CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head><script type="text/javascript" src="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=7YQSqjSh" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/a-perfect-storm-for-container-shipping/21804500","20220121060629","https://web.archive.org/","web","https://web-static.archive.org/_static/", "1642745189"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=p7PEIJWi" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <script>window.env = {"ENV":"production"}; </script><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width"/><meta charset="utf-8"/><title>A perfect storm for container shipping | The Economist</title><link rel="shortcut icon" href="/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/ico/favicon.f1ea908894.ico" type="image/x-icon"/><link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/ico/touch-icon-120x120.f1ea908894.png"/><link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/ico/touch-icon-180x180.f1ea908894.png"/><link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="152x152" href="/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/ico/touch-icon-152x152.f1ea908894.png"/><link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="167x167" href="/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/ico/touch-icon-167x167.f1ea908894.png"/><link rel="manifest" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/site.webmanifest.json"/><link href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://cdn.design-system.economist.com/" rel="preconnect"/><link href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://cdn.design-system.economist.com/" rel="preconnect" crossorigin="anonymous"/><link href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://cdn.parsely.com/" rel="preconnect"/><meta name="theme-color" content="#E3120B"/><meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#E3120B"/><meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="/engassets/ico/tile-144.f1ea908894.png"/><meta name="application-name" content="The Economist"/><meta name="msapplication-tooltip" content="The Economist"/><link rel="canonical" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/a-perfect-storm-for-container-shipping/21804500"/><meta name="description" content="Will prolonged disruptions shift the pattern of trade? | Finance & economics"/><meta name="parsely-post-id" content="pa7kaktmebt4a6jh662anmf4bu94akeu"/><meta name="thumbnail" content="https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_fnp003.jpg"/><meta property="og:site_name" content="The Economist"/><meta property="og:title" content="A perfect storm for container shipping"/><meta property="og:type" content="Article"/><meta property="og:url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/a-perfect-storm-for-container-shipping/21804500"/><meta property="og:description" content="Will prolonged disruptions shift the pattern of trade?"/><meta property="og:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_fnp003.jpg"/><meta name="twitter:site" content="@TheEconomist"/><meta name="twitter:description" content="Will prolonged disruptions shift the pattern of trade?"/><meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/><meta name="twitter:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_fnp003.jpg"/><meta property="fb:app_id" content="193926687345108"/><meta property="fb:pages" content="6013004059,1487031108050752"/><link rel="amphtml" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://amp.economist.com/finance-and-economics/a-perfect-storm-for-container-shipping/21804500"/><script type="application/ld+json"> {"@context":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/a-perfect-storm-for-container-shipping/21804500","dateline":"","headline":"A perfect storm for container shipping","articleBody":"A GIANT SHIP wedged across the Suez canal, record-breaking shipping rates, armadas of vessels waiting outside ports, covid-induced shutdowns: container shipping has rarely been as dramatic as it has in 2021. The average cost of shipping a standard large container (a 40-foot-equivalent unit, or FEU) has surpassed $10,000, some four times higher than a year ago (see chart). The spot price for sending such a box from Shanghai to New York, which in 2019 would have been around $2,500, is now nearer $15,000. Securing a late booking on the busiest route, from China to the west coast of America, could cost $20,000.\n\nIn response, some companies are resorting to desperate measures. Peloton, a maker of pricey exercise bikes, is switching to air freight. But costs are also sky-high as capacity, half of it usually provided in the holds of passenger jets, is constrained by curbs on international flights. Home Depot and Walmart, two American retailers, have chartered ships directly. Pressing inappropriate vessels into service has proved near-calamitous. An attempt in July to carry containers on a bulk carrier, which generally carts coal or iron ore, was hastily abandoned when the load shifted, forcing a return to port. More containers are travelling across Asia by train. Some are even reportedly being trucked from China to Europe then shipped across the Atlantic to avoid clogged Chinese ports.\n\nTrains, planes and lorries can only do so much, especially when it comes to shifting goods halfway around the planet. Container ships lug around a quarter of the world’s traded goods by volume and three-fifths by value. The choice is often between paying up and suffering delays, or not importing at all. Globally 8m TEUS (20-foot-equivalent units) are in port or waiting to be unloaded, up by 10% year-on-year. At the end of August over 40 container ships were anchored off Los Angeles and Long Beach. These serve as car parks for containers, says Eleanor Hadland of Drewry, a shipping consultancy, in order to avoid clogging ports that in turn lack trains or lorries to shift goods to warehouses that are already full. The “pinch point”, she adds, “is the entire chain”.\n\nFor years container shipping kept supply chains running and globalisation humming. Shipping was “so cheap that it was almost immaterial”, says David Kerstens of Jefferies, a bank. But disruption after disruption means that the metal boxes are losing their reputation for low prices and reliability. Few experts think things will get better before early next year. The dislocations could even hasten a reordering of global trade.\nShipping is so strained in part because the industry, which usually steams from short-lived boom to sustained bust, was enjoying a rare period of sanity in the run-up to the pandemic. Stephen Gordon of Clarksons, a shipbroker, notes that by 2019 it was showing self-discipline, with the level of capacity and the order book for new ships under control. Then came covid-19. Shipping firms, expecting a collapse in trade, idled 11% of the global fleet. In fact, trade held up and shipping rates started to climb. And, flush with stimulus cash, Americans started to spend.\nIn the first seven months of 2021, cargo volumes between Asia and North America were up by 27% compared with pre-pandemic levels, according to BIMCO, a shipowners’ association. Port throughput in America was 14% higher in the second quarter of 2021 than in 2019. There has been little growth elsewhere: throughput in northern Europe is 1% lower. Yet rates on all routes have rocketed (see map), because ships have set sail to serve lucrative transpacific trade, starving others of capacity.\n\nA system stretched to its limits is subject to a “cascading effect”, says Eytan Buchman of Freightos, a digital-freight marketplace. Rerouting and rescheduling would once have mitigated the closure of part of Yantian, one of China’s biggest ports, in May and then Ningbo, another port, in August after covid-19 outbreaks. But without spare capacity, that is impossible. “All ships that can float are deployed,” remarks Soren Skou, boss of Maersk, the world’s biggest container-shipping firm. Empty containers are in all the wrong places. Port congestion puts ships out of service. The average door-to-door shipping time for ocean freight has gone from 41 days a year ago to 70 days, says Freightos.\nSome observers think normality may return after Chinese new year next February. Peter Sand of BIMCO says disruptions could even take a year to unwind. Lars Jensen of Vespucci Maritime, an advisory firm, notes that a dockers’ strike on America’s west coast in 2015 caused similar disruption, albeit only in the region. It still took six months to unwind the backlog.\nOn the demand side much depends on whether the American consumer’s appetite for buying stuff continues. Although retail sales fell in July, they are still 18% above pre-pandemic levels, points out Oxford Economics, a consultancy. But even if American consumer demand slackens, firms are set to splurge as they restock inventories depleted by the buying spree and prepare for the holiday season at the end of the year. And there are signs that demand in Europe is picking up.\nIn a sea of uncertainty, one bedrock remains. The industry, flush with profits, is reacting customarily, setting an annual record for new orders for container-ship capacity in less than eight months of this year, says Mr Sand. But with a two-to-three-year wait, this release valve will not start to operate until 2023. And the race to flood the market may not match torrents of the past. There are far fewer shipyards today: 120 compared with around 300 in 2008, when the previous record was set. And shipping, responsible for 2.7% of global carbon-dioxide emissions, is under pressure to clean up its act. Tougher regulations come into force in 2023.\nThe upshot is that the industry “will remain cyclical”, but with rates normalising at a higher level, says Maersk’s Mr Skou. Discipline in both ordering and managing capacity may prove more permanent, aided by consolidation within the industry.\nThe impact of higher shipping costs depends on the good being transported. Those hoping to import cheap and bulky things like garden furniture might be in for a long wait. Mr Buchman notes that current spot rates might add $1,000 to the price of a sofa travelling from China to America. The effects on product prices so far may have been dampened: around 60% of goods are subject to contractual arrangements with shipping rates agreed in advance and only 40% to soaring spot prices.\nBoxed in\nNonetheless, for most products, shipping costs tend to be a small percentage of the overall cost. The boss of a large global manufacturer based in Europe says the extreme costs now are “bearable”. Nor might shipping rates rise much more even if disruptions continue. CMA CGM, the third-largest container-shipping firm in the world, stunned industry watchers on September 9th when it said that it would cap spot rates for ocean freight. Hapag-Lloyd, the fifth-largest, rapidly followed suit.\nDecarbonisation costs mean rates will eventually settle at higher levels than those before the pandemic. Yet research by Maersk suggests that this may not affect customers much. Even if sustainable fuel cost three times as much as the dirty stuff, increasing per-container fuel costs to $1,200 across the Pacific, for a container loaded with 8,000 pairs of trainers, the impact on each item would be minimal.\nInstead it is the problem of reliability that may change the way firms think. “Just in time” may give way to “just in case”, says Mr Sand, as firms guard against supply shortages by building inventories far above pre-pandemic levels. Reliability and efficiency might also be hastened by the use of technology in an industry that has long resisted its implementation. As Fraser Robinson of Beacon, another digital freight forwarder, points out, supply chains can be made sturdier by using data to provide better “visibility” such as over which suppliers and shipping companies do a better or worse job of keeping to timetables and ordering goods earlier.\nThere is so far little evidence of “nearshoring”, except in the car industry, says Mr Skou. But the combination of trade war, geopolitics and covid-19 may together lead trade patterns to tilt away from China. Some Chinese firms and the companies they supply are relocating production to lower-cost countries to diversify supply chains and circumvent trade barriers. Mr Kerstens of Jefferies notes that after America under President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on China the volume of trade from China to America fell by 7% in 2019, but American imports remained stable overall as places like Vietnam and Malaysia took up the slack. Hedging against covid-19 shutdowns, particularly given China’s zero tolerance for infections, could provide another reason to move away.\nFor their part, shipping firms may be preparing for more regionalised trade. The order book is bulging for ships of 13,000-15,000 TEU, smaller than the mega-vessels that can only be handled at the biggest ports. Vietnam opened a new deepwater terminal in January, which can handle all but those largest ships.\nFinding new manufacturers is hard, however, especially for complex products. And building buffers into supply chains is costly. But conversations about deglobalising are said to be starting among some makers of low-cost clothing and commodity goods. If high costs and delays persist, some will judge that the benefits of proximity to suppliers outweigh the costs of bringing in goods made far away. With few alternatives to ships, the only choice will be to move the factories that make them. ■\nCorrection (September 13th 2021): The figures on port throughput in America and northern Europe have been corrected since publication.\nFor more expert analysis of the biggest stories in economics, business and markets, sign up to Money Talks, our weekly newsletter.","description":"Will prolonged disruptions shift the pattern of trade?","mainEntityOfPage":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/a-perfect-storm-for-container-shipping/21804500","dateCreated":"2021-09-12T17:59:56Z","datePublished":"2021-09-16T00:00:00Z","dateModified":"2021-09-16T11:50:16Z","image":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_fnp003.jpg","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","name":"The Economist","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://amp.economist.com/engassets/google-search-logo.f1ea908894.png"}},"author":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","name":"The Economist","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://amp.economist.com/engassets/google-search-logo.f1ea908894.png"}},"creator":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","name":"The Economist","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://amp.economist.com/engassets/google-search-logo.f1ea908894.png"}},"copyrightHolder":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","name":"The Economist","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://amp.economist.com/engassets/google-search-logo.f1ea908894.png"}},"copyrightYear":2021,"articleSection":"Finance & economics","thumbnailUrl":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_fnp003.jpg","keywords":["Rate","Average cost","China","United States","business enterprise","Cost price","Structural load","personal property","container ship","cost","commodity","economy, business and finance","shipbuilding","imports","epidemic","shipping service"],"inLanguage":"en","printSection":"Finance & economics","printEdition":"2021-09-18T00:00:00Z"} </script><script> ;window.NREUM||(NREUM={});NREUM.init={distributed_tracing:{enabled:true},privacy:{cookies_enabled:true}}; window.NREUM||(NREUM={}),__nr_require=function(t,e,n){function r(n){if(!e[n]){var o=e[n]={exports:{}};t[n][0].call(o.exports,function(e){var o=t[n][1][e];return r(o||e)},o,o.exports)}return e[n].exports}if("function"==typeof __nr_require)return __nr_require;for(var o=0;o<n.length;o++)r(n[o]);return r}({1:[function(t,e,n){function r(t){try{c.console&&console.log(t)}catch(e){}}var o,i=t("ee"),a=t(27),c={};try{o=localStorage.getItem("__nr_flags").split(","),console&&"function"==typeof console.log&&(c.console=!0,o.indexOf("dev")!==-1&&(c.dev=!0),o.indexOf("nr_dev")!==-1&&(c.nrDev=!0))}catch(s){}c.nrDev&&i.on("internal-error",function(t){r(t.stack)}),c.dev&&i.on("fn-err",function(t,e,n){r(n.stack)}),c.dev&&(r("NR AGENT IN DEVELOPMENT MODE"),r("flags: "+a(c,function(t,e){return t}).join(", ")))},{}],2:[function(t,e,n){function r(t,e,n,r,c){try{l?l-=1:o(c||new UncaughtException(t,e,n),!0)}catch(f){try{i("ierr",[f,s.now(),!0])}catch(d){}}return"function"==typeof u&&u.apply(this,a(arguments))}function UncaughtException(t,e,n){this.message=t||"Uncaught error with no additional information",this.sourceURL=e,this.line=n}function o(t,e){var n=e?null:s.now();i("err",[t,n])}var i=t("handle"),a=t(28),c=t("ee"),s=t("loader"),f=t("gos"),u=window.onerror,d=!1,p="nr@seenError",l=0;s.features.err=!0,t(1),window.onerror=r;try{throw new Error}catch(h){"stack"in h&&(t(13),t(12),"addEventListener"in window&&t(6),s.xhrWrappable&&t(14),d=!0)}c.on("fn-start",function(t,e,n){d&&(l+=1)}),c.on("fn-err",function(t,e,n){d&&!n[p]&&(f(n,p,function(){return!0}),this.thrown=!0,o(n))}),c.on("fn-end",function(){d&&!this.thrown&&l>0&&(l-=1)}),c.on("internal-error",function(t){i("ierr",[t,s.now(),!0])})},{}],3:[function(t,e,n){t("loader").features.ins=!0},{}],4:[function(t,e,n){function r(){_++,T=g.hash,this[u]=y.now()}function o(){_--,g.hash!==T&&i(0,!0);var t=y.now();this[h]=~~this[h]+t-this[u],this[d]=t}function i(t,e){E.emit("newURL",[""+g,e])}function a(t,e){t.on(e,function(){this[e]=y.now()})}var c="-start",s="-end",f="-body",u="fn"+c,d="fn"+s,p="cb"+c,l="cb"+s,h="jsTime",m="fetch",v="addEventListener",w=window,g=w.location,y=t("loader");if(w[v]&&y.xhrWrappable){var x=t(10),b=t(11),E=t(8),R=t(6),O=t(13),N=t(7),M=t(14),P=t(9),S=t("ee"),C=S.get("tracer");t(16),y.features.spa=!0;var T,_=0;S.on(u,r),S.on(p,r),S.on(d,o),S.on(l,o),S.buffer([u,d,"xhr-done","xhr-resolved"]),R.buffer([u]),O.buffer(["setTimeout"+s,"clearTimeout"+c,u]),M.buffer([u,"new-xhr","send-xhr"+c]),N.buffer([m+c,m+"-done",m+f+c,m+f+s]),E.buffer(["newURL"]),x.buffer([u]),b.buffer(["propagate",p,l,"executor-err","resolve"+c]),C.buffer([u,"no-"+u]),P.buffer(["new-jsonp","cb-start","jsonp-error","jsonp-end"]),a(M,"send-xhr"+c),a(S,"xhr-resolved"),a(S,"xhr-done"),a(N,m+c),a(N,m+"-done"),a(P,"new-jsonp"),a(P,"jsonp-end"),a(P,"cb-start"),E.on("pushState-end",i),E.on("replaceState-end",i),w[v]("hashchange",i,!0),w[v]("load",i,!0),w[v]("popstate",function(){i(0,_>1)},!0)}},{}],5:[function(t,e,n){function r(t){}if(window.performance&&window.performance.timing&&window.performance.getEntriesByType){var o=t("ee"),i=t("handle"),a=t(13),c=t(12),s="learResourceTimings",f="addEventListener",u="resourcetimingbufferfull",d="bstResource",p="resource",l="-start",h="-end",m="fn"+l,v="fn"+h,w="bstTimer",g="pushState",y=t("loader");y.features.stn=!0,t(8),"addEventListener"in window&&t(6);var x=NREUM.o.EV;o.on(m,function(t,e){var n=t[0];n instanceof x&&(this.bstStart=y.now())}),o.on(v,function(t,e){var n=t[0];n instanceof x&&i("bst",[n,e,this.bstStart,y.now()])}),a.on(m,function(t,e,n){this.bstStart=y.now(),this.bstType=n}),a.on(v,function(t,e){i(w,[e,this.bstStart,y.now(),this.bstType])}),c.on(m,function(){this.bstStart=y.now()}),c.on(v,function(t,e){i(w,[e,this.bstStart,y.now(),"requestAnimationFrame"])}),o.on(g+l,function(t){this.time=y.now(),this.startPath=location.pathname+location.hash}),o.on(g+h,function(t){i("bstHist",[location.pathname+location.hash,this.startPath,this.time])}),f in window.performance&&(window.performance["c"+s]?window.performance[f](u,function(t){i(d,[window.performance.getEntriesByType(p)]),window.performance["c"+s]()},!1):window.performance[f]("webkit"+u,function(t){i(d,[window.performance.getEntriesByType(p)]),window.performance["webkitC"+s]()},!1)),document[f]("scroll",r,{passive:!0}),document[f]("keypress",r,!1),document[f]("click",r,!1)}},{}],6:[function(t,e,n){function r(t){for(var e=t;e&&!e.hasOwnProperty(u);)e=Object.getPrototypeOf(e);e&&o(e)}function o(t){c.inPlace(t,[u,d],"-",i)}function i(t,e){return t[1]}var a=t("ee").get("events"),c=t("wrap-function")(a,!0),s=t("gos"),f=XMLHttpRequest,u="addEventListener",d="removeEventListener";e.exports=a,"getPrototypeOf"in Object?(r(document),r(window),r(f.prototype)):f.prototype.hasOwnProperty(u)&&(o(window),o(f.prototype)),a.on(u+"-start",function(t,e){var n=t[1],r=s(n,"nr@wrapped",function(){function t(){if("function"==typeof n.handleEvent)return n.handleEvent.apply(n,arguments)}var e={object:t,"function":n}[typeof n];return e?c(e,"fn-",null,e.name||"anonymous"):n});this.wrapped=t[1]=r}),a.on(d+"-start",function(t){t[1]=this.wrapped||t[1]})},{}],7:[function(t,e,n){function r(t,e,n){var r=t[e];"function"==typeof r&&(t[e]=function(){var t=i(arguments),e={};o.emit(n+"before-start",[t],e);var a;e[m]&&e[m].dt&&(a=e[m].dt);var c=r.apply(this,t);return o.emit(n+"start",[t,a],c),c.then(function(t){return o.emit(n+"end",[null,t],c),t},function(t){throw o.emit(n+"end",[t],c),t})})}var o=t("ee").get("fetch"),i=t(28),a=t(27);e.exports=o;var c=window,s="fetch-",f=s+"body-",u=["arrayBuffer","blob","json","text","formData"],d=c.Request,p=c.Response,l=c.fetch,h="prototype",m="nr@context";d&&p&&l&&(a(u,function(t,e){r(d[h],e,f),r(p[h],e,f)}),r(c,"fetch",s),o.on(s+"end",function(t,e){var n=this;if(e){var r=e.headers.get("content-length");null!==r&&(n.rxSize=r),o.emit(s+"done",[null,e],n)}else o.emit(s+"done",[t],n)}))},{}],8:[function(t,e,n){var r=t("ee").get("history"),o=t("wrap-function")(r);e.exports=r;var i=window.history&&window.history.constructor&&window.history.constructor.prototype,a=window.history;i&&i.pushState&&i.replaceState&&(a=i),o.inPlace(a,["pushState","replaceState"],"-")},{}],9:[function(t,e,n){function r(t){function e(){s.emit("jsonp-end",[],p),t.removeEventListener("load",e,!1),t.removeEventListener("error",n,!1)}function n(){s.emit("jsonp-error",[],p),s.emit("jsonp-end",[],p),t.removeEventListener("load",e,!1),t.removeEventListener("error",n,!1)}var r=t&&"string"==typeof t.nodeName&&"script"===t.nodeName.toLowerCase();if(r){var o="function"==typeof t.addEventListener;if(o){var a=i(t.src);if(a){var u=c(a),d="function"==typeof u.parent[u.key];if(d){var p={};f.inPlace(u.parent,[u.key],"cb-",p),t.addEventListener("load",e,!1),t.addEventListener("error",n,!1),s.emit("new-jsonp",[t.src],p)}}}}}function o(){return"addEventListener"in window}function i(t){var e=t.match(u);return e?e[1]:null}function a(t,e){var n=t.match(p),r=n[1],o=n[3];return o?a(o,e[r]):e[r]}function c(t){var e=t.match(d);return e&&e.length>=3?{key:e[2],parent:a(e[1],window)}:{key:t,parent:window}}var s=t("ee").get("jsonp"),f=t("wrap-function")(s);if(e.exports=s,o()){var u=/[?&](?:callback|cb)=([^&#]+)/,d=/(.*)\.([^.]+)/,p=/^(\w+)(\.|$)(.*)$/,l=["appendChild","insertBefore","replaceChild"];Node&&Node.prototype&&Node.prototype.appendChild?f.inPlace(Node.prototype,l,"dom-"):(f.inPlace(HTMLElement.prototype,l,"dom-"),f.inPlace(HTMLHeadElement.prototype,l,"dom-"),f.inPlace(HTMLBodyElement.prototype,l,"dom-")),s.on("dom-start",function(t){r(t[0])})}},{}],10:[function(t,e,n){var r=t("ee").get("mutation"),o=t("wrap-function")(r),i=NREUM.o.MO;e.exports=r,i&&(window.MutationObserver=function(t){return this instanceof i?new i(o(t,"fn-")):i.apply(this,arguments)},MutationObserver.prototype=i.prototype)},{}],11:[function(t,e,n){function r(t){var e=a.context(),n=c(t,"executor-",e),r=new f(n);return a.context(r).getCtx=function(){return e},a.emit("new-promise",[r,e],e),r}function o(t,e){return e}var i=t("wrap-function"),a=t("ee").get("promise"),c=i(a),s=t(27),f=NREUM.o.PR;e.exports=a,f&&(window.Promise=r,["all","race"].forEach(function(t){var e=f[t];f[t]=function(n){function r(t){return function(){a.emit("propagate",[null,!o],i),o=o||!t}}var o=!1;s(n,function(e,n){Promise.resolve(n).then(r("all"===t),r(!1))});var i=e.apply(f,arguments),c=f.resolve(i);return c}}),["resolve","reject"].forEach(function(t){var e=f[t];f[t]=function(t){var n=e.apply(f,arguments);return t!==n&&a.emit("propagate",[t,!0],n),n}}),f.prototype["catch"]=function(t){return this.then(null,t)},f.prototype=Object.create(f.prototype,{constructor:{value:r}}),s(Object.getOwnPropertyNames(f),function(t,e){try{r[e]=f[e]}catch(n){}}),a.on("executor-start",function(t){t[0]=c(t[0],"resolve-",this),t[1]=c(t[1],"resolve-",this)}),a.on("executor-err",function(t,e,n){t[1](n)}),c.inPlace(f.prototype,["then"],"then-",o),a.on("then-start",function(t,e){this.promise=e,t[0]=c(t[0],"cb-",this),t[1]=c(t[1],"cb-",this)}),a.on("then-end",function(t,e,n){this.nextPromise=n;var r=this.promise;a.emit("propagate",[r,!0],n)}),a.on("cb-end",function(t,e,n){a.emit("propagate",[n,!0],this.nextPromise)}),a.on("propagate",function(t,e,n){this.getCtx&&!e||(this.getCtx=function(){if(t instanceof Promise)var e=a.context(t);return e&&e.getCtx?e.getCtx():this})}),r.toString=function(){return""+f})},{}],12:[function(t,e,n){var r=t("ee").get("raf"),o=t("wrap-function")(r),i="equestAnimationFrame";e.exports=r,o.inPlace(window,["r"+i,"mozR"+i,"webkitR"+i,"msR"+i],"raf-"),r.on("raf-start",function(t){t[0]=o(t[0],"fn-")})},{}],13:[function(t,e,n){function r(t,e,n){t[0]=a(t[0],"fn-",null,n)}function o(t,e,n){this.method=n,this.timerDuration=isNaN(t[1])?0:+t[1],t[0]=a(t[0],"fn-",this,n)}var i=t("ee").get("timer"),a=t("wrap-function")(i),c="setTimeout",s="setInterval",f="clearTimeout",u="-start",d="-";e.exports=i,a.inPlace(window,[c,"setImmediate"],c+d),a.inPlace(window,[s],s+d),a.inPlace(window,[f,"clearImmediate"],f+d),i.on(s+u,r),i.on(c+u,o)},{}],14:[function(t,e,n){function r(t,e){d.inPlace(e,["onreadystatechange"],"fn-",c)}function o(){var t=this,e=u.context(t);t.readyState>3&&!e.resolved&&(e.resolved=!0,u.emit("xhr-resolved",[],t)),d.inPlace(t,g,"fn-",c)}function i(t){y.push(t),h&&(b?b.then(a):v?v(a):(E=-E,R.data=E))}function a(){for(var t=0;t<y.length;t++)r([],y[t]);y.length&&(y=[])}function c(t,e){return e}function s(t,e){for(var n in t)e[n]=t[n];return e}t(6);var f=t("ee"),u=f.get("xhr"),d=t("wrap-function")(u),p=NREUM.o,l=p.XHR,h=p.MO,m=p.PR,v=p.SI,w="readystatechange",g=["onload","onerror","onabort","onloadstart","onloadend","onprogress","ontimeout"],y=[];e.exports=u;var x=window.XMLHttpRequest=function(t){var e=new l(t);try{u.emit("new-xhr",[e],e),e.addEventListener(w,o,!1)}catch(n){try{u.emit("internal-error",[n])}catch(r){}}return e};if(s(l,x),x.prototype=l.prototype,d.inPlace(x.prototype,["open","send"],"-xhr-",c),u.on("send-xhr-start",function(t,e){r(t,e),i(e)}),u.on("open-xhr-start",r),h){var b=m&&m.resolve();if(!v&&!m){var E=1,R=document.createTextNode(E);new h(a).observe(R,{characterData:!0})}}else f.on("fn-end",function(t){t[0]&&t[0].type===w||a()})},{}],15:[function(t,e,n){function r(t){if(!c(t))return null;var e=window.NREUM;if(!e.loader_config)return null;var n=(e.loader_config.accountID||"").toString()||null,r=(e.loader_config.agentID||"").toString()||null,f=(e.loader_config.trustKey||"").toString()||null;if(!n||!r)return null;var h=l.generateSpanId(),m=l.generateTraceId(),v=Date.now(),w={spanId:h,traceId:m,timestamp:v};return(t.sameOrigin||s(t)&&p())&&(w.traceContextParentHeader=o(h,m),w.traceContextStateHeader=i(h,v,n,r,f)),(t.sameOrigin&&!u()||!t.sameOrigin&&s(t)&&d())&&(w.newrelicHeader=a(h,m,v,n,r,f)),w}function o(t,e){return"00-"+e+"-"+t+"-01"}function i(t,e,n,r,o){var i=0,a="",c=1,s="",f="";return o+"@nr="+i+"-"+c+"-"+n+"-"+r+"-"+t+"-"+a+"-"+s+"-"+f+"-"+e}function a(t,e,n,r,o,i){var a="btoa"in window&&"function"==typeof window.btoa;if(!a)return null;var c={v:[0,1],d:{ty:"Browser",ac:r,ap:o,id:t,tr:e,ti:n}};return i&&r!