Chinese lockdowns will create shocks to American supply chains (but China is the biggest loser)

Shanghai's zero-COVID lockdown continues.

What happens in China doesn’t stay in China. And for American supply chains, that is usually a good thing. American businesses have become dependent on low-cost goods coming from Chinese suppliers. But in a post-COVID world that may be entering the Second Cold War, reliance on China means that American businesses are held hostage by an autocratic regime that seems oblivious to the damage it is doing to its own economy, much less the global one. 

Since the earliest days of COVID-19, China has...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/chinese-lockdowns-will-create-shocks-to-american-supply-chains-but-china-is-the-biggest-loser

Global supply chains choke under tsunami of freight

A big container ship stacked with boxes next to the wharf with big cranes and containers stacked on land.

With global supply chains buckling under huge order volumes and a confluence of disruptive forces, shippers should prepare for 2021 to be a perpetual peak season across all transport modes, logistics experts warn.

Competition for freight space is so fierce that companies will need to pay exorbitant premiums to get on planes and vessels and apply more flexible shipping methods to avoid delays.

And the unusual move to keep factories open during the long Chinese New Year holiday means freight...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/global-supply-chains-choke-under-tsunami-of-freight