From NYT, 1 November, “Drought Saps the Panama Canal, Disrupting Global Trade”:
From FreightWaves, 1 November:
The NB. bit for an Exec. Summary:
So things are not looking good for large vessels (and their owners) who were relying on that artificial shortcut from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean to get stuff in their boxes to shelves, roads, wrists etc.
I’m not unsympathetic to people waiting for things. Delays are not only annoying at Christmas, but potentially devastating to SMEs staking capital they may not have to back up an otherwise persuasive business plan promising quality goods from afar. Every day those goods remain in a box on a ship bleeds properly vulnerable bank (loan) accounts and likely the confidence of any actual or potential investors.
But here’s the thing becoming increasingly obvious:
Big stories about obstacles to the free flow of global shipping channels are not unimportant.
But neither do they necessarily explain everything. (Anecdote: the very late arrival of a parcel from Canada to South Africa months after Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal in 2021 was not actually – or likely – due to anything to do with Ever Given, even if I did fantasize about it sitting in a box that briefly stopped globalization.)
Consider waiting for a shipment due to arrive in the boat pictured below. You’ve already had to deal with a month+ delay in its ETA from when you paid for things to begin their journey and assured people who would sell those things that they could safely guarantee their imminent availability to valued customers.
Finally the boat “arrives”. Even a day earlier than expected on the second schedule.
But then it sits.
Then, while she sits, you watch two OTHER boats cruise right into the dock (APL Houston, pictured below arriving about an hour before being installed per above; and Hapag-Lloyd’s Hanover Express, which only had to sit out for a day before being ushered in for offloading).
Clearly none of these instances of queue-jumping are about water levels or climate change. They’re about who’s got the money to buy first place, and/or about which company has the best shore captain to make shit happen.