==i&&(c.d.tk=i),btoa(JSON.stringify(c))}function c(t){return f()&&s(t)}function s(t){var e=!1,n={};if("init"in NREUM&&"distributed_tracing"in NREUM.init&&(n=NREUM.init.distributed_tracing),t.sameOrigin)e=!0;else if(n.allowed_origins instanceof Array)for(var r=0;r<n.allowed_origins.length;r++){var o=h(n.allowed_origins[r]);if(t.hostname===o.hostname&&t.protocol===o.protocol&&t.port===o.port){e=!0;break}}return e}function f(){return"init"in NREUM&&"distributed_tracing"in NREUM.init&&!!NREUM.init.distributed_tracing.enabled}function u(){return"init"in NREUM&&"distributed_tracing"in NREUM.init&&!!NREUM.init.distributed_tracing.exclude_newrelic_header}function d(){return"init"in NREUM&&"distributed_tracing"in NREUM.init&&NREUM.init.distributed_tracing.cors_use_newrelic_header!==!1}function p(){return"init"in NREUM&&"distributed_tracing"in NREUM.init&&!!NREUM.init.distributed_tracing.cors_use_tracecontext_headers}var l=t(24),h=t(17);e.exports={generateTracePayload:r,shouldGenerateTrace:c}},{}],16:[function(t,e,n){function r(t){var e=this.params,n=this.metrics;if(!this.ended){this.ended=!0;for(var r=0;r<p;r++)t.removeEventListener(d[r],this.listener,!1);e.aborted||(n.duration=a.now()-this.startTime,this.loadCaptureCalled||4!==t.readyState?null==e.status&&(e.status=0):i(this,t),n.cbTime=this.cbTime,u.emit("xhr-done",[t],t),c("xhr",[e,n,this.startTime]))}}function o(t,e){var n=s(e),r=t.params;r.host=n.hostname+":"+n.port,r.pathname=n.pathname,t.parsedOrigin=s(e),t.sameOrigin=t.parsedOrigin.sameOrigin}function i(t,e){t.params.status=e.status;var n=v(e,t.lastSize);if(n&&(t.metrics.rxSize=n),t.sameOrigin){var r=e.getResponseHeader("X-NewRelic-App-Data");r&&(t.params.cat=r.split(", ").pop())}t.loadCaptureCalled=!0}var a=t("loader");if(a.xhrWrappable){var c=t("handle"),s=t(17),f=t(15).generateTracePayload,u=t("ee"),d=["load","error","abort","timeout"],p=d.length,l=t("id"),h=t(21),m=t(20),v=t(18),w=window.XMLHttpRequest;a.features.xhr=!0,t(14),t(7),u.on("new-xhr",function(t){var e=this;e.totalCbs=0,e.called=0,e.cbTime=0,e.end=r,e.ended=!1,e.xhrGuids={},e.lastSize=null,e.loadCaptureCalled=!1,t.addEventListener("load",function(n){i(e,t)},!1),h&&(h>34||h<10)||window.opera||t.addEventListener("progress",function(t){e.lastSize=t.loaded},!1)}),u.on("open-xhr-start",function(t){this.params={method:t[0]},o(this,t[1]),this.metrics={}}),u.on("open-xhr-end",function(t,e){"loader_config"in NREUM&&"xpid"in NREUM.loader_config&&this.sameOrigin&&e.setRequestHeader("X-NewRelic-ID",NREUM.loader_config.xpid);var n=f(this.parsedOrigin);if(n){var r=!1;n.newrelicHeader&&(e.setRequestHeader("newrelic",n.newrelicHeader),r=!0),n.traceContextParentHeader&&(e.setRequestHeader("traceparent",n.traceContextParentHeader),n.traceContextStateHeader&&e.setRequestHeader("tracestate",n.traceContextStateHeader),r=!0),r&&(this.dt=n)}}),u.on("send-xhr-start",function(t,e){var n=this.metrics,r=t[0],o=this;if(n&&r){var i=m(r);i&&(n.txSize=i)}this.startTime=a.now(),this.listener=function(t){try{"abort"!==t.type||o.loadCaptureCalled||(o.params.aborted=!0),("load"!==t.type||o.called===o.totalCbs&&(o.onloadCalled||"function"!=typeof e.onload))&&o.end(e)}catch(n){try{u.emit("internal-error",[n])}catch(r){}}};for(var c=0;c<p;c++)e.addEventListener(d[c],this.listener,!1)}),u.on("xhr-cb-time",function(t,e,n){this.cbTime+=t,e?this.onloadCalled=!0:this.called+=1,this.called!==this.totalCbs||!this.onloadCalled&&"function"==typeof n.onload||this.end(n)}),u.on("xhr-load-added",function(t,e){var n=""+l(t)+!!e;this.xhrGuids&&!this.xhrGuids[n]&&(this.xhrGuids[n]=!0,this.totalCbs+=1)}),u.on("xhr-load-removed",function(t,e){var n=""+l(t)+!!e;this.xhrGuids&&this.xhrGuids[n]&&(delete this.xhrGuids[n],this.totalCbs-=1)}),u.on("addEventListener-end",function(t,e){e instanceof w&&"load"===t[0]&&u.emit("xhr-load-added",[t[1],t[2]],e)}),u.on("removeEventListener-end",function(t,e){e instanceof w&&"load"===t[0]&&u.emit("xhr-load-removed",[t[1],t[2]],e)}),u.on("fn-start",function(t,e,n){e instanceof w&&("onload"===n&&(this.onload=!0),("load"===(t[0]&&t[0].type)||this.onload)&&(this.xhrCbStart=a.now()))}),u.on("fn-end",function(t,e){this.xhrCbStart&&u.emit("xhr-cb-time",[a.now()-this.xhrCbStart,this.onload,e],e)}),u.on("fetch-before-start",function(t){function e(t,e){var n=!1;return e.newrelicHeader&&(t.set("newrelic",e.newrelicHeader),n=!0),e.traceContextParentHeader&&(t.set("traceparent",e.traceContextParentHeader),e.traceContextStateHeader&&t.set("tracestate",e.traceContextStateHeader),n=!0),n}var n,r=t[1]||{};"string"==typeof t[0]?n=t[0]:t[0]&&t[0].url&&(n=t[0].url),n&&(this.parsedOrigin=s(n),this.sameOrigin=this.parsedOrigin.sameOrigin);var o=f(this.parsedOrigin);if(o&&(o.newrelicHeader||o.traceContextParentHeader))if("string"==typeof t[0]){var i={};for(var a in r)i[a]=r[a];i.headers=new Headers(r.headers||{}),e(i.headers,o)&&(this.dt=o),t.length>1?t[1]=i:t.push(i)}else t[0]&&t[0].headers&&e(t[0].headers,o)&&(this.dt=o)})}},{}],17:[function(t,e,n){var r={};e.exports=function(t){if(t in r)return r[t];var e=document.createElement("a"),n=window.location,o={};e.href=t,o.port=e.port;var i=e.href.split("://");!o.port&&i[1]&&(o.port=i[1].split("/")[0].split("@").pop().split(":")[1]),o.port&&"0"!==o.port||(o.port="https"===i[0]?"443":"80"),o.hostname=e.hostname||n.hostname,o.pathname=e.pathname,o.protocol=i[0],"/"!==o.pathname.charAt(0)&&(o.pathname="/"+o.pathname);var a=!e.protocol||":"===e.protocol||e.protocol===n.protocol,c=e.hostname===document.domain&&e.port===n.port;return o.sameOrigin=a&&(!e.hostname||c),"/"===o.pathname&&(r[t]=o),o}},{}],18:[function(t,e,n){function r(t,e){var n=t.responseType;return"json"===n&&null!==e?e:"arraybuffer"===n||"blob"===n||"json"===n?o(t.response):"text"===n||""===n||void 0===n?o(t.responseText):void 0}var o=t(20);e.exports=r},{}],19:[function(t,e,n){function r(){}function o(t,e,n){return function(){return i(t,[f.now()].concat(c(arguments)),e?null:this,n),e?void 0:this}}var i=t("handle"),a=t(27),c=t(28),s=t("ee").get("tracer"),f=t("loader"),u=NREUM;"undefined"==typeof window.newrelic&&(newrelic=u);var d=["setPageViewName","setCustomAttribute","setErrorHandler","finished","addToTrace","inlineHit","addRelease"],p="api-",l=p+"ixn-";a(d,function(t,e){u[e]=o(p+e,!0,"api")}),u.addPageAction=o(p+"addPageAction",!0),u.setCurrentRouteName=o(p+"routeName",!0),e.exports=newrelic,u.interaction=function(){return(new r).get()};var h=r.prototype={createTracer:function(t,e){var n={},r=this,o="function"==typeof e;return i(l+"tracer",[f.now(),t,n],r),function(){if(s.emit((o?"":"no-")+"fn-start",[f.now(),r,o],n),o)try{return e.apply(this,arguments)}catch(t){throw s.emit("fn-err",[arguments,this,t],n),t}finally{s.emit("fn-end",[f.now()],n)}}}};a("actionText,setName,setAttribute,save,ignore,onEnd,getContext,end,get".split(","),function(t,e){h[e]=o(l+e)}),newrelic.noticeError=function(t,e){"string"==typeof t&&(t=new Error(t)),i("err",[t,f.now(),!1,e])}},{}],20:[function(t,e,n){e.exports=function(t){if("string"==typeof t&&t.length)return t.length;if("object"==typeof t){if("undefined"!=typeof ArrayBuffer&&t instanceof ArrayBuffer&&t.byteLength)return t.byteLength;if("undefined"!=typeof Blob&&t instanceof Blob&&t.size)return t.size;if(!("undefined"!=typeof FormData&&t instanceof FormData))try{return JSON.stringify(t).length}catch(e){return}}}},{}],21:[function(t,e,n){var r=0,o=navigator.userAgent.match(/Firefox[\/\s](\d+\.\d+)/);o&&(r=+o[1]),e.exports=r},{}],22:[function(t,e,n){function r(){return c.exists&&performance.now?Math.round(performance.now()):(i=Math.max((new Date).getTime(),i))-a}function o(){return i}var i=(new Date).getTime(),a=i,c=t(29);e.exports=r,e.exports.offset=a,e.exports.getLastTimestamp=o},{}],23:[function(t,e,n){function r(t,e){var n=t.getEntries();n.forEach(function(t){"first-paint"===t.name?d("timing",["fp",Math.floor(t.startTime)]):"first-contentful-paint"===t.name&&d("timing",["fcp",Math.floor(t.startTime)])})}function o(t,e){var n=t.getEntries();n.length>0&&d("lcp",[n[n.length-1]])}function i(t){t.getEntries().forEach(function(t){t.hadRecentInput||d("cls",[t])})}function a(t){if(t instanceof h&&!v){var e=Math.round(t.timeStamp),n={type:t.type};e<=p.now()?n.fid=p.now()-e:e>p.offset&&e<=Date.now()?(e-=p.offset,n.fid=p.now()-e):e=p.now(),v=!0,d("timing",["fi",e,n])}}function c(t){d("pageHide",[p.now(),t])}if(!("init"in NREUM&&"page_view_timing"in NREUM.init&&"enabled"in NREUM.init.page_view_timing&&NREUM.init.page_view_timing.enabled===!1)){var s,f,u,d=t("handle"),p=t("loader"),l=t(26),h=NREUM.o.EV;if("PerformanceObserver"in window&&"function"==typeof window.PerformanceObserver){s=new PerformanceObserver(r);try{s.observe({entryTypes:["paint"]})}catch(m){}f=new PerformanceObserver(o);try{f.observe({entryTypes:["largest-contentful-paint"]})}catch(m){}u=new PerformanceObserver(i);try{u.observe({type:"layout-shift",buffered:!0})}catch(m){}}if("addEventListener"in document){var v=!1,w=["click","keydown","mousedown","pointerdown","touchstart"];w.forEach(function(t){document.addEventListener(t,a,!1)})}l(c)}},{}],24:[function(t,e,n){function r(){function t(){return e?15&e[n++]:16*Math.random()|0}var e=null,n=0,r=window.crypto||window.msCrypto;r&&r.getRandomValues&&(e=r.getRandomValues(new Uint8Array(31)));for(var o,i="xxxxxxxx-xxxx-4xxx-yxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx",a="",c=0;c<i.length;c++)o=i[c],"x"===o?a+=t().toString(16):"y"===o?(o=3&t()|8,a+=o.toString(16)):a+=o;return a}function o(){return a(16)}function i(){return a(32)}function a(t){function e(){return n?15&n[r++]:16*Math.random()|0}var n=null,r=0,o=window.crypto||window.msCrypto;o&&o.getRandomValues&&Uint8Array&&(n=o.getRandomValues(new Uint8Array(31)));for(var i=[],a=0;a<t;a++)i.push(e().toString(16));return i.join("")}e.exports={generateUuid:r,generateSpanId:o,generateTraceId:i}},{}],25:[function(t,e,n){function r(t,e){if(!o)return!1;if(t!==o)return!1;if(!e)return!0;if(!i)return!1;for(var n=i.split("."),r=e.split("."),a=0;a<r.length;a++)if(r[a]!==n[a])return!1;return!0}var o=null,i=null,a=/Version\/(\S+)\s+Safari/;if(navigator.userAgent){var c=navigator.userAgent,s=c.match(a);s&&c.indexOf("Chrome")===-1&&c.indexOf("Chromium")===-1&&(o="Safari",i=s[1])}e.exports={agent:o,version:i,match:r}},{}],26:[function(t,e,n){function r(t){function e(){t(a&&document[a]?document[a]:document[o]?"hidden":"visible")}"addEventListener"in document&&i&&document.addEventListener(i,e,!1)}e.exports=r;var o,i,a;"undefined"!=typeof document.hidden?(o="hidden",i="visibilitychange",a="visibilityState"):"undefined"!=typeof document.msHidden?(o="msHidden",i="msvisibilitychange"):"undefined"!=typeof document.webkitHidden&&(o="webkitHidden",i="webkitvisibilitychange",a="webkitVisibilityState")},{}],27:[function(t,e,n){function r(t,e){var n=[],r="",i=0;for(r in t)o.call(t,r)&&(n[i]=e(r,t[r]),i+=1);return n}var o=Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty;e.exports=r},{}],28:[function(t,e,n){function r(t,e,n){e||(e=0),"undefined"==typeof n&&(n=t?t.length:0);for(var r=-1,o=n-e||0,i=Array(o<0?0:o);++r<o;)i[r]=t[e+r];return i}e.exports=r},{}],29:[function(t,e,n){e.exports={exists:"undefined"!=typeof window.performance&&window.performance.timing&&"undefined"!=typeof window.performance.timing.navigationStart}},{}],ee:[function(t,e,n){function r(){}function o(t){function e(t){return t&&t instanceof r?t:t?s(t,c,i):i()}function n(n,r,o,i){if(!p.aborted||i){t&&t(n,r,o);for(var a=e(o),c=m(n),s=c.length,f=0;f<s;f++)c[f].apply(a,r);var d=u[y[n]];return d&&d.push([x,n,r,a]),a}}function l(t,e){g[t]=m(t).concat(e)}function h(t,e){var n=g[t];if(n)for(var r=0;r<n.length;r++)n[r]===e&&n.splice(r,1)}function m(t){return g[t]||[]}function v(t){return d[t]=d[t]||o(n)}function w(t,e){f(t,function(t,n){e=e||"feature",y[n]=e,e in u||(u[e]=[])})}var g={},y={},x={on:l,addEventListener:l,removeEventListener:h,emit:n,get:v,listeners:m,context:e,buffer:w,abort:a,aborted:!1};return x}function i(){return new r}function a(){(u.api||u.feature)&&(p.aborted=!0,u=p.backlog={})}var c="nr@context",s=t("gos"),f=t(27),u={},d={},p=e.exports=o();p.backlog=u},{}],gos:[function(t,e,n){function r(t,e,n){if(o.call(t,e))return t[e];var r=n();if(Object.defineProperty&&Object.keys)try{return Object.defineProperty(t,e,{value:r,writable:!0,enumerable:!1}),r}catch(i){}return t[e]=r,r}var o=Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty;e.exports=r},{}],handle:[function(t,e,n){function r(t,e,n,r){o.buffer([t],r),o.emit(t,e,n)}var o=t("ee").get("handle");e.exports=r,r.ee=o},{}],id:[function(t,e,n){function r(t){var e=typeof t;return!t||"object"!==e&&"function"!==e?-1:t===window?0:a(t,i,function(){return o++})}var o=1,i="nr@id",a=t("gos");e.exports=r},{}],loader:[function(t,e,n){function r(){if(!b++){var t=x.info=NREUM.info,e=p.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];if(setTimeout(f.abort,3e4),!(t&&t.licenseKey&&t.applicationID&&e))return f.abort();s(g,function(e,n){t[e]||(t[e]=n)});var n=a();c("mark",["onload",n+x.offset],null,"api"),c("timing",["load",n]);var r=p.createElement("script");r.src="https://"+t.agent,e.parentNode.insertBefore(r,e)}}function o(){"complete"===p.readyState&&i()}function i(){c("mark",["domContent",a()+x.offset],null,"api")}var a=t(22),c=t("handle"),s=t(27),f=t("ee"),u=t(25),d=window,p=d.document,l="addEventListener",h="attachEvent",m=d.XMLHttpRequest,v=m&&m.prototype;NREUM.o={ST:setTimeout,SI:d.setImmediate,CT:clearTimeout,XHR:m,REQ:d.Request,EV:d.Event,PR:d.Promise,MO:d.MutationObserver};var w=""+location,g={beacon:"bam.nr-data.net",errorBeacon:"bam.nr-data.net",agent:"js-agent.newrelic.com/nr-spa-1184.min.js"},y=m&&v&&v[l]&&!/CriOS/.test(navigator.userAgent),x=e.exports={offset:a.getLastTimestamp(),now:a,origin:w,features:{},xhrWrappable:y,userAgent:u};t(19),t(23),p[l]?(p[l]("DOMContentLoaded",i,!1),d[l]("load",r,!1)):(p[h]("onreadystatechange",o),d[h]("onload",r)),c("mark",["firstbyte",a.getLastTimestamp()],null,"api");var b=0},{}],"wrap-function":[function(t,e,n){function r(t){return!(t&&t instanceof Function&&t.apply&&!t[a])}var o=t("ee"),i=t(28),a="nr@original",c=Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty,s=!1;e.exports=function(t,e){function n(t,e,n,o){function nrWrapper(){var r,a,c,s;try{a=this,r=i(arguments),c="function"==typeof n?n(r,a):n||{}}catch(f){p([f,"",[r,a,o],c])}u(e+"start",[r,a,o],c);try{return s=t.apply(a,r)}catch(d){throw u(e+"err",[r,a,d],c),d}finally{u(e+"end",[r,a,s],c)}}return r(t)?t:(e||(e=""),nrWrapper[a]=t,d(t,nrWrapper),nrWrapper)}function f(t,e,o,i){o||(o="");var a,c,s,f="-"===o.charAt(0);for(s=0;s<e.length;s++)c=e[s],a=t[c],r(a)||(t[c]=n(a,f?c+o:o,i,c))}function u(n,r,o){if(!s||e){var i=s;s=!0;try{t.emit(n,r,o,e)}catch(a){p([a,n,r,o])}s=i}}function d(t,e){if(Object.defineProperty&&Object.keys)try{var n=Object.keys(t);return n.forEach(function(n){Object.defineProperty(e,n,{get:function(){return t[n]},set:function(e){return t[n]=e,e}})}),e}catch(r){p([r])}for(var o in t)c.call(t,o)&&(e[o]=t[o]);return e}function p(e){try{t.emit("internal-error",e)}catch(n){}}return t||(t=o),n.inPlace=f,n.flag=a,n}},{}]},{},["loader",2,16,5,3,4]); ;NREUM.loader_config={accountID:"2609975",trustKey:"2609975",agentID:"30111012",licenseKey:"NRJS-4c4eb29f17cb78c4f91",applicationID:"30111012"} ;NREUM.info={beacon:"bam.eu01.nr-data.net",errorBeacon:"bam.eu01.nr-data.net",licenseKey:"NRJS-4c4eb29f17cb78c4f91",applicationID:"30111012",sa:1} </script><script> window.PARSELY = window.PARSELY || { autotrack: false }; </script><script> window.tedl = window.tedl || {}; // Resize iframes on articles with interactives when they send a RESIZE message window.addEventListener('message', (event) => { if (event.data.type === 'RESIZE') { const height = parseInt(event.data.payload.height, 10); Array.prototype.forEach.call(document.getElementsByTagName('iframe'), function (element) { if (element.contentWindow === event.source) { element.style.height = height + 'px'; } }); } }, false); </script><script id="optimizely-experiment"> (function setOptimizelyExperiment() { if (window.optimizelyExperiment) { return false; } window.optimizelyExperiment = { experiments: [], create: experiment => { window.optimizelyExperiment.experiments[experiment.name] = experiment; return () => window.dispatchEvent(new Event(experiment.name)); }, list: () => window.optimizelyExperiment.experiments, get: experimentName => window.optimizelyExperiment.experiments[experimentName] || undefined, setVariation: (experimentName, isVariation) => { const experiment = window.optimizelyExperiment.get(experimentName); if (experiment) { experiment.isVariation = isVariation; window.dispatchEvent(new Event(experiment.name)); } } }; return true; })() </script><script src="/web/20220121060629js_/https://www.economist.com/optimizelyjs/19440972562.js" id="optimizely-script"></script><script src="//web.archive.org/web/20220121060629js_/https://cdn.tinypass.com/api/tinypass.min.js" id="piano-script"></script><script src="//web.archive.org/web/20220121060629js_/https://tags.tiqcdn.com/utag/teg/core/prod/utag.js" id="tealium-script"></script><meta name="next-head-count" content="42"/><link rel="preload" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/css/styles.c4652bd6.chunk.css" as="style"/><link rel="stylesheet" href="/web/20220121060629cs_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/css/styles.c4652bd6.chunk.css" data-n-g=""/><noscript data-n-css=""></noscript><script defer="" nomodule="" src="/web/20220121060629js_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/polyfills-38409c49aeb95e9aebf0.js"></script><script src="/web/20220121060629js_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/webpack-a295206544562257caa5.js" defer=""></script><script src="/web/20220121060629js_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/framework.27edac1c19143a7d7a7a.js" defer=""></script><script src="/web/20220121060629js_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/commons.9fb30fa3a8685c43fece.js" defer=""></script><script src="/web/20220121060629js_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/main-e622bcb76fe2556cce09.js" defer=""></script><script src="/web/20220121060629js_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/a00da3a2.3d3b5dcb6f10d961c444.js" defer=""></script><script src="/web/20220121060629js_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/styles.2011dc4acb147b27fc97.js" defer=""></script><script src="/web/20220121060629js_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/pages/_app-1f22d9c996a7030aaec8.js" defer=""></script><script src="/web/20220121060629js_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/4072747d.63399bbe44d506502e6f.js" defer=""></script><script src="/web/20220121060629js_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/1a0f24eb.f7b6506dfaab6dec9941.js" defer=""></script><script src="/web/20220121060629js_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/6653e76d.60740edcaaa349ed1097.js" defer=""></script><script src="/web/20220121060629js_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/chunks/pages/%5B...slug%5D-a8c79ef8ec6eb3557a91.js" defer=""></script><script src="/web/20220121060629js_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/pVBIhbGFyxOI3F_rMdBrD/_buildManifest.js" defer=""></script><script src="/web/20220121060629js_/https://www.economist.com/engassets/_next/static/pVBIhbGFyxOI3F_rMdBrD/_ssgManifest.js" defer=""></script><script async src="/web/20220121060629js_/https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/bm/cv/669835187/api.js"></script></head><body><div id="__next"><div><div class="global-layout css-0 e1efa9y50"><div id="piano-app-banner"></div><div class="advert top hidden"><div><div id="econtop-0" class="adcontainer"></div></div></div><div class="site-notifications site-notifications--top"><div class="site-notifications__wrapper"></div></div><div class="site-notifications site-notifications--inline"><div class="site-notifications__wrapper"></div></div><style data-emotion="css xwvp9w">.css-xwvp9w{background-color:var(--ds-color-london-100);position:absolute;}.css-xwvp9w,.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead{width:100%;}.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead.is-open,.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead.account-is-open,.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead.search-is-open{overflow-x:hidden;position:fixed;z-index:98;}.css-xwvp9w +div,.css-xwvp9w +div+footer{position:relative;top:6.75rem;}@media (max-width: 37.4375rem){.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead.is-open,.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead.account-is-open,.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead.search-is-open{overflow-y:scroll;}.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead.is-open{height:100%;}.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead.is-open::after{background:var(--ds-color-london-20);bottom:-50vh;content:'';height:100vh;position:fixed;width:100%;z-index:-1;}.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead +div,.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead +div+footer{top:7.25rem;}}@media (min-width: 22.5rem){.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead{margin-bottom:1rem;}.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead.is-open{height:100%;}.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead +div,.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead +div+footer{top:7.25rem;}}@media (min-width: 37.5rem){.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead{margin-bottom:0.5rem;}.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead.is-open,.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead.account-is-open,.css-xwvp9w .ds-masthead.search-is-open{height:auto;position:absolute;}.css-xwvp9w +div,.css-xwvp9w +div+footer{top:7.75rem;}}@media (min-width: 60rem){.css-xwvp9w +div,.css-xwvp9w +div+footer{top:8.5rem;}}</style><div class="styled-masthead css-xwvp9w e12sucsj1"><style data-emotion="css-global 16upv81">@media (max-width: 37.4375rem){html.masthead-is-open,body.masthead-is-open{height:100%;overflow:hidden;}body.masthead-is-open::before{background:var(--ds-color-london-20);bottom:-50vh;content:'';height:100vh;position:fixed;width:100%;z-index:1;}}</style><header data-test-id="Masthead" class="ds-masthead"><div class="ds-layout-masthead"><a href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/"><svg width="305" height="154" viewbox="0 0 305 154" role="img" id="ds-economist-logo" aria-labelledby="ds-economist-logo-title" class="ds-masthead-logo"><title id="ds-economist-logo-title">The Economist</title><path fill="#E3120B" d="M.032 153.503h304.925V.29H.032z"></path><path d="M140.895 31.914l.182 7.396-1.723.09c-.136-4.526-1.09-5.144-7.97-5.144h-1.472v25.91c0 3.579.91 4.527 4.435 4.626l.088 1.237c-3.337-.044-5.868-.044-7.474-.044-1.689 0-4.312 0-7.751.044l.088-1.237c3.534-.099 4.446-1.047 4.446-4.627v-25.91h-1.721c-7.067 0-8.022.619-8.113 5.145l-1.713-.09.17-7.396c6.45.043 11.277.102 14.515.102 3.03 0 7.751-.059 14.013-.102M143.753 64.883c3.199 0 3.63-.619 3.678-5.101V38.17c-.048-4.491-.48-5.113-3.678-5.113l-.096-1.145c4.348-.234 5.344-.382 9.27-1.09v14.693c2.527-2.723 4.584-3.82 7.404-3.82 4.672 0 7.255 2.864 7.255 8.305v9.782c.048 4.482.478 5.101 3.67 5.101l.082 1.146c-2.747-.09-4.848-.19-6.233-.19-1.346 0-3.303.1-5.927.19l.1-1.146c2.524-.377 2.766-.847 2.813-5.101V52.62c0-6.012-1.045-8.009-4.198-8.009-1.678 0-3.488 1.088-4.251 2.763-.287.574-.479 1.187-.671 1.808-.044.248-.044.43-.044.527v10.073c0 4.254.287 4.724 2.806 5.101l.103 1.146c-2.673-.09-4.64-.19-5.97-.19-1.385 0-3.489.1-6.209.19l.096-1.146M179.025 50.863c4.387-.098 5.722-.203 10.076-.674-.574-4.627-2.312-6.825-5.26-6.825-2.864 0-4.345 2.286-4.816 7.5m15.137 10.488c-2.964 3.678-5.87 5.21-9.609 5.21-6.628 0-11.115-4.87-11.115-11.99 0-7.672 4.63-12.879 11.31-12.879 3.59 0 6.173 1.331 7.938 4.153 1.191 2.009 1.521 3.387 1.566 6.827h-15.091c.2 7.158 2.817 11.258 7.18 11.258 2.57 0 4.764-1.195 7.108-3.91l.713 1.331M18.235 110.135c3.874-.099 4.878-1.155 4.878-5.127v-24.84c0-3.967-1.004-5.022-4.878-5.132l-.154-1.28 8.12.102 12.84-.162 3.38.06.21 7.68-2.118.16c-.365-4.808-1.264-5.337-8.798-5.337h-1.17l-.528.046v14.3c.996 0 1.804.056 2.282.056a38.02 38.02 0 0 0 2.437.098c4.142 0 5.097-.89 5.141-4.823h1.807c-.16 3.148-.16 4.778-.16 6.362 0 1.274 0 3.062.053 5.44h-1.7c-.208-3.793-1.06-4.538-5.034-4.585l-2.867-.06-2.012.107v11.07c0 4.502.263 4.71 4.716 4.71 5.891 0 7.643-1.324 8.164-6.367l2.12.113-1.219 8.787-4.076.057-12.879-.104-8.71.047.155-1.378M71.709 107.761c-3.017 3.122-5.417 4.34-8.906 4.34-6.983 0-11.458-5.449-11.458-13.66 0-8.57 4.726-13.937 12.356-13.937 2.01 0 4.042.37 7.177 1.22l.09 6.254-2.382.16c-.885-4.669-1.815-5.78-4.885-5.78-3.966 0-6.03 3.451-6.03 10.273 0 7.96 2.478 12.455 6.984 12.455 2.329 0 4.197-1.009 6.266-3.228l.788 1.903M83.847 98.75c.526 7.476 3.017 11.545 7.092 11.545 3.81 0 6.093-3.96 6.093-10.535 0-7.824-3.135-13.246-7.469-13.246-3.861 0-5.827 3.249-5.827 9.862 0 .795 0 1.586.111 2.375m-6.482.587v-.803c0-8.932 4.812-14.03 12.994-14.03 7.59 0 12.987 5.63 12.987 13.82 0 8.219-5.243 13.777-13.146 13.777-7.542 0-12.568-5.08-12.835-12.764M109.6 110.247c3.453 0 3.978-.69 3.978-5.657V92.4c0-4.824-.525-5.513-3.978-5.567l-.106-1.213c4.617-.266 5.684-.426 9.698-1.275l.271 4.687c3.017-3.309 5.345-4.528 8.485-4.528 5.143 0 8.048 3.338 8.048 9.227v10.86c-.048.416-.048.843-.048 1.267 0 3.385.897 4.389 4.13 4.389l.104 1.266c-3.07-.101-5.4-.21-6.937-.21-1.48 0-3.704.109-6.526.21l.093-1.266c2.729-.427 3.042-.95 3.042-5.657l.058-3.244v-4.714c0-6.657-1.22-8.79-4.571-8.79-2.07 0-3.816 1.06-4.874 2.978-.423.794-.79 2.055-.79 2.591v11.18c.052 4.707.318 5.23 3.121 5.656l.163 1.266c-2.966-.101-5.189-.21-6.671-.21-1.542 0-3.803.109-6.796.21l.106-1.266M151.208 98.75c.534 7.476 3.014 11.545 7.007 11.545 3.812 0 6.09-3.96 