A new scapegoat appears to be created with each wave of supply shock the global economy has experienced in the past years.
At the first came shortage of shipping containers that occurred in late 2020, primarily as a result of American consumers stockpiling everything from outdoor games to office supplies.
Companies placed excessive orders for supplies of parts and goods in 2021 to prevent running out, and a string of unusual catastrophes, including the closing of the Suez Canal, contributed to the near-paralysis of the world economy.
The invasion of Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s rigorous Covid lockdowns added to the uncertainties in the first half of this year. Another possible cause of supply stress may emerge as we begin the second half of 2022: labour unrest.
That’s because after years of stagnating wages, workers want to get paid. They’re tired of seeing their incomes evaporate as inflation surges, especially those in logistics or other front-line industries that kept economies functioning during the pandemic.
Labour is getting sick in the literal sense and needing to take time off to recover. Ports in northern Europe are among the world’s most congested partly because of Covid outbreaks and sporadic cases of labor stoppages. Using the Bloomberg Terminal’s function, you can see how ship bottlenecks are widening from Antwerp, Belgium, to Hamburg, Germany, as clogged inland rail and trucking networks fail to keep pace with the flow of cargo.
Even the threat of a major port strike can cause congestion, like the queue of vessels outside the port of Savannah, Georgia. Part of the reason is tied to importers rerouting cargo from Asia to avoid any potential labor unrest at the nation’s busiest trade gateways in Los Angeles. The contract for West Coast dockworkers and their employers expired last Friday, and talks are continuing.
As of early this week, there were 31 container ships anchored in the waters off Savannah, leading to waits estimated at eight to 10 days. In the New York area, the delays stretch as long as 20 days for vessels waiting at anchor.
Perhaps the most visible signs of worker discontent appears at airports in the US and Europe, where the passenger carriers are canceling thousands of flights because of shortages of grounds crews, flight attendants and pilots. The return of a healthy summer travel season was supposed to hasten the shift back to normal, but the recovery is hitting some turbulence.
That instability may ripple to the market for air cargo, which tightened considerably over the past two years because so many grounded flights cut capacity in the cargo holds below the passenger cabins. As the Drewry Air Freight index shows, rates have come down some from their peaks, but they’re still more than double pre-pandemic levels. Next thing to watch: how air-freight rates fare when Europe’s temporary rules allowing goods to ride in vacant passenger cabins expire later this month. Plus, any strike on the US West Coast could boost demand to move goods by plane and send air cargo rates skyward again.
