What’s Causing The Container Ship Traffic Jam Clogging Up Global Trade

Around the world, some major ports are experiencing a huge influx of containers, resulting in long supply delays. Trade wars, high demand, and a pandemic have created a perfect storm for the container ship industry which is trying to stay organized in the face of a wave of market unpredictability. The Ever Given, which clogged up the super important Suez Canal back in March of 2021, was the canary in the coal mine for recent global trade slowdowns. But before this calamity, disruptions from the Covid-19 pandemic hit port after port, with the aftershocks hitting the consumer market. In 2019, 11.1 billion tons of goods were moved across the world's oceans. And according to the World Shipping Council, the liner industry moves more than $4 trillion in goods annually. These vessels depend on people to get them from A to B and the complex logistics systems that make up the global trade network. But what happens when things don't go according to plan?