Factors that I see from the article that are driving up shopping costs/delays:
1. Unexpected problems in key canals. (Houthi attacks on the Suez route and drought on the Panama route.)
2. Possibly some market manipulation by carriers. (The article gestures in this direction but doesn't actually claim collusion to fix prices.)
3. Demand is really high. This drives the congestion in key ports that the article mentioned.
The article text doesn't emphasize factor 3 much, but the subtext of that is everywhere. And that's actually a good thing. Lots of things being shipped means lots of economic activity means lots of jobs etc etc.
tl;dr The world is complicated and sometimes multiple factors combine to make things like this flare up.
My bet: We are going to be fine. The actors in this system will adapt, especially from price signals. Supply of shipping will go up a bit, demand will go down a bit, people will find alternate routes/ports/methods for getting their goods where they want them.
1. Unexpected problems in key canals. (Houthi attacks on the Suez route and drought on the Panama route.)
2. Possibly some market manipulation by carriers. (The article gestures in this direction but doesn't actually claim collusion to fix prices.)
3. Demand is really high. This drives the congestion in key ports that the article mentioned.
The article text doesn't emphasize factor 3 much, but the subtext of that is everywhere. And that's actually a good thing. Lots of things being shipped means lots of economic activity means lots of jobs etc etc.
tl;dr The world is complicated and sometimes multiple factors combine to make things like this flare up.
My bet: We are going to be fine. The actors in this system will adapt, especially from price signals. Supply of shipping will go up a bit, demand will go down a bit, people will find alternate routes/ports/methods for getting their goods where they want them.