6.09-10.535 0-7.824-3.122-13.246-7.433-13.246-3.806 0-5.765 3.249-5.765 9.862 0 .795 0 1.586.1 2.375m-6.564.587v-.803c0-8.932 4.824-14.03 12.997-14.03 7.676 0 13.068 5.63 13.068 13.82 0 8.219-5.239 13.777-13.227 13.777-7.49 0-12.57-5.08-12.838-12.764M176.631 110.247c3.555 0 4.085-.69 4.085-5.657V92.4c0-4.824-.53-5.513-4.085-5.567l-.107-1.213c4.713-.266 5.783-.426 9.775-1.275l.237 4.687c2.979-3.254 5.313-4.528 8.435-4.528 3.6 0 5.712 1.484 7.214 4.94 3.235-3.62 5.612-4.94 8.846-4.94 4.996 0 7.793 3.388 7.793 9.227v10.86c0 .416-.053.843-.053 1.267 0 3.385.959 4.389 4.13 4.389l.115 1.266c-3.075-.101-5.403-.21-6.894-.21-1.435 0-3.614.109-6.521.21l.105-1.266c2.802-.427 3.069-.95 3.121-5.657v-7.958c0-6.554-1.152-8.79-4.445-8.79-1.957 0-3.972 1.19-4.819 2.978-.266.63-.526 1.27-.685 2.011-.054.262-.11.474-.11.58v11.18c0 4.707.318 5.23 3.121 5.656l.115 1.266c-2.807-.101-4.87-.21-6.271-.21-1.372 0-3.442.109-6.196.21l.111-1.266c2.805-.427 3.07-.95 3.115-5.657v-7.958c0-6.554-1.158-8.79-4.447-8.79-2.001 0-3.806 1.107-4.813 2.978-.426.843-.767 2.055-.767 2.591v11.18c.053 4.707.29 5.23 3.098 5.656l.106 1.266c-2.914-.101-5.052-.21-6.528-.21-1.543 0-3.814.109-6.888.21l.107-1.266M231.001 75.52a3.498 3.498 0 0 1 3.502-3.51c1.965 0 3.547 1.629 3.547 3.51 0 2.002-1.531 3.595-3.547 3.595-2.01 0-3.502-1.537-3.502-3.595m6.783 8.825v17.001l.05 3.244c0 4.966.485 5.655 4.078 5.655l.111 1.268c-3.288-.101-5.669-.209-7.307-.209-1.585 0-3.908.108-7.112.209l.1-1.268c3.496 0 3.995-.689 3.995-5.655l.049-3.244V95.79l-.049-3.388c0-4.826-.5-5.515-3.995-5.568l-.1-1.215c4.784-.315 5.889-.478 10.18-1.274M248.398 110.566l-.208-5.404 2.695-.099c1.219 4.074 2.017 4.864 4.825 4.864 2.43 0 4.024-1.266 4.024-3.168 0-1.807-1.11-3.119-4.453-5.36-1.69-1.164-2.852-1.965-3.486-2.435-1.382-1.057-2.387-2.332-2.918-3.754-.324-.796-.479-1.744-.479-2.857 0-4.719 3.292-7.849 8.261-7.849 1.851 0 2.912.158 7.112 1.164l.115 5.256-2.691.11c-.6-3.458-1.675-4.676-4.16-4.676-2.383 0-4.081 1.378-4.081 3.243 0 1.849.853 2.96 3.604 4.706 2.484 1.645 4.387 3.12 5.68 4.285 1.485 1.426 2.336 3.224 2.336 5.225 0 4.677-3.93 8.284-8.97 8.284-1.955 0-3.809-.435-7.206-1.535M270.18 86.043c4.176-.32 5.756-2.113 6.954-7.622h2.38v7.145h6.676l-.746 2.909h-5.93v12.924c0 6.42.851 7.947 4.45 7.947.844 0 1.635-.104 2.912-.47v1.53c-1.797 1.007-4.285 1.586-6.823 1.586-2.343 0-4.513-1.318-5.423-3.28-.796-1.64-1.056-3.278-1.056-6.787v-13.45h-3.394v-2.432" fill="#FFF"></path></svg><svg width="80" height="80" viewbox="0 0 80 80" class="ds-masthead-monogram" role="img" id="ds-monogram-square" aria-labelledby="ds-monogram-square-title"><title id="ds-monogram-square-title">The Economist</title><path fill="#E3120B" d="M0 79.996h80V0H0z"></path><path d="M57.703 53.28l-1.595 11.65-5.34.07-16.99-.139-11.511.07.208-1.803c5.062-.14 6.38-1.526 6.38-6.727V23.6c0-5.2-1.318-6.588-6.38-6.727l-.208-1.803 10.749.14L49.936 15l4.439.07.277 10.194-2.774.208c-.485-6.311-1.664-7.004-11.65-7.004h-1.526l-.694.069v18.862c1.318 0 2.358.07 2.983.07 1.11.07 2.15.139 3.19.139 5.547 0 6.796-1.18 6.865-6.45h2.358c-.208 4.23-.208 6.38-.208 8.46 0 1.665 0 4.023.07 7.143h-2.22c-.277-4.993-1.387-5.964-6.727-6.033l-3.744-.07-2.636.14V55.43c0 5.894.347 6.172 6.172 6.172 7.836 0 10.125-1.734 10.818-8.46l2.774.138" fill="#FFF"></path></svg></a><a class="ds-skip-to-content" href="#content">Skip to content</a><div class="ds-masthead-nav"><nav class="ds-masthead-nav-alpha"><ul><li class="ds-masthead-nav-alpha__item ds-masthead-nav-alpha__item--menu"><a class="ds-menu-disclosure" href="#" data-menu-is-open="false" aria-expanded="false" id="menu-button" data-test-id="Menu link" url="#sections" type="menu-nav"><svg viewbox="0 0 24 24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g id="icon-menu-disclosure" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><path d="M0 0h24v24H0z"></path><path class="path-foreground" d="M3 18h18v-2H3v2zm0-5h18v-2H3v2zm0-7v2h18V6H3z" fill="#0D0D0D" fill-rule="nonzero"></path></g></svg>Menu</a></li><li class="ds-masthead-nav-alpha__item ds-masthead-nav-alpha__item--weekly-edition"><a class="weekly-edition-link ds-navigation-link" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/weeklyedition"><span>Weekly edition</span></a></li><li class="ds-masthead-nav-alpha__item ds-masthead-nav-alpha__item--search"><a class="ds-navigation-disclosure--icon ds-navigation-disclosure--icon-search ds-navigation-disclosure" href="#" type="search-form">Search<svg viewbox="0 0 24 24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><path class="path-foreground" fill="#0D0D0D" fill-rule="nonzero" d="M7.41 8.59L12 13.17l4.59-4.58L18 10l-6 6-6-6z"></path><path d="M0 0h24v24H0z"></path></g></svg></a></li></ul></nav><div class="ds-masthead-nav-beta"><div class="ds-masthead-nav-beta__item ds-masthead-nav-beta__item--log-in"><a class="ds-navigation-link" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/api/auth/login"><span>Sign in</span></a></div></div></div><nav class="ds-masthead-nav-lists"><div id="menu-nav" tabindex="-1" role="presentation"></div><ul><li class="ds-navigation-list ds-navigation-list--feature"><h2 class="ds-navigation-list__header">Featured</h2><ul class=""><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/climate-change"><span>Climate change</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/coronavirus-pandemic"><span>Coronavirus</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/president-joe-biden"><span>The Biden presidency</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/future-of-american-power"><span>American power</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/1843"><span>1843 magazine</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-ahead-2022"><span>The World Ahead 2022</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/espresso"><span>Daily briefing</span></a></li></ul></li><li class="ds-navigation-list ds-navigation-list--section"><h2 class="ds-navigation-list__header">Sections</h2><ul class="ds-navigation-list-items--section"><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week"><span>The world this week</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders"><span>Leaders</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/letters"><span>Letters</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/briefing"><span>Briefing</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/united-states"><span>United States</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-americas"><span>The Americas</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/asia"><span>Asia</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/china"><span>China</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa"><span>Middle East & Africa</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/europe"><span>Europe</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/britain"><span>Britain</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/international"><span>International</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/business"><span>Business</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics"><span>Finance & economics</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology"><span>Science & technology</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/culture"><span>Culture</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail"><span>Graphic detail</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/obituary"><span>Obituary</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/special-reports"><span>Special reports</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly"><span>Technology Quarterly</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/essay"><span>Essay</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/by-invitation"><span>By Invitation</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/schools-brief"><span>Schools brief</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-ahead-2022"><span>The World Ahead 2022</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/what-if-2021"><span>What If?</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/openfuture"><span>Open Future</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains"><span>The Economist Explains</span></a></li></ul></li><li class="ds-navigation-list ds-navigation-list--more"><h2 class="ds-navigation-list__header">More</h2><ul class="ds-navigation-list-items--more"><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/newsletters/"><span>Newsletters</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/podcasts"><span>Podcasts</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/films"><span>Films</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://subscriberevents.economist.com/"><span>Subscriber events</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://apps.apple.com/us/app/the-economist/id1239397626?mt=8"><span>iOS app</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.economist.lamarr&hl=en_GB"><span>Android app</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/executiveeducation/newglobalorder/"><span>Executive courses</span></a></li></ul></li></ul></nav><nav class="ds-masthead-account-lists"><ul class="ds-masthead-account-list"><li class="ds-masthead-account-list__item"><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/api/my-account"><span>Manage my account</span></a></li><li class="ds-masthead-account-list__item"><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/api/auth/logout"><span>Sign out</span></a></li></ul></nav><div class="ds-search-form"><div id="search-form" tabindex="-1" role="presentation"></div><form action="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/search" method="get" class="ds-search-form-container"><div class="ds-form-field-layout ds-form-field-layout--adjacent"><label class="ds-form-label ds-form-label--inverse" for="masthead-search"><span>Search</span></label><div class="ds-form-field-combined-input"><input type="text" class="ds-form-input ds-form-input--inverse" id="masthead-search" name="q" placeholder=" " value=""/><button class="ds-button ds-button--secondary ds-button--inverse ds-button--icon"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24" role="img" aria-labelledby="masthead-search-icon"><title id="masthead-search-icon">Search</title><path d="M15.5 14h-.79l-.28-.27A6.471 6.471 0 0016 9.5 6.5 6.5 0 109.5 16c1.61 0 3.09-.59 4.23-1.57l.27.28v.79l5 4.99L20.49 19l-4.99-5zm-6 0C7.01 14 5 11.99 5 9.5S7.01 5 9.5 5 14 7.01 14 9.5 11.99 14 9.5 14z"></path></svg></button></div></div></form></div></div><div id="skip-to-content-target"></div></header></div><div><main role="main" id="content"><article data-test-id="Article" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Article" class="article article--print article--finance-economics"><div class="ds-layout-grid ds-layout-grid--edged layout-article-header"><script type="application/ld+json"> {"@context":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/","name":"Finance & economics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/printedition/2021-09-18","name":"Sep 18th 2021 edition"}}]} </script><div class="article__section"><strong itemprop="articleSection"><span class="article__section-headline"><a href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/">Finance & economics</a></span></strong><a class="article__section-edition" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/printedition/2021-09-18" data-test-id="Article Datetime"><span>Sep 18th 2021 edition</span></a></div><header class="article__header"><h1><span data-test-id="Article Subheadline" class="article__subheadline">Turbulent waters</span><br/><span data-test-id="Article Headline" itemprop="headline" class="article__headline">A perfect storm for container shipping</span></h1><h2 data-test-id="Article Description" itemprop="description" class="article__description">Will prolonged disruptions shift the pattern of trade?</h2></header><div data-test-id="Lead Image" class="article__lead-image"><div itemscope="" itemprop="image" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_fnp003.jpg"/><img width="1280" height="720" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_fnp003.jpg" srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/200/113/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_fnp003.jpg 200w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/300/169/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_fnp003.jpg 300w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/400/225/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_fnp003.jpg 400w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/600/338/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_fnp003.jpg 600w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/640/360/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_fnp003.jpg 640w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/800/450/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_fnp003.jpg 800w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1000/563/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_fnp003.jpg 1000w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_fnp003.jpg 1280w" sizes="(min-width: 1440px) 940px, (min-width: 1080px) 75vw, (min-width: 960px) 90vw, (min-width: 800px) 720px, 95vw" alt=""/></div></div><hr class="ds-rule layout-article-header__rule"/><div class="advert right hidden advert--right-rail"><div><div id="econright-r0" class="adcontainer"></div></div></div></div><div class="ds-layout-grid ds-layout-grid--edged layout-article-body"><div class="layout-sticky-rail"><div class="layout-sticky-rail-advert-wrapper"><div class="advert right hidden advert--right-rail advert--sticky-rail"><div><div id="econright-r1" class="adcontainer"></div></div></div></div></div><aside class="article__aside"><div class="layout-article-meta"><time itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/DateTime" datetime="2021-09-16T00:00:00Z" class="article__dateline-datetime">Sep 16th 2021</time><meta itemprop="author" content="The Economist"/></div><div class="layout-article-sharing"><ul class="ds-share-list"><li id="Facebook"><a class="ds-share-link" href="#" aria-label="Share on Facebook"><svg viewbox="-1 -1 34 34" width="32" height="32"><title>Facebook</title><g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><circle class="path-background" fill="#333" cx="16" cy="16" r="16"></circle><path class="path-foreground" d="M17.49 26v-9.123h2.95l.44-3.555h-3.39v-2.27c0-1.03.276-1.731 1.697-1.731H21V6.14A23.34 23.34 0 0 0 18.359 6c-2.614 0-4.403 1.657-4.403 4.7v2.622H11v3.555h2.956V26h3.535z" fill="#FFF" fill-rule="nonzero"></path></g></svg></a></li><li id="Twitter"><a class="ds-share-link" href="#" aria-label="Share on Twitter"><svg viewbox="-1 -1 34 34" width="32" height="32"><title>Twitter</title><g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><circle class="path-background" fill="#333" cx="16" cy="16" r="16"></circle><path class="path-foreground" d="M12.29 24c7.547 0 11.675-5.771 11.675-10.776 0-.164 0-.327-.012-.49A8.024 8.024 0 0 0 26 10.774a8.73 8.73 0 0 1-2.357.596c.857-.474 1.498-1.218 1.804-2.095a8.65 8.65 0 0 1-2.605.919c-1.272-1.248-3.293-1.554-4.93-.745-1.637.808-2.483 2.53-2.063 4.2-3.3-.153-6.373-1.592-8.457-3.958-1.09 1.73-.533 3.945 1.27 5.056a4.335 4.335 0 0 1-1.862-.474v.048c0 1.803 1.377 3.356 3.292 3.713a4.429 4.429 0 0 1-1.853.065c.538 1.542 2.078 2.6 3.834 2.63-1.453 1.054-3.248 1.626-5.096 1.624-.327 0-.653-.018-.977-.054a12.334 12.334 0 0 0 6.29 1.698" fill="#FFF"></path></g></svg></a></li><li id="LinkedIn"><a class="ds-share-link" href="#" aria-label="Share on LinkedIn"><svg viewbox="-1 -1 34 34" width="32" height="32"><title>LinkedIn</title><g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><circle class="path-background" fill="#333" cx="16" cy="16" r="16"></circle><path class="path-foreground" d="M25 24h-3.728v-5.847c0-1.395-.025-3.188-1.938-3.188-1.942 0-2.239 1.519-2.239 3.087V24h-3.728V11.977h3.579v1.642h.05c.497-.945 1.714-1.941 3.53-1.941 3.777 0 4.474 2.49 4.474 5.727V24zM9.163 10.333A2.165 2.165 0 0 1 7 8.166C7 6.971 7.968 6 9.163 6c1.193 0 2.162.97 2.162 2.166s-.969 2.167-2.162 2.167zM7.297 24h3.73V11.977h-3.73V24z" fill="#FFF"></path></g></svg></a></li><li id="WhatsApp"><a class="ds-share-link" href="#" aria-label="Share on WhatsApp"><svg viewbox="-1 -1 34 34" width="32" height="32"><title>WhatsApp</title><g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><circle class="path-background" fill="#333" cx="16" cy="16" r="16"></circle><path class="path-foreground" d="M21.582 16.985c-.249-.124-1.472-.723-1.7-.806-.228-.082-.394-.123-.56.124-.166.248-.643.806-.788.971-.145.166-.29.186-.54.062-.248-.124-1.05-.385-2-1.229-.74-.656-1.24-1.467-1.384-1.715-.145-.248-.016-.382.109-.506.112-.11.249-.289.373-.433.124-.145.166-.248.249-.414.083-.165.041-.31-.02-.433-.063-.124-.56-1.343-.768-1.84-.202-.482-.407-.416-.56-.424a10.027 10.027 0 00-.477-.009.916.916 0 00-.663.31c-.228.248-.871.847-.871 2.066 0 1.219.891 2.396 1.016 2.561.124.166 1.754 2.667 4.25 3.74.594.255 1.058.407 1.419.521.596.189 1.138.162 1.567.098.478-.07 1.472-.599 1.68-1.177.207-.579.207-1.074.145-1.178-.062-.103-.228-.165-.477-.289m-4.54 6.17h-.004a8.294 8.294 0 01-4.212-1.149l-.302-.178-3.133.817.836-3.04-.197-.31a8.189 8.189 0 01-1.265-4.385c.002-4.541 3.715-8.236 8.28-8.236a8.24 8.24 0 015.852 2.416 8.168 8.168 0 012.422 5.827c-.002 4.542-3.715 8.237-8.277 8.237m7.044-15.248A9.917 9.917 0 0017.042 5c-5.49 0-9.956 4.446-9.959 9.91 0 1.747.458 3.451 1.33 4.954L7 25l5.279-1.378a9.987 9.987 0 004.759 1.206h.004c5.488 0 9.956-4.446 9.958-9.91a9.827 9.827 0 00-2.914-7.012" fill="#FFF"></path></g></svg></a></li></ul></div></aside><p data-caps="initial" class="article__body-text article__body-text--dropcap"><span data-caps="initial">A</span> <a href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2021/03/26/why-the-suez-canal-and-other-choke-points-face-growing-pressure"><small>GIANT SHIP</small></a> wedged across the Suez canal, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/02/11/container-shipping-costs-have-surged-in-recent-months">record-breaking shipping rates</a>, armadas of vessels waiting outside ports, covid-induced shutdowns: container shipping has rarely been as dramatic as it has in 2021. The average cost of shipping a standard large container (a 40-foot-equivalent unit, or <small>FEU</small>) has surpassed $10,000, some four times higher than a year ago (see chart). The spot price for sending such a box from Shanghai to New York, which in 2019 would have been around $2,500, is now nearer $15,000. Securing a late booking on the busiest route, from China to the west coast of America, could cost $20,000.</p><div class="article-audio-player"><figure class="article-audio-player__figure"><figcaption>Listen to this story</figcaption><audio class="react-audio-player " controls="" id="audio-player" preload="none" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/media-assets/audio/068%20Finance%20and%20economics%20-%20Container%20shipping-74c7cfd1b67d56f54421879ab9104a5f.mp3" title="A perfect storm for container shipping" controlslist="nodownload"><p>Your browser does not support the <audio> element.</p></audio></figure><p class="article-audio-player__cta">Enjoy more audio and podcasts on <a id="audio-ios-cta" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1239397626?pt=344884&ct=article%20audio%20player&mt=8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">iOS</a> or <a id="audio-android-cta" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.economist.lamarr&referrer=utm_source%3Darticle%2520audio%2520player" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Android</a>.</p></div><div class="article__body-text-image"><figure><div itemscope="" itemprop="image" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" data-slim="1"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/img/b/608/662/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnc212.png"/><img loading="lazy" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/608/662/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnc212.png" srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/200/218/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnc212.png 200w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/300/327/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnc212.png 300w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/400/436/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnc212.png 400w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/600/653/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnc212.png 600w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/640/697/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnc212.png 640w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/800/871/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnc212.png 800w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1000/1089/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnc212.png 1000w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/1394/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnc212.png 1280w" sizes="300px" alt=""/></div></figure><p class="article__body-text">In response, some companies are resorting to desperate measures. Peloton, a maker of pricey exercise bikes, is switching to air freight. But costs are also sky-high as capacity, half of it usually provided in the holds of passenger jets, is constrained by curbs on international flights. Home Depot and Walmart, two American retailers, have chartered ships directly. Pressing inappropriate vessels into service has proved near-calamitous. An attempt in July to carry containers on a bulk carrier, which generally carts coal or iron ore, was hastily abandoned when the load shifted, forcing a return to port. More containers are travelling across Asia by train. Some are even reportedly being trucked from China to Europe then shipped across the Atlantic to avoid clogged Chinese ports.</p></div><div class="advert incontent hidden advert--inline"><div><div id="econ-1" class="adcontainer"></div></div></div><p class="article__body-text">Trains, planes and lorries can only do so much, especially when it comes to shifting goods halfway around the planet. Container ships lug around a quarter of the world’s traded goods by volume and three-fifths by value. The choice is often between paying up and suffering delays, or not importing at all. Globally 8m <small>TEUS</small> (20-foot-equivalent units) are in port or waiting to be unloaded, up by 10% year-on-year. At the end of August over 40 container ships were anchored off Los Angeles and Long Beach. These serve as car parks for containers, says Eleanor Hadland of Drewry, a shipping consultancy, in order to avoid clogging ports that in turn lack trains or lorries to shift goods to warehouses that are already full. The “pinch point”, she adds, “is the entire chain”.</p><p class="article__body-text"><iframe height="188" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629if_/https://embed.acast.com/gamechangers/gamechangers-thinkinginsidethebox"></iframe></p><p class="article__body-text">For years container shipping kept supply chains running and globalisation humming. Shipping was “so cheap that it was almost immaterial”, says David Kerstens of Jefferies, a bank. But disruption after disruption means that the metal boxes are losing their reputation for low prices and reliability. Few experts think things will get better before early next year. The dislocations could even hasten a reordering of global trade.</p><p class="article__body-text">Shipping is so strained in part because the industry, which usually steams from short-lived boom to sustained bust, was enjoying a rare period of sanity in the run-up to the pandemic. Stephen Gordon of Clarksons, a shipbroker, notes that by 2019 it was showing self-discipline, with the level of capacity and the order book for new ships under control. Then came covid-19. Shipping firms, expecting a collapse in trade, idled 11% of the global fleet. In fact, <a href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/business/2020/10/10/how-covid-19-put-wind-in-shipping-companies-sails">trade held up</a> and shipping rates started to climb. And, flush with stimulus cash, Americans started to spend.</p><p class="article__body-text">In the first seven months of 2021, cargo volumes between Asia and North America were up by 27% compared with pre-pandemic levels, according to <small>BIMCO</small>, a shipowners’ association. Port throughput in America was 14% higher in the second quarter of 2021 than in 2019. There has been little growth elsewhere: throughput in northern Europe is 1% lower. Yet rates on all routes have rocketed (see map), because ships have set sail to serve lucrative transpacific trade, starving others of capacity.</p><figure><div itemscope="" itemprop="image" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" data-slim="0"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/674/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnm950.png"/><img loading="lazy" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/674/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnm950.png" srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/200/105/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnm950.png 200w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/300/158/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnm950.png 300w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/400/211/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnm950.png 400w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/600/316/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnm950.png 600w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/640/337/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnm950.png 640w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/800/421/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnm950.png 800w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1000/527/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnm950.png 1000w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/674/90/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnm950.png 1280w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 640px, 95vw" alt=""/></div></figure><p class="article__body-text">A system stretched to its limits is subject to a “cascading effect”, says Eytan Buchman of Freightos, a digital-freight marketplace. Rerouting and rescheduling would once have mitigated the closure of part of Yantian, one of China’s biggest ports, in May and then Ningbo, another port, in August after covid-19 outbreaks. But without spare capacity, that is impossible. “All ships that can float are deployed,” remarks Soren Skou, boss of Maersk, the world’s biggest container-shipping firm. Empty containers are in all the wrong places. Port congestion puts ships out of service. The average door-to-door shipping time for ocean freight has gone from 41 days a year ago to 70 days, says Freightos.