Bottlenecks rattle world economy backbone of container shipping

Bottlenecks and delays for container shipping continue to grow globally with only 50.1 percent of container vessels arriving on time in November. Over the weekend, nearly 20 container ships were waiting to offload in Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP/Ritzau Scanpix

By Brendan Murray, Bloomberg

Published: 22.12.20 at 08:38

Container shipping, the backbone of the global trading system, is showing signs of fatigue as the pandemic descends into its darkest days.

Carriers reaping the biggest profits in at least a decade are struggling to operate reliably as bottlenecks worsen around ports from southern England to Shanghai, contorting supply chains for everything from car parts to cosmetics and medical equipment.