A widely held theory on pandemic spending is that container imports surged because Americans bought a lot more goods when COVID prevented them from buying services. With more vaccinations and fewer hospitalizations, Americans will resume spending on services and consequently have less to spend on goods. The pandemic-induced driver of import demand will wane, spot rates will fall, and the market will return to some semblance of normality.
And yet, Americans’ spending on restaurants, air travel...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/mounting-evidence-that-container-crunch-will-persist-until-2022