</p><div class="advert incontent hidden advert--inline"><div><div id="econ-2" class="adcontainer"></div></div></div><p class="article__body-text">Some observers think normality may return after Chinese new year next February. Peter Sand of <small>BIMCO</small> says disruptions could even take a year to unwind. Lars Jensen of Vespucci Maritime, an advisory firm, notes that a dockers’ strike on America’s west coast in 2015 caused similar disruption, albeit only in the region. It still took six months to unwind the backlog.</p><p class="article__body-text">On the demand side much depends on whether the American consumer’s appetite for buying stuff continues. Although retail sales fell in July, they are still 18% above pre-pandemic levels, points out Oxford Economics, a consultancy. But even if American consumer demand slackens, firms are set to splurge as they restock inventories depleted by the buying spree and prepare for the holiday season at the end of the year. And there are signs that demand in Europe is picking up.</p><p class="article__body-text">In a sea of uncertainty, one bedrock remains. The industry, flush with profits, is reacting customarily, setting an annual record for new orders for container-ship capacity in less than eight months of this year, says Mr Sand. But with a two-to-three-year wait, this release valve will not start to operate until 2023. And the race to flood the market may not match torrents of the past. There are far fewer shipyards today: 120 compared with around 300 in 2008, when the previous record was set. And shipping, responsible for 2.7% of global carbon-dioxide emissions, is under pressure to clean up its act. Tougher regulations come into force in 2023.</p><p class="article__body-text">The upshot is that the industry “will remain cyclical”, but with rates normalising at a higher level, says Maersk’s Mr Skou. Discipline in both ordering and managing capacity may prove more permanent, aided by consolidation within the industry.</p><p class="article__body-text">The impact of higher shipping costs depends on the good being transported. Those hoping to import cheap and bulky things like garden furniture might be in for a long wait. Mr Buchman notes that current spot rates might add $1,000 to the price of a sofa travelling from China to America. The effects on product prices so far may have been dampened: around 60% of goods are subject to contractual arrangements with shipping rates agreed in advance and only 40% to soaring spot prices.</p><h2>Boxed in</h2><p class="article__body-text">Nonetheless, for most products, shipping costs tend to be a small percentage of the overall cost. The boss of a large global manufacturer based in Europe says the extreme costs now are “bearable”. Nor might shipping rates rise much more even if disruptions continue. <small>CMA CGM</small>, the third-largest container-shipping firm in the world, stunned industry watchers on September 9th when it said that it would cap spot rates for ocean freight. Hapag-Lloyd, the fifth-largest, rapidly followed suit.</p><p class="article__body-text">Decarbonisation costs mean rates will eventually settle at higher levels than those before the pandemic. Yet research by Maersk suggests that this may not affect customers much. Even if sustainable fuel cost three times as much as the dirty stuff, increasing per-container fuel costs to $1,200 across the Pacific, for a container loaded with 8,000 pairs of trainers, the impact on each item would be minimal.</p><div class="advert incontent hidden advert--inline"><div><div id="econ-3" class="adcontainer"></div></div></div><p class="article__body-text">Instead it is the problem of reliability that may change the way firms think. “Just in time” may give way to “just in case”, says Mr Sand, as firms guard against supply shortages by building inventories far above pre-pandemic levels. Reliability and efficiency might also be hastened by the use of technology in an industry that has long resisted its implementation. As Fraser Robinson of Beacon, another digital freight forwarder, points out, supply chains can be made sturdier by using data to provide better “visibility” such as over which suppliers and shipping companies do a better or worse job of keeping to timetables and ordering goods earlier.</p><p class="article__body-text">There is so far little evidence of “nearshoring”, except in the car industry, says Mr Skou. But the combination of trade war, geopolitics and covid-19 may together lead trade patterns to tilt away from China. Some Chinese firms and the companies they supply are relocating production to lower-cost countries to diversify supply chains and circumvent trade barriers. Mr Kerstens of Jefferies notes that after America under President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on China the volume of trade from China to America fell by 7% in 2019, but American imports remained stable overall as places like Vietnam and Malaysia took up the slack. Hedging against covid-19 shutdowns, particularly given China’s zero tolerance for infections, could provide another reason to move away.</p><p class="article__body-text">For their part, shipping firms may be preparing for more regionalised trade. The order book is bulging for ships of 13,000-15,000 <small>TEU</small>, smaller than the mega-vessels that can only be handled at the biggest ports. Vietnam opened a new deepwater terminal in January, which can handle all but those largest ships.</p><p class="article__body-text">Finding new manufacturers is hard, however, especially for complex products. And building buffers into supply chains is costly. But conversations about deglobalising are said to be starting among some makers of low-cost clothing and commodity goods. If high costs and delays persist, some will judge that the benefits of proximity to suppliers outweigh the costs of bringing in goods made far away. With few alternatives to ships, the only choice will be to move the factories that make them. <span data-ornament="ufinish">■</span></p><p class="article__body-text"><em>Correction (September 13th 2021): The figures on port throughput in America and northern Europe have been corrected since publication.</em></p><p class="article__body-text"><em>For more expert analysis of the biggest stories in economics, business and markets, <a href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/moneytalks/">sign up to Money Talks</a>, our weekly newsletter.</em></p><p data-test-id="Footnote" class="article__footnote">This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline "Perfect storm"</p><div class="layout-article-links layout-article-promo"><a class="ds-actioned-link ds-actioned-link--reuse-this-content" target="_blank" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://s100.copyright.com/AppDispatchServlet?publisherName=economist&publication=economist&title=A%20perfect%20storm%20for%20container%20shipping&publicationDate=2021-09-16&contentID=%2Fcontent%2Fpa7kaktmebt4a6jh662anmf4bu94akeu&type=A&orderBeanReset=TRUE"><span>Reuse this content</span></a><a class="ds-actioned-link ds-actioned-link--the-trust-project" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/frequently-asked-questions"><span>The Trust Project</span></a></div></div><div class="ds-layout-grid ds-layout-grid--edged"><style data-emotion="css 1hnead5">.css-1hnead5{padding-bottom:1.5rem;}</style><div class="layout-article-promo footer-newsletter-promo css-1hnead5 eq1ndt50"><style data-emotion="css f7j325">.css-f7j325{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;background:var(--ds-color-los-angeles-95);border:0.0625rem solid var(--ds-color-los-angeles-85);border-radius:0.125rem;color:var(--ds-color-london-5);display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;font-family:var(--ds-type-system-sans);line-height:var(--ds-type-leading-lower);padding:0 var(--ds-grid-gutter) 1.5rem var(--ds-grid-gutter);text-align:center;}.css-f7j325 em{font-style:italic;}.css-f7j325 ._content-promo-subheadline,.css-f7j325 ._content-promo-tagline,.css-f7j325 ._content-promo-tagline-separator{font-size:var(--ds-type-scale--3);font-weight:500;letter-spacing:0.03rem;margin-bottom:0.125rem;text-transform:uppercase;}.css-f7j325 ._content-promo-tagline{color:var(--ds-color-economist-red);}.css-f7j325 ._content-promo-headline{font-family:var(--ds-type-system-serif);font-size:var(--ds-type-scale-4);font-weight:700;line-height:var(--ds-type-leading-upper);}.css-f7j325 ._content-promo-description{font-size:var(--ds-type-scale-0);font-weight:400;}.css-f7j325 *+._content-promo-description{margin-top:0.25rem;}.css-f7j325 ._content-promo-ident{-webkit-align-self:center;-ms-flex-item-align:center;align-self:center;}.css-f7j325 *+._content-promo-cta{margin-top:1.5rem;}.css-f7j325 ._ds-ident{display:block;padding:1rem;}@media (min-width: 37.5rem){.css-f7j325{-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;padding:0.5rem 1.5rem 1.25rem 0.375rem;text-align:initial;}.css-f7j325 ._content-promo-ident{-webkit-align-self:flex-start;-ms-flex-item-align:flex-start;align-self:flex-start;}.css-f7j325 ._content-promo-headline{margin-top:1rem;}.css-f7j325 ._content-promo-subheadline-container{margin-top:1rem;}.css-f7j325 *+._content-promo-headline{margin-top:0;}.css-f7j325 ._content-promo-content{margin:0 0 0 1rem;}}</style><div class="_newsletterContentPromo css-f7j325 e1pgax3g0"><div class="_content-promo-ident"><span class="ds-ident-newsletters ds-ident-newsletters--the-economist-today _ds-ident"><svg width="120" height="120" viewbox="0 0 112 112" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" class="ds-ident-newsletters__svg"><defs><circle id="nl_tet_def_ayhqjyqm" cx="55.95" cy="56" r="55.944"></circle></defs><g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><mask id="nl_tet_mask_ayhqjyqm" fill="#fff"><use xlink:href="/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/a-perfect-storm-for-container-shipping/21804500#nl_tet_def_ayhqjyqm"></use></mask><use fill="#2E45B8" xlink:href="/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/a-perfect-storm-for-container-shipping/21804500#nl_tet_def_ayhqjyqm"></use><path d="M55.907 23.329c18.322 0 33.175 15.003 33.175 33.51 0 18.508-14.853 33.51-33.175 33.51-18.322 0-33.175-15.002-33.175-33.51 0-18.507 14.853-33.51 33.175-33.51z" fill="#2F44B8" mask="url(#nl_tet_mask_ayhqjyqm)"></path><path d="M35.757 83.077c-7.92-6.094-13.025-15.684-13.025-26.47 0-4.191.768-8.213 2.175-11.908L55.85 56.822 35.757 82.976" fill="#CED3F3" mask="url(#nl_tet_mask_ayhqjyqm)"></path><path d="M76.103 83.46c-5.588 4.322-12.716 6.89-20.293 6.89-7.597 0-14.832-2.547-20.427-6.89l20.448-26.565L76.103 83.46z" fill="#ADB6EB" mask="url(#nl_tet_mask_ayhqjyqm)"></path><path d="M55.851 56.895V23.217c14.296 0 26.563 9.42 31.193 22.336L55.85 56.895z" fill="#6D7BDA" mask="url(#nl_tet_mask_ayhqjyqm)"></path><path d="M87.246 45.37L55.851 56.949 76.02 83.413c7.97-6.085 13.175-15.672 13.175-26.465 0-4.008-.648-7.85-1.948-11.409v-.168z" fill="#8D98E2" mask="url(#nl_tet_mask_ayhqjyqm)"></path><path d="M55.851 57.455l-.003-34.014c-14.167 0-26.218 9.02-30.99 21.615 7.086 2.762 17.417 6.895 30.993 12.399z" fill="#EBEDFA" mask="url(#nl_tet_mask_ayhqjyqm)"></path><path fill="#FFF" mask="url(#nl_tet_mask_ayhqjyqm)" d="M46.005 21.538h19.692v-6.377H46.005z"></path><path fill="#0D0D0D" mask="url(#nl_tet_mask_ayhqjyqm)" transform="rotate(45 60.852 56.473)" d="M57.459 45.968l6.635.048.152 20.962-6.636-.048z"></path><path fill="#0D0D0D" mask="url(#nl_tet_mask_ayhqjyqm)" transform="rotate(135 50.795 56.473)" d="M47.553 46.016l6.635-.048-.151 20.962-6.636.048z"></path><path d="M55.963 87.582c-16.756 0-30.308-13.696-30.308-30.631 0-16.935 13.552-30.632 30.308-30.632s30.308 13.697 30.308 30.632c0 16.935-13.552 30.631-30.308 30.631m34.786-56.526l-4.591-4.596-4.248 4.343a36.857 36.857 0 00-5.835-4.835c-5.801-3.862-12.7-6.108-20.112-6.108-20.266 0-36.7 16.609-36.7 37.091s16.393 37.091 36.7 37.091c20.307 0 36.7-16.609 36.7-37.091 0-7.85-2.444-15.129-6.576-21.13l4.662-4.765z" fill="#FFF" mask="url(#nl_tet_mask_ayhqjyqm)"></path></g></svg></span></div><div class="_content-promo-content"><div class="_content-promo-subheadline-container"><span class="_content-promo-subheadline">The Economist today</span></div><h2 class="_content-promo-headline">Handpicked stories, in your inbox</h2><div class="_content-promo-description"><p>A daily newsletter with the best of our journalism</p></div><div class="_content-promo-cta"><style data-emotion="css 1ab4byb">.css-1ab4byb .ds-form-label{display:none;}.css-1ab4byb .ds-form-notice{margin-top:1rem;}@media (min-width: 37.5rem){.css-1ab4byb .ds-form-field-combined-input{max-width:28rem;}}</style><div class="css-1ab4byb e12hvj4w0"><div class=""><label class="ds-form-label" for=""><span></span></label><div class="ds-form-field-combined-input"><input type="email" class="ds-form-input" id="" maxlength="320" name="" placeholder="example@email.com" value=""/><button class="ds-button">Sign up</button></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div itemscope="" itemprop="publisher" itemtype="https://schema.org/NewsMediaOrganization"><meta itemprop="name" content="The Economist"/><div itemscope="" itemprop="logo" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject"><meta itemprop="url" content="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/engassets/google-search-logo.f1ea908894.png"/></div></div><link href="https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/a-perfect-storm-for-container-shipping/21804500" itemprop="mainEntityOfPage"/><meta itemprop="dateModified" content="2021-09-16T11:50:16Z"/><meta itemprop="datePublished" content="2021-09-16T00:00:00Z"/><div class="related-articles"><script type="application/ld+json"> {"@context":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://schema.org","@type":"itemList","@name":"Related articles","itemListElement":[{"@type":"listItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"Article","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/can-china-revive-growth-without-reviving-speculation/21807239","datePublished":"2022-01-22T00:00:00Z","headline":"As China’s economy slows, policymakers seek to revive growth","image":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg","publisher":"The Economist"}},{"@type":"listItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"Article","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2022/01/22/just-how-gummed-up-are-supply-chains","datePublished":"2022-01-22T00:00:00Z","headline":"Just how gummed up are supply chains?","image":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg","publisher":"The Economist"}},{"@type":"listItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"Article","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2022/01/22/why-bank-stocks-are-tumbling-even-as-interest-rates-climb","datePublished":"2022-01-22T00:00:00Z","headline":"Why bank stocks are tumbling even as interest rates climb","image":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg","publisher":"The Economist"}},{"@type":"listItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"Article","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/the-race-to-power-the-defi-ecosystem-is-on/21807229","datePublished":"2022-01-22T00:00:00Z","headline":"The race to dominate the DeFi ecosystem is on","image":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnd001.jpg","publisher":"The Economist"}},{"@type":"listItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"Article","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2022/01/22/americas-labour-shortages-have-done-little-to-boost-perks-for-workers","datePublished":"2022-01-22T00:00:00Z","headline":"America’s labour shortages have done little to boost perks for workers","image":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp503.jpg","publisher":"The Economist"}}]} </script><div class="ds-layout-grid ds-layout-grid--edged layout-related-articles"><h2 class="ds-section-headline ds-section-headline--rule-accent"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/" class="ds-section-headline-link">More from Finance & economics</a></h2><div data-test-id="Related Article" class="related-article"><h3 class="related-article__header"><a class="headline-link" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/can-china-revive-growth-without-reviving-speculation/21807239"><span class="related-article__subheadline">Omicronic pains</span><br/><span class="related-article__headline related-article__headline--lead">As China’s economy slows, policymakers seek to revive growth</span></a></h3><div itemscope="" itemprop="image" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" class="related-article__image"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg"/><img loading="lazy" width="1280" height="720" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg" srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/200/113/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 200w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/300/169/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 300w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/400/225/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 400w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/600/338/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 600w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/640/360/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 640w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/800/450/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 800w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1000/563/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 1000w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 1280w" sizes="(min-width: 1440px) 700px, (min-width: 800px) 45vw, 90vw" alt=""/></div></div><div data-test-id="Related Article" class="related-article"><h3 class="related-article__header"><a class="headline-link" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2022/01/22/just-how-gummed-up-are-supply-chains"><span class="related-article__subheadline">Chain reactions</span><br/><span class="related-article__headline ">Just how gummed up are supply chains?</span></a></h3><div itemscope="" itemprop="image" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" class="related-article__image"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg"/><img loading="lazy" width="1280" height="720" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg" srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/200/113/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 200w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/300/169/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 300w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/400/225/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 400w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/600/338/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 600w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/640/360/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 640w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/800/450/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 800w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1000/563/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 1000w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 1280w" sizes="(min-width: 1440px) 335px, (min-width: 800px) 25vw, (min-width: 360px) 45vw, 90vw" alt=""/></div></div><div data-test-id="Related Article" class="related-article"><h3 class="related-article__header"><a class="headline-link" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2022/01/22/why-bank-stocks-are-tumbling-even-as-interest-rates-climb"><span class="related-article__subheadline">Mixed messages</span><br/><span class="related-article__headline ">Why bank stocks are tumbling even as interest rates climb</span></a></h3><div itemscope="" itemprop="image" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" class="related-article__image"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg"/><img loading="lazy" width="1280" height="720" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg" srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/200/113/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 200w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/300/169/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 300w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/400/225/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 400w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/600/338/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 600w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/640/360/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 640w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/800/450/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 800w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1000/563/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 1000w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 1280w" sizes="(min-width: 1440px) 335px, (min-width: 800px) 25vw, (min-width: 360px) 45vw, 90vw" alt=""/></div></div><div data-test-id="Related Article" class="related-article"><h3 class="related-article__header"><a class="headline-link" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/the-race-to-power-the-defi-ecosystem-is-on/21807229"><span class="related-article__subheadline">Battle of the blockchains</span><br/><span class="related-article__headline ">The race to dominate the DeFi ecosystem is on</span></a></h3><div itemscope="" itemprop="image" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" class="related-article__image"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnd001.jpg"/><img loading="lazy" width="1280" height="720" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnd001.jpg" srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/200/113/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnd001.jpg 200w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/300/169/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnd001.jpg 300w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/400/225/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnd001.jpg 400w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/600/338/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnd001.jpg 600w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/640/360/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnd001.jpg 640w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/800/450/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnd001.jpg 800w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1000/563/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnd001.jpg 1000w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnd001.jpg 1280w" sizes="(min-width: 1440px) 335px, (min-width: 800px) 25vw, (min-width: 360px) 45vw, 90vw" alt=""/></div></div><div data-test-id="Related Article" class="related-article"><h3 class="related-article__header"><a class="headline-link" href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2022/01/22/americas-labour-shortages-have-done-little-to-boost-perks-for-workers"><span class="related-article__subheadline">On the fringe</span><br/><span class="related-article__headline ">America’s labour shortages have done little to boost perks for workers</span></a></h3><div itemscope="" itemprop="image" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" class="related-article__image"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp503.jpg"/><img loading="lazy" width="1280" height="720" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp503.jpg" srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/200/113/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp503.jpg 200w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/300/169/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp503.jpg 300w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/400/225/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp503.jpg 400w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/600/338/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp503.jpg 600w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/640/360/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp503.jpg 640w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/800/450/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp503.jpg 800w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1000/563/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp503.jpg 1000w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp503.jpg 1280w" sizes="(min-width: 1440px) 335px, (min-width: 800px) 25vw, (min-width: 360px) 45vw, 90vw" alt=""/></div></div></div><div class="optimizely-content-block"><h2 class="ds-section-headline ds-section-headline--rule-accent"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/" class="ds-section-headline-link">More from Finance & economics</a></h2><div class="optimizely-content-collection-3"><style data-emotion="css zcs9ui">@media (min-width: 60rem){.css-zcs9ui .eprz4kh0 .eprz4kh0:last-of-type{padding-bottom:1.5rem;}}@media (min-width: 60rem){.css-zcs9ui .eprz4kh0 .eprz4kh0{padding-bottom:1.5rem;}}@media (min-width: 80rem){.css-zcs9ui .eprz4kh0 .eprz4kh0{padding-bottom:0;}}@media (min-width: 60rem){.css-zcs9ui .eprz4kh0>hr+.e1yv2jhn0:last-of-type{padding-bottom:1.5rem;}}@media (min-width: 60rem){.css-zcs9ui .eprz4kh0:nth-of-type(5){padding-bottom:1.5rem;}}.css-zcs9ui .e1hgtj4y1 .e1hgtj4y1{margin-top:-0.25rem;}@media (min-width: 60rem){.css-zcs9ui .eprz4kh0{padding-bottom:1.5rem;}}</style><div class="css-zcs9ui e2ekie00"><style data-emotion="css 15fxaa5">.css-15fxaa5{display:grid;grid-auto-flow:row;grid-column-gap:var(--ds-grid-gutter);grid-row-gap:2.75rem;grid-auto-columns:1fr;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;max-width:89.5rem;overflow:hidden;position:relative;grid-row-gap:1.5rem;grid-template-areas:"group1" "line" "group2";}@media (min-width: 60rem){.css-15fxaa5{grid-template:auto/repeat(12, 1fr);}}@media (min-width: 60rem){.css-15fxaa5{grid-template-areas:"group1 group1 group1 group1 group1 group2 group2 group2 group2 group2 group2 group2";}}</style><div