OK not Panama as palindromes have it, but real panic. Humongous container ship broadside in the Suez canal is funny, but deadly serious. Suez blockage is holding up $9.6bn of goods a day Not only is the traffic stacking up both ends, but COVID has disrupted the supply chains to the point that empty containers are piling-up at the wrong ends of the routes. We don't realise just how much we depend on global trade. Not just for the latest Chinese cheap whirlygig-gizmos, but factories source their parts and materials from all over. Nuts & bolts go this way to doovery box manufacturers over there, that get put into thingamybobs by manufacturers that way, who sell to us the other way. Imagine vaccine supply chains, and Euro-argumentativeness! Even Tesla making cars in a very vertically integrated way buy; their robots from China, cobalt from Africa, nickel from New Caledonia and unobtainium from Mars if Elon Musk has his way.
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