Interesting – and worrying – piece from the FT’s Road to Recovery alert today, which I quote verbatim.

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“Logistics manager” must be one of the least-envied jobs in the world at the moment after a torrent of news this week about supply chain bottlenecks and warnings of shortages during the festive season.

Dubai is the latest country to sound the alarm, announcing today that all imports into its international airport would be suspended for six days to clear a backlog of unprocessed cargo.

Ports remain the most visible sign of the crisis. We report today on the waiting game at operations from Los Angeles to Shanghai, with nearly 600 containers around the world stuck while they wait to be processed thanks to increased demand for consumer products, pandemic-related disruption to schedules and a shortage of dock workers.

Freight costs have rocketed. The average global price of shipping a 40-foot container is now almost $10,000 — three times higher than at the start of the year and 10 times pre-pandemic levels. Because the world has become so reliant on China for manufacturing, the current problems could last two years, according to the chair of DP World, one of the biggest container port operators.

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Source: The Financial Times