class="css-15fxaa5 e1hgtj4y1"><style data-emotion="css 48zyq9">.css-48zyq9{grid-area:group1;position:relative;}.css-48zyq9::after{background-color:var(--ds-color-london-85);content:'';height:100%;position:absolute;right:-1rem;right:calc(-1 * var(--ds-grid-gap));top:0;width:1px;}.css-48zyq9:last-child::after{height:0;}</style><div class="css-48zyq9 eprz4kh0"><style data-emotion="css 7q729u">.css-7q729u{position:relative;width:100%;margin-top:0;overflow:hidden;display:block;}.ekr7o470 .css-7q729u{margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}@media (min-width: 22.5rem){.ekr7o470 .css-7q729u{margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}}@media (min-width: 37.5rem){.ekr7o470 .css-7q729u{margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}}@media (min-width: 60rem){.ekr7o470 .css-7q729u{margin-top:-0.25rem;margin-bottom:0;}}@media (min-width: 80rem){.ekr7o470 .css-7q729u{margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}}.ej7lvzi1 .css-7q729u{margin-left:0.75rem;margin-top:0;}@media (max-width: 29.9375rem){.ej7lvzi1 .css-7q729u{padding-top:0.375rem;}}</style><div class="css-7q729u e1yv2jhn0"><style data-emotion="css 1vxanp4">.css-1vxanp4{position:relative;float:none;width:100%;margin:0;}.css-1vxanp4 img{display:block;}.css-1vxanp4 svg{bottom:0;display:block;left:0;position:absolute;width:15%;}.css-1vxanp4+.ef0oilz0{margin-top:0.5rem;}.css-1vxanp4+.eajo7ll0{margin-top:0.75rem;}</style><div class="css-1vxanp4 e1t79wji0"><div itemscope="" itemprop="image" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg"/><img loading="lazy" width="1280" height="720" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg" srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/200/113/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 200w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/300/169/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 300w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/400/225/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 400w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/600/338/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 600w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/640/360/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 640w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/800/450/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 800w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1000/563/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 1000w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 1280w" sizes="(min-width: 1440px) 700px, (min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 960px) 66vw, 95vw" alt=""/></div></div><style data-emotion="css cxu8jy">.css-cxu8jy{font-family:var(--ds-type-system-serif);font-size:var(--ds-type-scale-4);font-weight:normal;line-height:var(--ds-type-leading-upper);}.css-cxu8jy a{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;color:var(--ds-color-london-5);display:block;}.css-cxu8jy a:hover,.css-cxu8jy a:hover .ecd11tl0{color:var(--ds-color-chicago-30);-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.css-cxu8jy a:focus,.css-cxu8jy a:focus .ecd11tl0{background-color:var(--ds-color-chicago-95);color:var(--ds-color-london-5);outline:none;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.e5no54b0 .css-cxu8jy a:focus,.e5no54b0 .css-cxu8jy a:focus .ecd11tl0{background-color:hsla(var(--ds-color-hsl-london-5), 0.05);}.css-cxu8jy a:active,.css-cxu8jy a:active .ecd11tl0{color:var(--ds-color-chicago-30);}.e5no54b0 .css-cxu8jy a:active,.e5no54b0 .css-cxu8jy a:active .ecd11tl0{background:none;}.css-cxu8jy a::before{bottom:0;content:'';display:block;left:0;opacity:0;overflow:hidden;position:absolute;right:0;text-indent:-999em;top:0;white-space:nowrap;z-index:1;}.css-cxu8jy+.e1smrlcj0{margin-top:0.5rem;}.e13svp5c0 .css-cxu8jy+.e1smrlcj0{margin-top:0;}</style><h3 class="css-cxu8jy ef0oilz0"><a href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/can-china-revive-growth-without-reviving-speculation/21807239" data-analytics="more_from:headline_1">As China’s economy slows, policymakers seek to revive growth</a></h3><style data-emotion="css qnkbrf">.css-qnkbrf{color:var(--ds-color-london-10);font-family:var(--ds-type-system-serif);max-width:43.75rem;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:var(--ds-type-leading-lower);}.e5no54b0 .css-qnkbrf{font-size:var(--ds-type-scale-2);}</style><p class="css-qnkbrf e1smrlcj0">Lockdowns and crackdowns are taking their toll</p></div></div><style data-emotion="css 1vg64tm">.css-1vg64tm{grid-area:group2;position:relative;}.css-1vg64tm::after{background-color:var(--ds-color-london-85);content:'';height:100%;position:absolute;right:-1rem;right:calc(-1 * var(--ds-grid-gap));top:0;width:1px;}.css-1vg64tm:last-child::after{height:0;}</style><div class="css-1vg64tm eprz4kh0"><style data-emotion="css w50hwg">.css-w50hwg{position:relative;width:100%;margin-top:0;overflow:hidden;display:block;}.ekr7o470 .css-w50hwg{margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}@media (min-width: 22.5rem){.ekr7o470 .css-w50hwg{margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}}@media (min-width: 37.5rem){.ekr7o470 .css-w50hwg{margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}}@media (min-width: 60rem){.ekr7o470 .css-w50hwg{margin-top:-0.25rem;margin-bottom:0;}}@media (min-width: 80rem){.ekr7o470 .css-w50hwg{margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}}.ej7lvzi1 .css-w50hwg{margin-left:0.75rem;margin-top:0;}@media (max-width: 29.9375rem){.ej7lvzi1 .css-w50hwg{padding-top:0.375rem;}}</style><div class="css-w50hwg e1yv2jhn0"><style data-emotion="css 1i5uguq">.css-1i5uguq{position:relative;float:none;width:100%;margin:0;}.css-1i5uguq img{display:block;}.css-1i5uguq svg{bottom:0;display:block;left:0;position:absolute;width:15%;}.css-1i5uguq+.ef0oilz0{margin-top:0.5rem;}.css-1i5uguq+.eajo7ll0{margin-top:0.75rem;}@media (min-width: 30rem){.css-1i5uguq{float:right;margin:0.25rem 0 0 1.5rem;width:33%;}.css-1i5uguq+.ef0oilz0{margin-top:0;}.css-1i5uguq+.eajo7ll0{margin-top:0;}}</style><div class="css-1i5uguq e1t79wji0"><div itemscope="" itemprop="image" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg"/><img loading="lazy" width="1280" height="720" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg" srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/200/113/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 200w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/300/169/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 300w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/400/225/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 400w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/600/338/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 600w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/640/360/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 640w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/800/450/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 800w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1000/563/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 1000w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 1280w" sizes="(min-width: 1440px) 700px, (min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 960px) 66vw, 95vw" alt=""/></div></div><style data-emotion="css 1slb00j">.css-1slb00j{font-family:var(--ds-type-system-serif);font-size:var(--ds-type-scale-3);font-weight:normal;line-height:var(--ds-type-leading-upper);}.css-1slb00j a{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;color:var(--ds-color-london-5);display:block;}.css-1slb00j a:hover,.css-1slb00j a:hover .ecd11tl0{color:var(--ds-color-chicago-30);-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.css-1slb00j a:focus,.css-1slb00j a:focus .ecd11tl0{background-color:var(--ds-color-chicago-95);color:var(--ds-color-london-5);outline:none;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.e5no54b0 .css-1slb00j a:focus,.e5no54b0 .css-1slb00j a:focus .ecd11tl0{background-color:hsla(var(--ds-color-hsl-london-5), 0.05);}.css-1slb00j a:active,.css-1slb00j a:active .ecd11tl0{color:var(--ds-color-chicago-30);}.e5no54b0 .css-1slb00j a:active,.e5no54b0 .css-1slb00j a:active .ecd11tl0{background:none;}.css-1slb00j a::before{bottom:0;content:'';display:block;left:0;opacity:0;overflow:hidden;position:absolute;right:0;text-indent:-999em;top:0;white-space:nowrap;z-index:1;}.css-1slb00j+.e1smrlcj0{margin-top:0.5rem;}.e13svp5c0 .css-1slb00j+.e1smrlcj0{margin-top:0;}</style><h3 class="css-1slb00j ef0oilz0"><a href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2022/01/22/just-how-gummed-up-are-supply-chains" data-analytics="more_from:headline_2">Just how gummed up are supply chains?</a></h3><p class="css-qnkbrf e1smrlcj0">A number of measures suggest that disruptions are historically high—and uncertainty lies ahead</p></div><style data-emotion="css 1g53obw">.css-1g53obw{border-width:0;border-top:1px solid var(--ds-color-london-85);margin:1.5rem 0;margin:1.5rem 0 1.25rem;width:100%;}</style><hr class="css-1g53obw e1hgtj4y0"/><div class="css-w50hwg e1yv2jhn0"><div class="css-1i5uguq e1t79wji0"><div itemscope="" itemprop="image" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg"/><img loading="lazy" width="1280" height="720" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg" srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/200/113/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 200w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/300/169/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 300w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/400/225/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 400w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/600/338/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 600w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/640/360/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 640w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/800/450/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 800w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1000/563/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 1000w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 1280w" sizes="(min-width: 1440px) 700px, (min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 960px) 66vw, 95vw" alt=""/></div></div><h3 class="css-1slb00j ef0oilz0"><a href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2022/01/22/why-bank-stocks-are-tumbling-even-as-interest-rates-climb" data-analytics="more_from:headline_3">Why bank stocks are tumbling even as interest rates climb</a></h3><p class="css-qnkbrf e1smrlcj0">Higher rates might crimp investment-bank profits</p></div></div><style data-emotion="css njeufd">.css-njeufd{border-width:0;border-top:1px solid var(--ds-color-london-85);grid-area:line;margin:0;margin:1.5rem 0 1.25rem;margin:0;width:100%;display:block;}@media (min-width: 60rem){.css-njeufd{display:none;}}</style><hr class="css-njeufd e1hgtj4y0"/></div></div></div><div class="optimizely-content-collection-5"><style data-emotion="css 1tv0yda">@media (min-width: 60rem){.css-1tv0yda .eprz4kh0 .eprz4kh0:last-of-type{padding-bottom:1.5rem;}}@media (min-width: 60rem){.css-1tv0yda .eprz4kh0 .eprz4kh0{padding-bottom:1.5rem;}}@media (min-width: 80rem){.css-1tv0yda .eprz4kh0 .eprz4kh0{padding-bottom:0;}}@media (min-width: 60rem){.css-1tv0yda .eprz4kh0>hr+.e1yv2jhn0:last-of-type{padding-bottom:1.5rem;}}@media (min-width: 60rem){.css-1tv0yda .eprz4kh0:nth-of-type(5){padding-bottom:1.5rem;}}.css-1tv0yda .e1hgtj4y1 .e1hgtj4y1{margin-top:-0.25rem;}</style><div class="css-1tv0yda e2ekie00"><div class="css-15fxaa5 e1hgtj4y1"><div class="css-48zyq9 eprz4kh0"><div class="css-7q729u e1yv2jhn0"><div class="css-1vxanp4 e1t79wji0"><div itemscope="" itemprop="image" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg"/><img loading="lazy" width="1280" height="720" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg" srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/200/113/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 200w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/300/169/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 300w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/400/225/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 400w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/600/338/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 600w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/640/360/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 640w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/800/450/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 800w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1000/563/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 1000w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg 1280w" sizes="(min-width: 1440px) 700px, (min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 960px) 66vw, 95vw" alt=""/></div></div><h3 class="css-cxu8jy ef0oilz0"><a href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/can-china-revive-growth-without-reviving-speculation/21807239" data-analytics="more_from:headline_1">As China’s economy slows, policymakers seek to revive growth</a></h3><p class="css-qnkbrf e1smrlcj0">Lockdowns and crackdowns are taking their toll</p></div></div><div class="css-1vg64tm eprz4kh0"><div class="css-w50hwg e1yv2jhn0"><div class="css-1i5uguq e1t79wji0"><div itemscope="" itemprop="image" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg"/><img loading="lazy" width="1280" height="720" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg" srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/200/113/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 200w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/300/169/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 300w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/400/225/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 400w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/600/338/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 600w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/640/360/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 640w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/800/450/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 800w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1000/563/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 1000w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg 1280w" sizes="(min-width: 1440px) 700px, (min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 960px) 66vw, 95vw" alt=""/></div></div><h3 class="css-1slb00j ef0oilz0"><a href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2022/01/22/just-how-gummed-up-are-supply-chains" data-analytics="more_from:headline_2">Just how gummed up are supply chains?</a></h3><p class="css-qnkbrf e1smrlcj0">A number of measures suggest that disruptions are historically high—and uncertainty lies ahead</p></div><hr class="css-1g53obw e1hgtj4y0"/><div class="css-w50hwg e1yv2jhn0"><div class="css-1i5uguq e1t79wji0"><div itemscope="" itemprop="image" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg"/><img loading="lazy" width="1280" height="720" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg" srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/200/113/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 200w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/300/169/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 300w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/400/225/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 400w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/600/338/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 600w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/640/360/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 640w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/800/450/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 800w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1000/563/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 1000w, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg 1280w" sizes="(min-width: 1440px) 700px, (min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 960px) 66vw, 95vw" alt=""/></div></div><h3 class="css-1slb00j ef0oilz0"><a href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2022/01/22/why-bank-stocks-are-tumbling-even-as-interest-rates-climb" data-analytics="more_from:headline_3">Why bank stocks are tumbling even as interest rates climb</a></h3><p class="css-qnkbrf e1smrlcj0">Higher rates might crimp investment-bank profits</p></div><hr class="css-1g53obw e1hgtj4y0"/><div class="css-7q729u e1yv2jhn0"><style data-emotion="css g6fo13">.css-g6fo13{font-family:var(--ds-type-system-serif);font-size:var(--ds-type-scale-2);font-weight:500;line-height:var(--ds-type-leading-lower);}.css-g6fo13 a{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;color:var(--ds-color-london-5);display:block;}.css-g6fo13 a:hover,.css-g6fo13 a:hover .ecd11tl0{color:var(--ds-color-chicago-30);-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.css-g6fo13 a:focus,.css-g6fo13 a:focus .ecd11tl0{background-color:var(--ds-color-chicago-95);color:var(--ds-color-london-5);outline:none;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.e5no54b0 .css-g6fo13 a:focus,.e5no54b0 .css-g6fo13 a:focus .ecd11tl0{background-color:hsla(var(--ds-color-hsl-london-5), 0.05);}.css-g6fo13 a:active,.css-g6fo13 a:active .ecd11tl0{color:var(--ds-color-chicago-30);}.e5no54b0 .css-g6fo13 a:active,.e5no54b0 .css-g6fo13 a:active .ecd11tl0{background:none;}.css-g6fo13 a::before{bottom:0;content:'';display:block;left:0;opacity:0;overflow:hidden;position:absolute;right:0;text-indent:-999em;top:0;white-space:nowrap;z-index:1;}.css-g6fo13+.e1smrlcj0{margin-top:0.25rem;}.e13svp5c0 .css-g6fo13+.e1smrlcj0{margin-top:0;}</style><h3 class="css-g6fo13 ef0oilz0"><a href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/the-race-to-power-the-defi-ecosystem-is-on/21807229" data-analytics="more_from:headline_4">The race to dominate the DeFi ecosystem is on</a></h3><p class="css-qnkbrf e1smrlcj0">Why Ethereum is losing market share</p></div><hr class="css-1g53obw e1hgtj4y0"/><div class="css-7q729u e1yv2jhn0"><h3 class="css-g6fo13 ef0oilz0"><a href="/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2022/01/22/americas-labour-shortages-have-done-little-to-boost-perks-for-workers" data-analytics="more_from:headline_5">America’s labour shortages have done little to boost perks for workers</a></h3><p class="css-qnkbrf e1smrlcj0">Low-paid workers receive more in benefits than before the pandemic. But the disparity with the highly paid is still vast</p></div></div><hr class="css-njeufd e1hgtj4y0"/></div></div></div></div></div></article></main></div><footer itemtype="http://schema.org/WPFooter" class="ds-footer" role="contentinfo"><div class="ds-layout-grid ds-footer-cols-alpha"><div id="ds-footer-customer-links" class="ds-footer-cols-alpha__lead"><ul class="ds-footer__link-list"><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--major ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/api/auth/subscribe?path=%2FDE%2FECOM-Article%2FHoliday20%2FFooter"><span>Subscribe</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--major ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/group-subscriptions"><span>Group subscriptions</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--major ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://rights.economist.com/"><span>Reuse our content</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--major ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/frequently-asked-questions"><span>The Trust Project</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--major ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://myaccount.economist.com/s/help"><span>Help and contact us</span></a></li></ul></div><div class="ds-footer-cols-share"><h2 class="ds-footer__header">Keep updated</h2><ul class="ds-footer__link-list"><li id="ds-footer-facebook-icon"><a class="ds-share-link ds-share-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.facebook.com/theeconomist"><svg viewbox="-1 -1 34 34" width="32" height="32"><title>Facebook</title><g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><circle class="path-background" fill="#333" cx="16" cy="16" r="16"></circle><path class="path-foreground" d="M17.49 26v-9.123h2.95l.44-3.555h-3.39v-2.27c0-1.03.276-1.731 1.697-1.731H21V6.14A23.34 23.34 0 0 0 18.359 6c-2.614 0-4.403 1.657-4.403 4.7v2.622H11v3.555h2.956V26h3.535z" fill="#FFF" fill-rule="nonzero"></path></g></svg></a></li><li id="ds-footer-instagram-icon"><a class="ds-share-link ds-share-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.instagram.com/theeconomist"><svg viewbox="-1 -1 34 34" width="32" height="32"><title>Instagram</title><defs><path id="a" d="M0 .006h19.994v19.992H0z"></path></defs><g id="share-instagram" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><circle class="path-background" fill="#333" cx="16" cy="16" r="16"></circle><g transform="translate(6 6)"><mask id="b" fill="#fff"><use xlink:href="/web/20220121060629im_/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/a-perfect-storm-for-container-shipping/21804500#a"></use></mask><path class="path-foreground" d="M9.997.006c-2.715 0-3.056.012-4.122.06-1.064.049-1.79.218-2.426.465a4.9 4.9 0 0 0-1.771 1.153 4.9 4.9 0 0 0-1.153 1.77C.278 4.092.109 4.818.06 5.882.012 6.948 0 7.288 0 10.003s.012 3.056.06 4.122c.049 1.064.218 1.79.465 2.426a4.9 4.9 0 0 0 1.153 1.771 4.9 4.9 0 0 0 1.77 1.153c.636.247 1.363.416 2.427.465 1.066.048 1.407.06 4.122.06s3.055-.012 4.122-.06c1.064-.049 1.79-.218 2.426-.465a4.9 4.9 0 0 0 1.77-1.153 4.9 4.9 0 0 0 1.154-1.77c.247-.636.416-1.363.465-2.427.048-1.066.06-1.407.06-4.122s-.012-3.055-.06-4.122c-.049-1.064-.218-1.79-.465-2.426a4.9 4.9 0 0 0-1.153-1.77A4.9 4.9 0 0 0 16.546.53c-.637-.247-1.363-.416-2.427-.465-1.067-.048-1.407-.06-4.122-.06zm0 1.802c2.67 0 2.985.01 4.04.058.974.044 1.503.207 1.856.344.466.181.8.398 1.15.748.349.35.566.683.747 1.15.137.352.3.88.344 1.856.048 1.054.058 1.37.058 4.04 0 2.668-.01 2.985-.058 4.039-.044.974-.207 1.504-.344 1.856-.181.467-.398.8-.748 1.15-.35.35-.683.566-1.15.747-.352.137-.88.3-1.856.344-1.054.049-1.37.059-4.04.059-2.669 0-2.985-.01-4.039-.059-.974-.044-1.504-.207-1.856-.344a3.097 3.097 0 0 1-1.15-.748 3.097 3.097 0 0 1-.747-1.149c-.137-.352-.3-.882-.344-1.856-.049-1.054-.059-1.37-.059-4.04s.01-2.985.059-4.04c.044-.974.207-1.503.344-1.856.181-.466.398-.8.748-1.15.35-.349.682-.566 1.149-.747.352-.137.882-.3 1.856-.344 1.054-.048 1.37-.058 4.04-.058z" fill="#FFF" mask="url(#b)"></path></g><path class="path-foreground" d="M15.997 19.335a3.332 3.332 0 1 1 0-6.664 3.332 3.332 0 0 1 0 6.664zm0-8.465a5.133 5.133 0 1 0 0 10.267 5.133 5.133 0 0 0 0-10.267zM22.533 10.667a1.2 1.2 0 1 1-2.4 0 1.2 1.2 0 0 1 2.4 0" fill="#FFF"></path></g></svg></a></li><li id="ds-footer-twitter-icon"><a class="ds-share-link ds-share-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.twitter.com/theeconomist"><svg viewbox="-1 -1 34 34" width="32" height="32"><title>Twitter</title><g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><circle class="path-background" fill="#333" cx="16" cy="16" r="16"></circle><path class="path-foreground" d="M12.29 24c7.547 0 11.675-5.771 11.675-10.776 0-.164 0-.327-.012-.49A8.024 8.024 0 0 0 26 10.774a8.73 8.73 0 0 1-2.357.596c.857-.474 1.498-1.218 1.804-2.095a8.65 8.65 0 0 1-2.605.919c-1.272-1.248-3.293-1.554-4.93-.745-1.637.808-2.483 2.53-2.063 4.2-3.3-.153-6.373-1.592-8.457-3.958-1.09 1.73-.533 3.945 1.27 5.056a4.335 4.335 0 0 1-1.862-.474v.048c0 1.803 1.377 3.356 3.292 3.713a4.429 4.429 0 0 1-1.853.065c.538 1.542 2.078 2.6 3.834 2.63-1.453 1.054-3.248 1.626-5.096 1.624-.327 0-.653-.018-.977-.054a12.334 12.334 0 0 0 6.29 1.698" fill="#FFF"></path></g></svg></a></li><li id="ds-footer-linkedin-icon"><a class="ds-share-link ds-share-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-economist"><svg viewbox="-1 -1 34 34" width="32" height="32"><title>LinkedIn</title><g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><circle class="path-background" fill="#333" cx="16" cy="16" r="16"></circle><path class="path-foreground" d="M25 24h-3.728v-5.847c0-1.395-.025-3.188-1.938-3.188-1.942 0-2.239 1.519-2.239 3.087V24h-3.728V11.977h3.579v1.642h.05c.497-.945 1.714-1.941 3.53-1.941 3.777 0 4.474 2.49 4.474 5.727V24zM9.163 10.333A2.165 2.165 0 0 1 7 8.166C7 6.971 7.968 6 9.163 6c1.193 0 2.162.97 2.162 2.166s-.969 2.167-2.162 2.167zM7.297 24h3.73V11.977h-3.73V24z" fill="#FFF"></path></g></svg></a></li><li id="ds-footer-youtube-icon"><a class="ds-share-link ds-share-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.youtube.com/user/economistmagazine"><svg viewbox="-1 -1 34 34" width="32" height="32"><title>YouTube</title><g id="share-youtube" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><circle class="path-background" fill="#333" cx="16" cy="16" r="16"></circle><path class="path-foreground" d="M25.582 11.186C26 12.746 26 16 26 16s0 3.254-.418 4.814a2.504 2.504 0 0 1-1.768 1.768C22.254 23 16 23 16 23s-6.254 0-7.814-.418a2.504 2.504 0 0 1-1.768-1.768C6 19.254 6 16 6 16s0-3.254.418-4.814c.23-.86.908-1.538 1.768-1.768C9.746 9 16 9 16 9s6.254 0 7.814.418c.86.23 1.538.908 1.768 1.768zm-11.515 7.772l5.196-3-5.196-3v6z" fill="#FFF"></path></g></svg></a></li><li id="ds-footer-rss-icon"><a class="ds-share-link ds-share-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/rss"><svg viewbox="-1 -1 34 34" width="32" height="32"><title>RSS</title><g id="share-rss" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><circle class="path-background" fill="#333" cx="16" cy="16" r="16"></circle><circle class="path-foreground" fill="#FFF" cx="11.453" cy="21.052" r="2.453"></circle><path class="path-foreground" d="M9 6v3.184c7.909 0 14.321 6.412 14.321 14.321h3.184C26.505 13.841 18.664 6 9 6zm0 6.367v3.184c4.387 0 7.954 3.566 7.954 7.954h3.183c0-6.154-4.983-11.137-11.137-11.137z" fill="#FFF" fill-rule="nonzero"></path></g></svg></a></li></ul></div><p class="ds-footer__mission-statement">Published since September 1843 to take part in <em>“a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.”