Regular readers are aware of all the ways Western Marxists have used and abused the COVID-19 pandemic to increase their power, but now the virus is set to cause a major disruption all on its own.
Since the West has long been addicted to cheap Chinese goods, any disruption in exports from that country will create major supply-and-demand issues in the U.S. and Europe.
Well, because of the spread of the new Delta variant in the country where the novel coronavirus originated, the largest shipping terminal has now been shut down.
"The world’s largest shipping port by cargo tonnage has shut down one of its key terminals following a confirmed case of Covid-19, putting further strain on the global shipping industry and disrupting supply chains," the South China Morning Post reported this week.
"The news came as container shipping rates from China and Southeast Asia to the east coast of the United States hit a record high of more than US$20,600 per 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) – the standard measure for freight container volume – according to the Freightos Baltic global container freight index," the paper added.
Chinese officials reported that a single 34-year-old dockworker at the Meishan Terminal of China’s Ningbo-Zhoushan Port tested positive for the virus even though the employee has been fully vaccinated (go figure), leading authorities to lockdown the entire port and region.
Also, according to a statement released by the local government in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, the entire area is locked down now indefinitely.
That said, "the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, which is also the world’s third-busiest port in terms of container traffic, remains open, and Meishan’s shipments can be redirected to other terminals," the SCMP added.
Now, how long the port remains open will be hard to say; the virus does not seem to want to be 'contained' whatsoever, regardless of what we do in terms of masks, lockdowns and even vaccines. Yes, it appears the Chinese finally made a superior product when they 'manufactured' COVID-19.
As for the global supply chain, Collapse.news reported last week that freight rates were already going up even as demand has been somewhat subdued in recent weeks, thanks to the massive imbalances created by Marxists and leftists who made a mess out of things all last year with extended COVID lockdowns that completely disrupted the normal financial cycle and economic system.
That said, demand will catch up and when it does, consumers are going to want their products. Already there is more money being put into the system by the U.S. Federal Reserve, with Democrats seeking to spend trillions more, literally. That will absolutely flood the economy with dollars, and many of them will flow to Europe as well in terms of trade.
The problem with a lot of liquidity in the system and not a lot of products is that it's ripe for hyper-inflation, which we're already seeing. Gasoline, food and other forms of energy are all up, as are construction costs and, as Collapse.news reports along with the SCMP, shipping and cargo prices. All of these cost pressures also contribute to massive inflation.
Throw in a bigger, long-term supply chain reduction and we're obviously headed for a monster economic 'correction.'
SMCP notes:
The average wait time for ships at the Ningbo port was around one to three days, as of Thursday, according to Akhil Nair, vice-president of global carrier management and ocean strategy at Seko Logistics.
“They will divert as many services as possible to other Ningbo terminals, but there is still the expectation that congestion will start to form,” Nair said. “The average wait time is expected to increase back to what we saw in Yantian, which was seven to nine days.”
The global supply chain, already disrupted by COVID, is about to be disrupted even further. Stock up now, while you can.
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