefaf said they have not yet seen major changes in planning. Leanne Jagtiani, director of Tefaf New York, said she does not expect collector turnout or buying activity to change. Yiwen Tang of Gene Gallery said her shipments have not faced delays or notable changes in insurance costs.
For now, Frieze, Tefaf, Independent, Nada, and 1-54 are proceeding with their New York presentations. But the logistics behind them are clearly shifting from efficiency toward resilience, and that change may prove more durable than the current disruption itself.