</em> </p></div><nav class="ds-layout-grid ds-footer-cols-lambda"><div id="ds-footer-the-economist" class="ds-footer-cols-lambda__group"><h2 class="ds-footer__header">The Economist</h2><ul class="ds-footer__link-list"><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/news/2020/06/19/frequently-asked-questions"><span>About</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://impact.economist.com/"><span>Advertise</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://press.economist.com/"><span>Press centre</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://shop.economist.com/"><span>Store</span></a></li></ul></div><div id="ds-footer-the-economist-group" class="ds-footer-cols-lambda__group"><h2 class="ds-footer__header">The Economist Group</h2><ul class="ds-footer__link-list"><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economistgroup.com/"><span>The Economist Group</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.eiu.com/n/"><span>Economist Intelligence</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://impact.economist.com/"><span>Economist Impact</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://events.economist.com/?RefID=e.com-home&utm_source=e.com&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=group-aff&utm_content=footer-link"><span>Economist Events</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://economistgroupcareers.com/"><span>Working Here</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://whichmba.economist.com/"><span>Which MBA?</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://gmat.economist.com/"><span>GMAT Tutor</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://gre.economist.com/"><span>GRE Tutor</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://jobs.economist.com/"><span>Executive Jobs</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://execed.economist.com/"><span>Executive Education Navigator</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/executiveeducation/newglobalorder/"><span>Executive Education: The New Global Order</span></a></li><li><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/executiveeducation/businesswriting/"><span>Executive Education: Business Writing</span></a></li></ul></div></nav><div class="ds-footer-cols-omega"><ul class="ds-footer__link-list"><li id="footer-terms-of-use"><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--minor ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/legal/terms-of-use"><span>Terms of Use</span></a></li><li id="footer-privacy"><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--minor ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economistgroup.com/results_and_governance/governance/privacy"><span>Privacy</span></a></li><li id="footer-cookie-policy"><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--minor ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economistgroup.com/results_and_governance/governance/Cookies_information.html"><span>Cookie Policy</span></a></li><li id="footer-manage-cookies"><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--minor ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="#"><span>Manage Cookies</span></a></li><li id="footer-accessibility"><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--minor ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/help/accessibilitypolicy"><span>Accessibility</span></a></li><li id="footer-modern-slavery-statement"><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--minor ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economistgroup.com/results_and_governance/governance/ModernSlaveryAct.html"><span>Modern Slavery Statement</span></a></li><li id="footer-ccpa"><a class="ds-navigation-link ds-navigation-link--secondary ds-navigation-link--minor ds-navigation-link--inverse" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/http://privacyportal.economist.com/"><span>Do Not Sell My Personal Information</span></a></li></ul><p id="ds-footer-copyright" class="ds-footer__copyright">Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2022. All rights reserved.</p></div></footer><script src="//web.archive.org/web/20220121060629js_/https://cdn.parsely.com/keys/economist.com/p.js" id="parsely-cfg"></script><div id="piano-ribbon"></div></div></div></div><script id="__NEXT_DATA__" type="application/json">{"props":{"pageProps":{"readerId":"","contactId":"","pageUrl":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/a-perfect-storm-for-container-shipping/21804500","domain":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com","auth":{"loggedIn":false,"verified":false,"isSubscriber":false,"bulkSubscriber":false,"userType":"anonymous"},"pageType":"ARTICLE","isSubscriber":false,"content":[{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/a-perfect-storm-for-container-shipping/21804500","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/pa7kaktmebt4a6jh662anmf4bu94akeu","tegID":"pa7kaktmebt4a6jh662anmf4bu94akeu","type":["Article","NewsArticle","AnalysisNewsArticle"],"headline":"A perfect storm for container shipping","subheadline":"Turbulent waters","seoPageTitle":null,"seoMetadataDescription":null,"ad":{"siteCode":"LASN","zoneCode":"kjdu","environment":"dev","grapeshot":{"channels":[{"name":"programmatic_gs_science_environ","score":7.091,"__typename":"GrapeshotChannel"},{"name":"custom_logistics","score":6.391,"__typename":"GrapeshotChannel"},{"name":"gs_interest_frequent_travelers","score":4.688,"__typename":"GrapeshotChannel"},{"name":"neg_omd_exclusion","score":4.342,"__typename":"GrapeshotChannel"},{"name":"gs_business_misc","score":3.484,"__typename":"GrapeshotChannel"},{"name":"america_department_commerce","score":3.237,"__typename":"GrapeshotChannel"},{"name":"gs_business","score":3.021,"__typename":"GrapeshotChannel"},{"name":"barclays_energy_water","score":2.873,"__typename":"GrapeshotChannel"},{"name":"ts_energy","score":2.873,"__typename":"GrapeshotChannel"},{"name":"gs_science","score":2.523,"__typename":"GrapeshotChannel"},{"name":"blogs_environment","score":2.481,"__typename":"GrapeshotChannel"},{"name":"gv_safe","score":0.079,"__typename":"GrapeshotChannel"}],"__typename":"Grapeshot"},"__typename":"Ad"},"audio":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/media-assets/audio/068%20Finance%20and%20economics%20-%20Container%20shipping-74c7cfd1b67d56f54421879ab9104a5f.mp3","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content"},"__typename":"Media"},"image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_fnp003.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","height":720,"width":1280,"description":""},"promo":null,"__typename":"Media"},"description":"Will prolonged disruptions shift the pattern of trade?","datePublished":"2021-09-16T00:00:00Z","dateModified":"2021-09-16T11:50:16Z","dateModifiedString":"Sep 16th 2021","datePublishedString":"Sep 16th 2021","dateCreated":"2021-09-12T17:59:56Z","copyrightYear":2021,"inLanguage":"en","byline":"","dateline":null,"text":[{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"type":"tag","name":"span","attribs":{"data-caps":"initial"},"children":[{"data":"A","type":"text"}]},{"data":" ","type":"text"},{"type":"tag","name":"a","attribs":{"href":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2021/03/26/why-the-suez-canal-and-other-choke-points-face-growing-pressure"},"children":[{"type":"tag","name":"small","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"GIANT SHIP","type":"text"}]}]},{"data":" wedged across the Suez canal, ","type":"text"},{"type":"tag","name":"a","attribs":{"href":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/02/11/container-shipping-costs-have-surged-in-recent-months"},"children":[{"data":"record-breaking shipping rates","type":"text"}]},{"data":", armadas of vessels waiting outside ports, covid-induced shutdowns: container shipping has rarely been as dramatic as it has in 2021. The average cost of shipping a standard large container (a 40-foot-equivalent unit, or ","type":"text"},{"type":"tag","name":"small","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"FEU","type":"text"}]},{"data":") has surpassed $10,000, some four times higher than a year ago (see chart). The spot price for sending such a box from Shanghai to New York, which in 2019 would have been around $2,500, is now nearer $15,000. Securing a late booking on the busiest route, from China to the west coast of America, could cost $20,000.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"tag","name":"figure","attribs":{"itemtype":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://schema.org/ImageObject"},"children":[{"type":"tag","name":"img","attribs":{"title":"","caption":"","src":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnc212.png","width":"608","height":"662","alt":"","data-slim":"1","data-teg-id":"m6dsh7oqmif685ueffjlc7n96j8tvhsp"},"children":[]}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"In response, some companies are resorting to desperate measures. Peloton, a maker of pricey exercise bikes, is switching to air freight. But costs are also sky-high as capacity, half of it usually provided in the holds of passenger jets, is constrained by curbs on international flights. Home Depot and Walmart, two American retailers, have chartered ships directly. Pressing inappropriate vessels into service has proved near-calamitous. An attempt in July to carry containers on a bulk carrier, which generally carts coal or iron ore, was hastily abandoned when the load shifted, forcing a return to port. More containers are travelling across Asia by train. Some are even reportedly being trucked from China to Europe then shipped across the Atlantic to avoid clogged Chinese ports.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"tag","name":"figure","attribs":{"role":"presentation","itemtype":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://schema.org/WPAdBlock"},"children":[]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"Trains, planes and lorries can only do so much, especially when it comes to shifting goods halfway around the planet. Container ships lug around a quarter of the world’s traded goods by volume and three-fifths by value. The choice is often between paying up and suffering delays, or not importing at all. Globally 8m ","type":"text"},{"type":"tag","name":"small","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"TEUS","type":"text"}]},{"data":" (20-foot-equivalent units) are in port or waiting to be unloaded, up by 10% year-on-year. At the end of August over 40 container ships were anchored off Los Angeles and Long Beach. These serve as car parks for containers, says Eleanor Hadland of Drewry, a shipping consultancy, in order to avoid clogging ports that in turn lack trains or lorries to shift goods to warehouses that are already full. The “pinch point”, she adds, “is the entire chain”.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"type":"tag","name":"figure","attribs":{"itemtype":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://schema.org/MediaObject","class":"op-interactive"},"children":[{"type":"tag","name":"iframe","attribs":{"height":"188","src":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://embed.acast.com/gamechangers/gamechangers-thinkinginsidethebox","width":"100%"},"children":[]}]}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"For years container shipping kept supply chains running and globalisation humming. Shipping was “so cheap that it was almost immaterial”, says David Kerstens of Jefferies, a bank. But disruption after disruption means that the metal boxes are losing their reputation for low prices and reliability. Few experts think things will get better before early next year. The dislocations could even hasten a reordering of global trade.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"Shipping is so strained in part because the industry, which usually steams from short-lived boom to sustained bust, was enjoying a rare period of sanity in the run-up to the pandemic. Stephen Gordon of Clarksons, a shipbroker, notes that by 2019 it was showing self-discipline, with the level of capacity and the order book for new ships under control. Then came covid-19. Shipping firms, expecting a collapse in trade, idled 11% of the global fleet. In fact, ","type":"text"},{"type":"tag","name":"a","attribs":{"href":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/business/2020/10/10/how-covid-19-put-wind-in-shipping-companies-sails"},"children":[{"data":"trade held up","type":"text"}]},{"data":" and shipping rates started to climb. And, flush with stimulus cash, Americans started to spend.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"In the first seven months of 2021, cargo volumes between Asia and North America were up by 27% compared with pre-pandemic levels, according to ","type":"text"},{"type":"tag","name":"small","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"BIMCO","type":"text"}]},{"data":", a shipowners’ association. Port throughput in America was 14% higher in the second quarter of 2021 than in 2019. There has been little growth elsewhere: throughput in northern Europe is 1% lower. Yet rates on all routes have rocketed (see map), because ships have set sail to serve lucrative transpacific trade, starving others of capacity.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"tag","name":"figure","attribs":{"itemtype":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://schema.org/ImageObject"},"children":[{"type":"tag","name":"img","attribs":{"title":"","caption":"","src":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/body/20210918_fnm950.png","width":"1280","height":"674","alt":"","data-slim":"0","data-teg-id":"207arsjk9i16nn8tnvr0gjs7oiga1ric"},"children":[]}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"A system stretched to its limits is subject to a “cascading effect”, says Eytan Buchman of Freightos, a digital-freight marketplace. Rerouting and rescheduling would once have mitigated the closure of part of Yantian, one of China’s biggest ports, in May and then Ningbo, another port, in August after covid-19 outbreaks. But without spare capacity, that is impossible. “All ships that can float are deployed,” remarks Soren Skou, boss of Maersk, the world’s biggest container-shipping firm. Empty containers are in all the wrong places. Port congestion puts ships out of service. The average door-to-door shipping time for ocean freight has gone from 41 days a year ago to 70 days, says Freightos.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"Some observers think normality may return after Chinese new year next February. Peter Sand of ","type":"text"},{"type":"tag","name":"small","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"BIMCO","type":"text"}]},{"data":" says disruptions could even take a year to unwind. Lars Jensen of Vespucci Maritime, an advisory firm, notes that a dockers’ strike on America’s west coast in 2015 caused similar disruption, albeit only in the region. It still took six months to unwind the backlog.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"On the demand side much depends on whether the American consumer’s appetite for buying stuff continues. Although retail sales fell in July, they are still 18% above pre-pandemic levels, points out Oxford Economics, a consultancy. But even if American consumer demand slackens, firms are set to splurge as they restock inventories depleted by the buying spree and prepare for the holiday season at the end of the year. And there are signs that demand in Europe is picking up.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"In a sea of uncertainty, one bedrock remains. The industry, flush with profits, is reacting customarily, setting an annual record for new orders for container-ship capacity in less than eight months of this year, says Mr Sand. But with a two-to-three-year wait, this release valve will not start to operate until 2023. And the race to flood the market may not match torrents of the past. There are far fewer shipyards today: 120 compared with around 300 in 2008, when the previous record was set. And shipping, responsible for 2.7% of global carbon-dioxide emissions, is under pressure to clean up its act. Tougher regulations come into force in 2023.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"The upshot is that the industry “will remain cyclical”, but with rates normalising at a higher level, says Maersk’s Mr Skou. Discipline in both ordering and managing capacity may prove more permanent, aided by consolidation within the industry.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"The impact of higher shipping costs depends on the good being transported. Those hoping to import cheap and bulky things like garden furniture might be in for a long wait. Mr Buchman notes that current spot rates might add $1,000 to the price of a sofa travelling from China to America. The effects on product prices so far may have been dampened: around 60% of goods are subject to contractual arrangements with shipping rates agreed in advance and only 40% to soaring spot prices.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"tag","name":"h2","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"Boxed in","type":"text"}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"Nonetheless, for most products, shipping costs tend to be a small percentage of the overall cost. The boss of a large global manufacturer based in Europe says the extreme costs now are “bearable”. Nor might shipping rates rise much more even if disruptions continue. ","type":"text"},{"type":"tag","name":"small","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"CMA CGM","type":"text"}]},{"data":", the third-largest container-shipping firm in the world, stunned industry watchers on September 9th when it said that it would cap spot rates for ocean freight. Hapag-Lloyd, the fifth-largest, rapidly followed suit.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"Decarbonisation costs mean rates will eventually settle at higher levels than those before the pandemic. Yet research by Maersk suggests that this may not affect customers much. Even if sustainable fuel cost three times as much as the dirty stuff, increasing per-container fuel costs to $1,200 across the Pacific, for a container loaded with 8,000 pairs of trainers, the impact on each item would be minimal.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"Instead it is the problem of reliability that may change the way firms think. “Just in time” may give way to “just in case”, says Mr Sand, as firms guard against supply shortages by building inventories far above pre-pandemic levels. Reliability and efficiency might also be hastened by the use of technology in an industry that has long resisted its implementation. As Fraser Robinson of Beacon, another digital freight forwarder, points out, supply chains can be made sturdier by using data to provide better “visibility” such as over which suppliers and shipping companies do a better or worse job of keeping to timetables and ordering goods earlier.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"There is so far little evidence of “nearshoring”, except in the car industry, says Mr Skou. But the combination of trade war, geopolitics and covid-19 may together lead trade patterns to tilt away from China. Some Chinese firms and the companies they supply are relocating production to lower-cost countries to diversify supply chains and circumvent trade barriers. Mr Kerstens of Jefferies notes that after America under President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on China the volume of trade from China to America fell by 7% in 2019, but American imports remained stable overall as places like Vietnam and Malaysia took up the slack. Hedging against covid-19 shutdowns, particularly given China’s zero tolerance for infections, could provide another reason to move away.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"For their part, shipping firms may be preparing for more regionalised trade. The order book is bulging for ships of 13,000-15,000 ","type":"text"},{"type":"tag","name":"small","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"TEU","type":"text"}]},{"data":", smaller than the mega-vessels that can only be handled at the biggest ports. Vietnam opened a new deepwater terminal in January, which can handle all but those largest ships.","type":"text"}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"Finding new manufacturers is hard, however, especially for complex products. And building buffers into supply chains is costly. But conversations about deglobalising are said to be starting among some makers of low-cost clothing and commodity goods. If high costs and delays persist, some will judge that the benefits of proximity to suppliers outweigh the costs of bringing in goods made far away. With few alternatives to ships, the only choice will be to move the factories that make them. ","type":"text"},{"type":"tag","name":"span","attribs":{"data-ornament":"ufinish"},"children":[{"data":"■","type":"text"}]}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"type":"tag","name":"em","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"Correction (September 13th 2021): The figures on port throughput in America and northern Europe have been corrected since publication.","type":"text"}]}]},{"type":"tag","name":"p","attribs":{},"children":[{"type":"tag","name":"em","attribs":{},"children":[{"data":"For more expert analysis of the biggest stories in economics, business and markets, ","type":"text"},{"type":"tag","name":"a","attribs":{"href":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/moneytalks/"},"children":[{"data":"sign up to Money Talks","type":"text"}]},{"data":", our weekly newsletter.","type":"text"}]}]}],"bodyText":"A GIANT SHIP wedged across the Suez canal, record-breaking shipping rates, armadas of vessels waiting outside ports, covid-induced shutdowns: container shipping has rarely been as dramatic as it has in 2021. The average cost of shipping a standard large container (a 40-foot-equivalent unit, or FEU) has surpassed $10,000, some four times higher than a year ago (see chart). The spot price for sending such a box from Shanghai to New York, which in 2019 would have been around $2,500, is now nearer $15,000. Securing a late booking on the busiest route, from China to the west coast of America, could cost $20,000.\n\nIn response, some companies are resorting to desperate measures. Peloton, a maker of pricey exercise bikes, is switching to air freight. But costs are also sky-high as capacity, half of it usually provided in the holds of passenger jets, is constrained by curbs on international flights. Home Depot and Walmart, two American retailers, have chartered ships directly. Pressing inappropriate vessels into service has proved near-calamitous. An attempt in July to carry containers on a bulk carrier, which generally carts coal or iron ore, was hastily abandoned when the load shifted, forcing a return to port. More containers are travelling across Asia by train. Some are even reportedly being trucked from China to Europe then shipped across the Atlantic to avoid clogged Chinese ports.\n\nTrains, planes and lorries can only do so much, especially when it comes to shifting goods halfway around the planet. Container ships lug around a quarter of the world’s traded goods by volume and three-fifths by value. The choice is often between paying up and suffering delays, or not importing at all. Globally 8m TEUS (20-foot-equivalent units) are in port or waiting to be unloaded, up by 10% year-on-year. At the end of August over 40 container ships were anchored off Los Angeles and Long Beach. These serve as car parks for containers, says Eleanor Hadland of Drewry, a shipping consultancy, in order to avoid clogging ports that in turn lack trains or lorries to shift goods to warehouses that are already full. The “pinch point”, she adds, “is the entire chain”.\n\nFor years container shipping kept supply chains running and globalisation humming. Shipping was “so cheap that it was almost immaterial”, says David Kerstens of Jefferies, a bank. But disruption after disruption means that the metal boxes are losing their reputation for low prices and reliability. Few experts think things will get better before early next year. The dislocations could even hasten a reordering of global trade.\nShipping is so strained in part because the industry, which usually steams from short-lived boom to sustained bust, was enjoying a rare period of sanity in the run-up to the pandemic. Stephen Gordon of Clarksons, a shipbroker, notes that by 2019 it was showing self-discipline, with the level of capacity and the order book for new ships under control. Then came covid-19. Shipping firms, expecting a collapse in trade, idled 11% of the global fleet. In fact, trade held up and shipping rates started to climb. And, flush with stimulus cash, Americans started to spend.\nIn the first seven months of 2021, cargo volumes between Asia and North America were up by 27% compared with pre-pandemic levels, according to BIMCO, a shipowners’ association. Port throughput in America was 14% higher in the second quarter of 2021 than in 2019. There has been little growth elsewhere: throughput in northern Europe is 1% lower. Yet rates on all routes have rocketed (see map), because ships have set sail to serve lucrative transpacific trade, starving others of capacity.\n\nA system stretched to its limits is subject to a “cascading effect”, says Eytan Buchman of Freightos, a digital-freight marketplace. Rerouting and rescheduling would once have mitigated the closure of part of Yantian, one of China’s biggest ports, in May and then Ningbo, another port, in August after covid-19 outbreaks. But without spare capacity, that is impossible. “All ships that can float are deployed,” remarks Soren Skou, boss of Maersk, the world’s biggest container-shipping firm. Empty containers are in all the wrong places. Port congestion puts ships out of service. The average door-to-door shipping time for ocean freight has gone from 41 days a year ago to 70 days, says Freightos.\nSome observers think normality may return after Chinese new year next February. Peter Sand of BIMCO says disruptions could even take a year to unwind. Lars Jensen of Vespucci Maritime, an advisory firm, notes that a dockers’ strike on America’s west coast in 2015 caused similar disruption, albeit only in the region. It still took six months to unwind the backlog.\nOn the demand side much depends on whether the American consumer’s appetite for buying stuff continues. Although retail sales fell in July, they are still 18% above pre-pandemic levels, points out Oxford Economics, a consultancy. But even if American consumer demand slackens, firms are set to splurge as they restock inventories depleted by the buying spree and prepare for the holiday season at the end of the year. And there are signs that demand in Europe is picking up.\nIn a sea of uncertainty, one bedrock remains. The industry, flush with profits, is reacting customarily, setting an annual record for new orders for container-ship capacity in less than eight months of this year, says Mr Sand. But with a two-to-three-year wait, this release valve will not start to operate until 2023. And the race to flood the market may not match torrents of the past. There are far fewer shipyards today: 120 compared with around 300 in 2008, when the previous record was set. And shipping, responsible for 2.7% of global carbon-dioxide emissions, is under pressure to clean up its act. Tougher regulations come into force in 2023.\nThe upshot is that the industry “will remain cyclical”, but with rates normalising at a higher level, says Maersk’s Mr Skou. Discipline in both ordering and managing capacity may prove more permanent, aided by consolidation within the industry.\nThe impact of higher shipping costs depends on the good being transported. Those hoping to import cheap and bulky things like garden furniture might be in for a long wait. Mr Buchman notes that current spot rates might add $1,000 to the price of a sofa travelling from China to America. The effects on product prices so far may have been dampened: around 60% of goods are subject to contractual arrangements with shipping rates agreed in advance and only 40% to soaring spot prices.\nBoxed in\nNonetheless, for most products, shipping costs tend to be a small percentage of the overall cost. The boss of a large global manufacturer based in Europe says the extreme costs now are “bearable”. Nor might shipping rates rise much more even if disruptions continue. CMA CGM, the third-largest container-shipping firm in the world, stunned industry watchers on September 9th when it said that it would cap spot rates for ocean freight. Hapag-Lloyd, the fifth-largest, rapidly followed suit.\nDecarbonisation costs mean rates will eventually settle at higher levels than those before the pandemic. Yet research by Maersk suggests that this may not affect customers much. Even if sustainable fuel cost three times as much as the dirty stuff, increasing per-container fuel costs to $1,200 across the Pacific, for a container loaded with 8,000 pairs of trainers, the impact on each item would be minimal.\nInstead it is the problem of reliability that may change the way firms think. “Just in time” may give way to “just in case”, says Mr Sand, as firms guard against supply shortages by building inventories far above pre-pandemic levels. Reliability and efficiency might also be hastened by the use of technology in an industry that has long resisted its implementation. As Fraser Robinson of Beacon, another digital freight forwarder, points out, supply chains can be made sturdier by using data to provide better “visibility” such as over which suppliers and shipping companies do a better or worse job of keeping to timetables and ordering goods earlier.\nThere is so far little evidence of “nearshoring”, except in the car industry, says Mr Skou. But the combination of trade war, geopolitics and covid-19 may together lead trade patterns to tilt away from China. Some Chinese firms and the companies they supply are relocating production to lower-cost countries to diversify supply chains and circumvent trade barriers. Mr Kerstens of Jefferies notes that after America under President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on China the volume of trade from China to America fell by 7% in 2019, but American imports remained stable overall as places like Vietnam and Malaysia took up the slack. Hedging against covid-19 shutdowns, particularly given China’s zero tolerance for infections, could provide another reason to move away.\nFor their part, shipping firms may be preparing for more regionalised trade. The order book is bulging for ships of 13,000-15,000 TEU, smaller than the mega-vessels that can only be handled at the biggest ports. Vietnam opened a new deepwater terminal in January, which can handle all but those largest ships.\nFinding new manufacturers is hard, however, especially for complex products. And building buffers into supply chains is costly. But conversations about deglobalising are said to be starting among some makers of low-cost clothing and commodity goods. If high costs and delays persist, some will judge that the benefits of proximity to suppliers outweigh the costs of bringing in goods made far away. With few alternatives to ships, the only choice will be to move the factories that make them. ■\nCorrection (September 13th 2021): The figures on port throughput in America and northern Europe have been corrected since publication.\nFor more expert analysis of the biggest stories in economics, business and markets, sign up to Money Talks, our weekly newsletter.","about":{"public":[{"headline":"Rate","__typename":"Content"},{"headline":"Average cost","__typename":"Content"},{"headline":"China","__typename":"Content"},{"headline":"United States","__typename":"Content"},{"headline":"business enterprise","__typename":"Content"},{"headline":"Cost price","__typename":"Content"},{"headline":"Structural load","__typename":"Content"},{"headline":"personal property","__typename":"Content"},{"headline":"container ship","__typename":"Content"},{"headline":"cost","__typename":"Content"},{"headline":"commodity","__typename":"Content"}],"__typename":"Taxonomies"},"print":{"headline":"Perfect storm","section":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","headline":"Finance \u0026 economics"},"__typename":"Print"},"articleSection":{"public":[{"headline":"economy, business and finance","__typename":"Content"},{"headline":"shipbuilding","__typename":"Content"},{"headline":"imports","__typename":"Content"},{"headline":"epidemic","__typename":"Content"},{"headline":"shipping service","__typename":"Content"}],"internal":[{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/h4u9v391l483f78oe4pku4pu3jsqgj9k","tegID":"h4u9v391l483f78oe4pku4pu3jsqgj9k","headline":"Finance \u0026 economics","hasPart":{"parts":[{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/can-china-revive-growth-without-reviving-speculation/21807239","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/jkvbrvr3pdbn0ht2l507h6r1mnnmqete","type":["Article","NewsArticle","AnalysisNewsArticle"],"headline":"As China’s economy slows, policymakers seek to revive growth","subheadline":"Omicronic pains","datePublished":"2022-01-22T00:00:00Z","description":"Lockdowns and crackdowns are taking their toll","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp002.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media","promo":null}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2022/01/22/just-how-gummed-up-are-supply-chains","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/ki78s53otopub2mvbr14r5j9100nko25","type":["Article","NewsArticle","AnalysisNewsArticle"],"headline":"Just how gummed up are supply chains?","subheadline":"Chain reactions","datePublished":"2022-01-22T00:00:00Z","description":"A number of measures suggest that disruptions are historically high—and uncertainty lies ahead","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_FNP001_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media","promo":null}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2022/01/22/why-bank-stocks-are-tumbling-even-as-interest-rates-climb","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/6r6fmjmdl6t85o7goe8v1s9b1v16hu5g","type":["Article","NewsArticle","AnalysisNewsArticle"],"headline":"Why bank stocks are tumbling even as interest rates climb","subheadline":"Mixed messages","datePublished":"2022-01-22T00:00:00Z","description":"Higher rates might crimp investment-bank profits","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp502.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media","promo":null}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/the-race-to-power-the-defi-ecosystem-is-on/21807229","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/7c1gsfdij8k9tl9oiacpm63p1snbr18i","type":["Article","NewsArticle","AnalysisNewsArticle"],"headline":"The race to dominate the DeFi ecosystem is on","subheadline":"Battle of the blockchains","datePublished":"2022-01-22T00:00:00Z","description":"Why Ethereum is losing market share","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnd001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media","promo":null}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2022/01/22/americas-labour-shortages-have-done-little-to-boost-perks-for-workers","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/rolnuljq0pl8n0363gmnoo9avbmhp0ok","type":["Article","NewsArticle","AnalysisNewsArticle"],"headline":"America’s labour shortages have done little to boost perks for workers","subheadline":"On the fringe","datePublished":"2022-01-22T00:00:00Z","description":"Low-paid workers receive more in benefits than before the pandemic. But the disparity with the highly paid is still vast","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_fnp503.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media","promo":null}}],"__typename":"HasPart"}}],"__typename":"Taxonomies"},"publication":[{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/printedition/2021-09-18","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","type":["PublicationIssue"],"headline":"Down the rabbit hole: The promise and perils of decentralised finance","subheadline":"","datePublished":"2021-09-18T00:00:00Z","datePublishedString":"Sep 18th 2021","id":"/content/lk59ocmbp7q9mumfask2mu3cibttn46k","hasPart":{"parts":[{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/politics-this-week","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/b2ro1apf00tq9v8fs88jm349d2hv9q4q","headline":"Politics this week","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_WWP002_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/business-this-week","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/spahkvguqecpfgi6v26p3ulgc2gge97t","headline":"Business this week","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_wwp501.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/kals-cartoon","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/ctfmhutephmeklndue5o888tni8il4je","headline":"KAL’s cartoon","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_wwd000.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":886},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/the-beguiling-promise-of-decentralised-finance","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/vdqr89dercfn6cmdfe0t9g8v662stuir","headline":"The beguiling promise of decentralised finance","subheadline":"Down the rabbit hole","description":"And its many perils","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldd001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/the-row-over-vaccine-mandates/21804773","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/5nghi17dsa3oqdetpdjl17a967i0029e","headline":"Why America needs vaccine mandates","subheadline":"Needling","description":"State pressure has a role in public health. Covid-19 jabs are no exception","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp501.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/rumours-of-the-demise-of-american-enterprise-are-exaggerated","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/41jk0t3la37s7uqsijcqo5rd8rveuhkg","headline":"Rumours of the demise of American enterprise are exaggerated","subheadline":"A dynamic do-over","description":"Policymakers must resist fixing its imagined problems","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp502.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/how-to-stop-children-working","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/l2hh1tk3ubnknkffmlds97jguamcm3m1","headline":"How to stop children working","subheadline":"Child labour","description":"Focus on reducing poverty and helping parents instead of punishing them","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp503.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/why-skippers-arent-scuppered","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/4hja5qev6sd9qtpgkps3ucm2j5uduaj5","headline":"Why skippers aren’t scuppered","subheadline":"World trade","description":"Supply chains are adapting, not failing","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_LDP001_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/letters/2021/09/18/letters-to-the-editor","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/2ccposi0lkmp1h1umq4ls0nh4olvcenl","headline":"Letters to the editor","subheadline":"On the rise of illiberalism","description":"A selection of correspondence","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210904_fbd001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/briefing/2021/09/18/adventures-in-defi-land","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/lasmk1g3ucqj56t8nndgfpmocj2q9e73","headline":"Adventures in DeFi-land","subheadline":"Curiouser and curiouser","description":"Can decentralised finance lay the foundations for an open digital economy?","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_FBD001_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}}],"__typename":"HasPart"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/ap/printedition/2021-09-18","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","type":["PublicationIssue","RegionalIssue"],"headline":"Down the rabbit hole: The promise and perils of decentralised finance","subheadline":"","datePublished":"2021-09-18T00:00:00Z","datePublishedString":"Sep 18th 2021","id":"/content/28121im0fvg8n0jg5bdhpvo7b7lidsbd","hasPart":{"parts":[{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/politics-this-week","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/b2ro1apf00tq9v8fs88jm349d2hv9q4q","headline":"Politics this week","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_WWP002_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/business-this-week","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/spahkvguqecpfgi6v26p3ulgc2gge97t","headline":"Business this week","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_wwp501.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/kals-cartoon","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/ctfmhutephmeklndue5o888tni8il4je","headline":"KAL’s cartoon","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_wwd000.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":886},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/the-beguiling-promise-of-decentralised-finance","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/vdqr89dercfn6cmdfe0t9g8v662stuir","headline":"The beguiling promise of decentralised finance","subheadline":"Down the rabbit hole","description":"And its many perils","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldd001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/the-row-over-vaccine-mandates/21804773","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/5nghi17dsa3oqdetpdjl17a967i0029e","headline":"Why America needs vaccine mandates","subheadline":"Needling","description":"State pressure has a role in public health. Covid-19 jabs are no exception","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp501.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/rumours-of-the-demise-of-american-enterprise-are-exaggerated","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/41jk0t3la37s7uqsijcqo5rd8rveuhkg","headline":"Rumours of the demise of American enterprise are exaggerated","subheadline":"A dynamic do-over","description":"Policymakers must resist fixing its imagined problems","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp502.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/how-to-stop-children-working","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/l2hh1tk3ubnknkffmlds97jguamcm3m1","headline":"How to stop children working","subheadline":"Child labour","description":"Focus on reducing poverty and helping parents instead of punishing them","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp503.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/why-skippers-arent-scuppered","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/4hja5qev6sd9qtpgkps3ucm2j5uduaj5","headline":"Why skippers aren’t scuppered","subheadline":"World trade","description":"Supply chains are adapting, not failing","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_LDP001_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/letters/2021/09/18/letters-to-the-editor","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/2ccposi0lkmp1h1umq4ls0nh4olvcenl","headline":"Letters to the editor","subheadline":"On the rise of illiberalism","description":"A selection of correspondence","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210904_fbd001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/briefing/2021/09/18/adventures-in-defi-land","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/lasmk1g3ucqj56t8nndgfpmocj2q9e73","headline":"Adventures in DeFi-land","subheadline":"Curiouser and curiouser","description":"Can decentralised finance lay the foundations for an open digital economy?","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_FBD001_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}}],"__typename":"HasPart"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/eu/printedition/2021-09-18","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","type":["PublicationIssue","RegionalIssue"],"headline":"Down the rabbit hole: The promise and perils of decentralised finance","subheadline":"","datePublished":"2021-09-18T00:00:00Z","datePublishedString":"Sep 18th 2021","id":"/content/acavlvrla6sfdt8fip37ejpd7bdan605","hasPart":{"parts":[{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/politics-this-week","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/b2ro1apf00tq9v8fs88jm349d2hv9q4q","headline":"Politics this week","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_WWP002_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/business-this-week","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/spahkvguqecpfgi6v26p3ulgc2gge97t","headline":"Business this week","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_wwp501.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/kals-cartoon","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/ctfmhutephmeklndue5o888tni8il4je","headline":"KAL’s cartoon","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_wwd000.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":886},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/the-beguiling-promise-of-decentralised-finance","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/vdqr89dercfn6cmdfe0t9g8v662stuir","headline":"The beguiling promise of decentralised finance","subheadline":"Down the rabbit hole","description":"And its many perils","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldd001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/the-row-over-vaccine-mandates/21804773","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/5nghi17dsa3oqdetpdjl17a967i0029e","headline":"Why America needs vaccine mandates","subheadline":"Needling","description":"State pressure has a role in public health. Covid-19 jabs are no exception","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp501.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/rumours-of-the-demise-of-american-enterprise-are-exaggerated","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/41jk0t3la37s7uqsijcqo5rd8rveuhkg","headline":"Rumours of the demise of American enterprise are exaggerated","subheadline":"A dynamic do-over","description":"Policymakers must resist fixing its imagined problems","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp502.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/how-to-stop-children-working","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/l2hh1tk3ubnknkffmlds97jguamcm3m1","headline":"How to stop children working","subheadline":"Child labour","description":"Focus on reducing poverty and helping parents instead of punishing them","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp503.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/why-skippers-arent-scuppered","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/4hja5qev6sd9qtpgkps3ucm2j5uduaj5","headline":"Why skippers aren’t scuppered","subheadline":"World trade","description":"Supply chains are adapting, not failing","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_LDP001_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/letters/2021/09/18/letters-to-the-editor","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/2ccposi0lkmp1h1umq4ls0nh4olvcenl","headline":"Letters to the editor","subheadline":"On the rise of illiberalism","description":"A selection of correspondence","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210904_fbd001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/briefing/2021/09/18/adventures-in-defi-land","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/lasmk1g3ucqj56t8nndgfpmocj2q9e73","headline":"Adventures in DeFi-land","subheadline":"Curiouser and curiouser","description":"Can decentralised finance lay the foundations for an open digital economy?","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_FBD001_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}}],"__typename":"HasPart"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/la/printedition/2021-09-18","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","type":["PublicationIssue","RegionalIssue"],"headline":"Down the rabbit hole: The promise and perils of decentralised finance","subheadline":"","datePublished":"2021-09-18T00:00:00Z","datePublishedString":"Sep 18th 2021","id":"/content/d4lop998q6qai1kvn0scjjqbahj9lcce","hasPart":{"parts":[{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/politics-this-week","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/b2ro1apf00tq9v8fs88jm349d2hv9q4q","headline":"Politics this week","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_WWP002_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/business-this-week","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/spahkvguqecpfgi6v26p3ulgc2gge97t","headline":"Business this week","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_wwp501.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/kals-cartoon","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/ctfmhutephmeklndue5o888tni8il4je","headline":"KAL’s cartoon","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_wwd000.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":886},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/the-beguiling-promise-of-decentralised-finance","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/vdqr89dercfn6cmdfe0t9g8v662stuir","headline":"The beguiling promise of decentralised finance","subheadline":"Down the rabbit hole","description":"And its many perils","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldd001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/the-row-over-vaccine-mandates/21804773","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/5nghi17dsa3oqdetpdjl17a967i0029e","headline":"Why America needs vaccine mandates","subheadline":"Needling","description":"State pressure has a role in public health. Covid-19 jabs are no exception","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp501.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/rumours-of-the-demise-of-american-enterprise-are-exaggerated","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/41jk0t3la37s7uqsijcqo5rd8rveuhkg","headline":"Rumours of the demise of American enterprise are exaggerated","subheadline":"A dynamic do-over","description":"Policymakers must resist fixing its imagined problems","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp502.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/how-to-stop-children-working","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/l2hh1tk3ubnknkffmlds97jguamcm3m1","headline":"How to stop children working","subheadline":"Child labour","description":"Focus on reducing poverty and helping parents instead of punishing them","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp503.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/why-skippers-arent-scuppered","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/4hja5qev6sd9qtpgkps3ucm2j5uduaj5","headline":"Why skippers aren’t scuppered","subheadline":"World trade","description":"Supply chains are adapting, not failing","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_LDP001_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/letters/2021/09/18/letters-to-the-editor","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/2ccposi0lkmp1h1umq4ls0nh4olvcenl","headline":"Letters to the editor","subheadline":"On the rise of illiberalism","description":"A selection of correspondence","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210904_fbd001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/briefing/2021/09/18/adventures-in-defi-land","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/lasmk1g3ucqj56t8nndgfpmocj2q9e73","headline":"Adventures in DeFi-land","subheadline":"Curiouser and curiouser","description":"Can decentralised finance lay the foundations for an open digital economy?","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_FBD001_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}}],"__typename":"HasPart"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/me/printedition/2021-09-18","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","type":["PublicationIssue","RegionalIssue"],"headline":"Down the rabbit hole: The promise and perils of decentralised finance","subheadline":"","datePublished":"2021-09-18T00:00:00Z","datePublishedString":"Sep 18th 2021","id":"/content/0cfh1al7ml8a8i82m4np629n4jof8ckp","hasPart":{"parts":[{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/politics-this-week","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/b2ro1apf00tq9v8fs88jm349d2hv9q4q","headline":"Politics this week","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_WWP002_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/business-this-week","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/spahkvguqecpfgi6v26p3ulgc2gge97t","headline":"Business this week","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_wwp501.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/kals-cartoon","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/ctfmhutephmeklndue5o888tni8il4je","headline":"KAL’s cartoon","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_wwd000.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":886},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/the-beguiling-promise-of-decentralised-finance","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/vdqr89dercfn6cmdfe0t9g8v662stuir","headline":"The beguiling promise of decentralised finance","subheadline":"Down the rabbit hole","description":"And its many perils","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldd001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/the-row-over-vaccine-mandates/21804773","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/5nghi17dsa3oqdetpdjl17a967i0029e","headline":"Why America needs vaccine mandates","subheadline":"Needling","description":"State pressure has a role in public health. Covid-19 jabs are no exception","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp501.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/rumours-of-the-demise-of-american-enterprise-are-exaggerated","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/41jk0t3la37s7uqsijcqo5rd8rveuhkg","headline":"Rumours of the demise of American enterprise are exaggerated","subheadline":"A dynamic do-over","description":"Policymakers must resist fixing its imagined problems","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp502.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/how-to-stop-children-working","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/l2hh1tk3ubnknkffmlds97jguamcm3m1","headline":"How to stop children working","subheadline":"Child labour","description":"Focus on reducing poverty and helping parents instead of punishing them","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp503.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/why-skippers-arent-scuppered","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/4hja5qev6sd9qtpgkps3ucm2j5uduaj5","headline":"Why skippers aren’t scuppered","subheadline":"World trade","description":"Supply chains are adapting, not failing","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_LDP001_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/letters/2021/09/18/letters-to-the-editor","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/2ccposi0lkmp1h1umq4ls0nh4olvcenl","headline":"Letters to the editor","subheadline":"On the rise of illiberalism","description":"A selection of correspondence","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210904_fbd001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/briefing/2021/09/18/adventures-in-defi-land","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/lasmk1g3ucqj56t8nndgfpmocj2q9e73","headline":"Adventures in DeFi-land","subheadline":"Curiouser and curiouser","description":"Can decentralised finance lay the foundations for an open digital economy?","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_FBD001_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}}],"__typename":"HasPart"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/na/printedition/2021-09-18","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","type":["PublicationIssue","RegionalIssue"],"headline":"Down the rabbit hole: The promise and perils of decentralised finance","subheadline":"","datePublished":"2021-09-18T00:00:00Z","datePublishedString":"Sep 18th 2021","id":"/content/qludtp2mlfdlesqkkvi7fpj3ga7on2r4","hasPart":{"parts":[{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/politics-this-week","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/b2ro1apf00tq9v8fs88jm349d2hv9q4q","headline":"Politics this week","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_WWP002_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/business-this-week","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/spahkvguqecpfgi6v26p3ulgc2gge97t","headline":"Business this week","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_wwp501.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/kals-cartoon","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/ctfmhutephmeklndue5o888tni8il4je","headline":"KAL’s cartoon","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_wwd000.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":886},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/the-beguiling-promise-of-decentralised-finance","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/vdqr89dercfn6cmdfe0t9g8v662stuir","headline":"The beguiling promise of decentralised finance","subheadline":"Down the rabbit hole","description":"And its many perils","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldd001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/the-row-over-vaccine-mandates/21804773","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/5nghi17dsa3oqdetpdjl17a967i0029e","headline":"Why America needs vaccine mandates","subheadline":"Needling","description":"State pressure has a role in public health. Covid-19 jabs are no exception","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp501.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/rumours-of-the-demise-of-american-enterprise-are-exaggerated","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/41jk0t3la37s7uqsijcqo5rd8rveuhkg","headline":"Rumours of the demise of American enterprise are exaggerated","subheadline":"A dynamic do-over","description":"Policymakers must resist fixing its imagined problems","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp502.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/how-to-stop-children-working","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/l2hh1tk3ubnknkffmlds97jguamcm3m1","headline":"How to stop children working","subheadline":"Child labour","description":"Focus on reducing poverty and helping parents instead of punishing them","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp503.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/why-skippers-arent-scuppered","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/4hja5qev6sd9qtpgkps3ucm2j5uduaj5","headline":"Why skippers aren’t scuppered","subheadline":"World trade","description":"Supply chains are adapting, not failing","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_LDP001_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/letters/2021/09/18/letters-to-the-editor","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/2ccposi0lkmp1h1umq4ls0nh4olvcenl","headline":"Letters to the editor","subheadline":"On the rise of illiberalism","description":"A selection of correspondence","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210904_fbd001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/briefing/2021/09/18/adventures-in-defi-land","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/lasmk1g3ucqj56t8nndgfpmocj2q9e73","headline":"Adventures in DeFi-land","subheadline":"Curiouser and curiouser","description":"Can decentralised finance lay the foundations for an open digital economy?","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_FBD001_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}}],"__typename":"HasPart"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/uk/printedition/2021-09-18","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","type":["PublicationIssue","RegionalIssue"],"headline":"Down the rabbit hole: The promise and perils of decentralised finance","subheadline":"","datePublished":"2021-09-18T00:00:00Z","datePublishedString":"Sep 18th 2021","id":"/content/hc9hcea6qbb8kfvng0768tpmqrpdttf5","hasPart":{"parts":[{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/politics-this-week","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/b2ro1apf00tq9v8fs88jm349d2hv9q4q","headline":"Politics this week","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_WWP002_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/business-this-week","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/spahkvguqecpfgi6v26p3ulgc2gge97t","headline":"Business this week","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_wwp501.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-world-this-week/2021/09/18/kals-cartoon","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/ctfmhutephmeklndue5o888tni8il4je","headline":"KAL’s cartoon","subheadline":"","description":"","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_wwd000.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":886},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/the-beguiling-promise-of-decentralised-finance","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/vdqr89dercfn6cmdfe0t9g8v662stuir","headline":"The beguiling promise of decentralised finance","subheadline":"Down the rabbit hole","description":"And its many perils","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldd001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/the-row-over-vaccine-mandates/21804773","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/5nghi17dsa3oqdetpdjl17a967i0029e","headline":"Why America needs vaccine mandates","subheadline":"Needling","description":"State pressure has a role in public health. Covid-19 jabs are no exception","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp501.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/rumours-of-the-demise-of-american-enterprise-are-exaggerated","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/41jk0t3la37s7uqsijcqo5rd8rveuhkg","headline":"Rumours of the demise of American enterprise are exaggerated","subheadline":"A dynamic do-over","description":"Policymakers must resist fixing its imagined problems","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp502.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/how-to-stop-children-working","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/l2hh1tk3ubnknkffmlds97jguamcm3m1","headline":"How to stop children working","subheadline":"Child labour","description":"Focus on reducing poverty and helping parents instead of punishing them","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_ldp503.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/09/18/why-skippers-arent-scuppered","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/4hja5qev6sd9qtpgkps3ucm2j5uduaj5","headline":"Why skippers aren’t scuppered","subheadline":"World trade","description":"Supply chains are adapting, not failing","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_LDP001_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/letters/2021/09/18/letters-to-the-editor","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/2ccposi0lkmp1h1umq4ls0nh4olvcenl","headline":"Letters to the editor","subheadline":"On the rise of illiberalism","description":"A selection of correspondence","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210904_fbd001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/briefing/2021/09/18/adventures-in-defi-land","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","id":"/content/lasmk1g3ucqj56t8nndgfpmocj2q9e73","headline":"Adventures in DeFi-land","subheadline":"Curiouser and curiouser","description":"Can decentralised finance lay the foundations for an open digital economy?","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210918_FBD001_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}}],"__typename":"HasPart"}}],"channel":{"tegID":"j53t6hsedat4l7rkbb1le98u73262sh5","__typename":"Content"},"_section":{"articleType":"print","publicationUrl":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/printedition/2021-09-18","sectionHeadline":"Finance \u0026 economics","sectionSubheadline":null,"sectionUrl":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/"},"_metadata":{"articleId":"/content/pa7kaktmebt4a6jh662anmf4bu94akeu","tegID":"pa7kaktmebt4a6jh662anmf4bu94akeu","title":"Turbulent waters - A perfect storm for container shipping | Finance \u0026 economics | The Economist","shareSnippet":"Turbulent waters – A perfect storm for container shipping","headline":"A perfect storm for container shipping","section":"Finance \u0026 economics","keywords":["Rate","Average cost","China","United States","business enterprise","Cost price","Structural load","personal property","container ship","cost","commodity","economy, business and finance","shipbuilding","imports","epidemic","shipping service"],"author":["The Economist"],"url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/a-perfect-storm-for-container-shipping/21804500","type":"Article","articleBody":"A GIANT SHIP wedged across the Suez canal, record-breaking shipping rates, armadas of vessels waiting outside ports, covid-induced shutdowns: container shipping has rarely been as dramatic as it has in 2021. The average cost of shipping a standard large container (a 40-foot-equivalent unit, or FEU) has surpassed $10,000, some four times higher than a year ago (see chart). The spot price for sending such a box from Shanghai to New York, which in 2019 would have been around $2,500, is now nearer $15,000. Securing a late booking on the busiest route, from China to the west coast of America, could cost $20,000.\n\nIn response, some companies are resorting to desperate measures. Peloton, a maker of pricey exercise bikes, is switching to air freight. But costs are also sky-high as capacity, half of it usually provided in the holds of passenger jets, is constrained by curbs on international flights. Home Depot and Walmart, two American retailers, have chartered ships directly. Pressing inappropriate vessels into service has proved near-calamitous. An attempt in July to carry containers on a bulk carrier, which generally carts coal or iron ore, was hastily abandoned when the load shifted, forcing a return to port. More containers are travelling across Asia by train. Some are even reportedly being trucked from China to Europe then shipped across the Atlantic to avoid clogged Chinese ports.\n\nTrains, planes and lorries can only do so much, especially when it comes to shifting goods halfway around the planet. Container ships lug around a quarter of the world’s traded goods by volume and three-fifths by value. The choice is often between paying up and suffering delays, or not importing at all. Globally 8m TEUS (20-foot-equivalent units) are in port or waiting to be unloaded, up by 10% year-on-year. At the end of August over 40 container ships were anchored off Los Angeles and Long Beach. These serve as car parks for containers, says Eleanor Hadland of Drewry, a shipping consultancy, in order to avoid clogging ports that in turn lack trains or lorries to shift goods to warehouses that are already full. The “pinch point”, she adds, “is the entire chain”.\n\nFor years container shipping kept supply chains running and globalisation humming. Shipping was “so cheap that it was almost immaterial”, says David Kerstens of Jefferies, a bank. But disruption after disruption means that the metal boxes are losing their reputation for low prices and reliability. Few experts think things will get better before early next year. The dislocations could even hasten a reordering of global trade.\nShipping is so strained in part because the industry, which usually steams from short-lived boom to sustained bust, was enjoying a rare period of sanity in the run-up to the pandemic. Stephen Gordon of Clarksons, a shipbroker, notes that by 2019 it was showing self-discipline, with the level of capacity and the order book for new ships under control. Then came covid-19. Shipping firms, expecting a collapse in trade, idled 11% of the global fleet. In fact, trade held up and shipping rates started to climb. And, flush with stimulus cash, Americans started to spend.\nIn the first seven months of 2021, cargo volumes between Asia and North America were up by 27% compared with pre-pandemic levels, according to BIMCO, a shipowners’ association. Port throughput in America was 14% higher in the second quarter of 2021 than in 2019. There has been little growth elsewhere: throughput in northern Europe is 1% lower. Yet rates on all routes have rocketed (see map), because ships have set sail to serve lucrative transpacific trade, starving others of capacity.\n\nA system stretched to its limits is subject to a “cascading effect”, says Eytan Buchman of Freightos, a digital-freight marketplace. Rerouting and rescheduling would once have mitigated the closure of part of Yantian, one of China’s biggest ports, in May and then Ningbo, another port, in August after covid-19 outbreaks. But without spare capacity, that is impossible. “All ships that can float are deployed,” remarks Soren Skou, boss of Maersk, the world’s biggest container-shipping firm. Empty containers are in all the wrong places. Port congestion puts ships out of service. The average door-to-door shipping time for ocean freight has gone from 41 days a year ago to 70 days, says Freightos.\nSome observers think normality may return after Chinese new year next February. Peter Sand of BIMCO says disruptions could even take a year to unwind. Lars Jensen of Vespucci Maritime, an advisory firm, notes that a dockers’ strike on America’s west coast in 2015 caused similar disruption, albeit only in the region. It still took six months to unwind the backlog.\nOn the demand side much depends on whether the American consumer’s appetite for buying stuff continues. Although retail sales fell in July, they are still 18% above pre-pandemic levels, points out Oxford Economics, a consultancy. But even if American consumer demand slackens, firms are set to splurge as they restock inventories depleted by the buying spree and prepare for the holiday season at the end of the year. And there are signs that demand in Europe is picking up.\nIn a sea of uncertainty, one bedrock remains. The industry, flush with profits, is reacting customarily, setting an annual record for new orders for container-ship capacity in less than eight months of this year, says Mr Sand. But with a two-to-three-year wait, this release valve will not start to operate until 2023. And the race to flood the market may not match torrents of the past. There are far fewer shipyards today: 120 compared with around 300 in 2008, when the previous record was set. And shipping, responsible for 2.7% of global carbon-dioxide emissions, is under pressure to clean up its act. Tougher regulations come into force in 2023.\nThe upshot is that the industry “will remain cyclical”, but with rates normalising at a higher level, says Maersk’s Mr Skou. Discipline in both ordering and managing capacity may prove more permanent, aided by consolidation within the industry.\nThe impact of higher shipping costs depends on the good being transported. Those hoping to import cheap and bulky things like garden furniture might be in for a long wait. Mr Buchman notes that current spot rates might add $1,000 to the price of a sofa travelling from China to America. The effects on product prices so far may have been dampened: around 60% of goods are subject to contractual arrangements with shipping rates agreed in advance and only 40% to soaring spot prices.\nBoxed in\nNonetheless, for most products, shipping costs tend to be a small percentage of the overall cost. The boss of a large global manufacturer based in Europe says the extreme costs now are “bearable”. Nor might shipping rates rise much more even if disruptions continue. CMA CGM, the third-largest container-shipping firm in the world, stunned industry watchers on September 9th when it said that it would cap spot rates for ocean freight. Hapag-Lloyd, the fifth-largest, rapidly followed suit.\nDecarbonisation costs mean rates will eventually settle at higher levels than those before the pandemic. Yet research by Maersk suggests that this may not affect customers much. Even if sustainable fuel cost three times as much as the dirty stuff, increasing per-container fuel costs to $1,200 across the Pacific, for a container loaded with 8,000 pairs of trainers, the impact on each item would be minimal.\nInstead it is the problem of reliability that may change the way firms think. “Just in time” may give way to “just in case”, says Mr Sand, as firms guard against supply shortages by building inventories far above pre-pandemic levels. Reliability and efficiency might also be hastened by the use of technology in an industry that has long resisted its implementation. As Fraser Robinson of Beacon, another digital freight forwarder, points out, supply chains can be made sturdier by using data to provide better “visibility” such as over which suppliers and shipping companies do a better or worse job of keeping to timetables and ordering goods earlier.\nThere is so far little evidence of “nearshoring”, except in the car industry, says Mr Skou. But the combination of trade war, geopolitics and covid-19 may together lead trade patterns to tilt away from China. Some Chinese firms and the companies they supply are relocating production to lower-cost countries to diversify supply chains and circumvent trade barriers. Mr Kerstens of Jefferies notes that after America under President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on China the volume of trade from China to America fell by 7% in 2019, but American imports remained stable overall as places like Vietnam and Malaysia took up the slack. Hedging against covid-19 shutdowns, particularly given China’s zero tolerance for infections, could provide another reason to move away.\nFor their part, shipping firms may be preparing for more regionalised trade. The order book is bulging for ships of 13,000-15,000 TEU, smaller than the mega-vessels that can only be handled at the biggest ports. Vietnam opened a new deepwater terminal in January, which can handle all but those largest ships.\nFinding new manufacturers is hard, however, especially for complex products. And building buffers into supply chains is costly. But conversations about deglobalising are said to be starting among some makers of low-cost clothing and commodity goods. If high costs and delays persist, some will judge that the benefits of proximity to suppliers outweigh the costs of bringing in goods made far away. With few alternatives to ships, the only choice will be to move the factories that make them. ■\nCorrection (September 13th 2021): The figures on port throughput in America and northern Europe have been corrected since publication.\nFor more expert analysis of the biggest stories in economics, business and markets, sign up to Money Talks, our weekly newsletter.","description":"Will prolonged disruptions shift the pattern of trade?","articleDescription":"Will prolonged disruptions shift the pattern of trade?","imageUrl":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2021/09/articles/main/20210918_fnp003.jpg","imageHeight":720,"imageWidth":1280,"datePublished":"2021-09-16T00:00:00Z","dateModified":"2021-09-16T11:50:16Z","dateCreated":"2021-09-12T17:59:56Z","isPrintArticle":true,"printEdition":"2021-09-18T00:00:00Z","copyrightYear":2021,"dateline":"","inLanguage":"en","interactive":false,"scripts":[],"css":[]}},[],{"shouldDropPaywall":false},{"section1":{"id":"/content/md2otnsr4fvud5kbahk8m3ktoif2fs2i","type":["Blog"],"headline":"The Economist explains","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","hasPart":{"parts":[{"headline":"What is naloxone, and how does it reverse opioid overdoses?","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2022/01/19/what-is-naloxone-and-how-does-it-reverse-opioid-overdoses","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/media-assets/image/20220122_BLP504.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":4827,"height":2730},"__typename":"Media"}},{"headline":"How does a leadership challenge work in Britain’s Conservative Party?","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2022/01/19/how-does-a-leadership-challenge-work-in-britains-conservative-party","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/20220122_BLP510.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"headline":"Why do American airlines say 5G networks will ground their planes?","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2022/01/18/why-do-american-airlines-say-5g-networks-will-ground-their-planes","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/media-assets/image/20220122_BLP508.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":6372,"height":3605},"__typename":"Media"}}],"__typename":"HasPart"}},"section2":{"id":"/content/omi23dr8h15h8c33t2gkb2cju8ap758o","type":["Blog"],"headline":"Podcasts","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/podcasts/","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","hasPart":{"parts":[{"headline":"How are newspapers changing?","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/podcasts/2022/01/20/how-are-newspapers-changing","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/media-assets/image/20220122_PDP510.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"headline":"“Politicians feel it’s incumbent on them to tell voters they’re doing something”—dealing with inflation","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/podcasts/2022/01/20/politicians-feel-its-incumbent-on-them-to-tell-voters-theyre-doing-something-dealing-with-inflation","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/media-assets/image/20220122_PDP509.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"headline":"Big tech’s new frontiers","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/podcasts/2022/01/19/big-techs-new-frontiers","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/media-assets/image/20220122_PDP507.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}}],"__typename":"HasPart"}},"section3":{"id":"/content/lt4151741raqm0fi11oq7iur88ea2iko","type":["Chapter"],"headline":"1843 magazine","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/1843","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","hasPart":{"parts":[{"headline":"Ill-timed parties, from Belshazzar to Boris","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/1843/2022/01/18/ill-timed-parties-from-belshazzar-to-boris","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/media-assets/image/1843_20220118_PARTIES_001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"headline":"From a Birkin bag to bitcoin: Kazakhstan’s protests in six objects","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/1843/2022/01/12/from-a-birkin-bag-to-bitcoin-kazakhstans-protests-in-six-objects","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/media-assets/image/1843_20220112_KAZAKHSTAN_008.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"headline":"“We’re the idiots, now”: a California doctor on his unvaccinated colleagues","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/1843/2022/01/11/were-the-idiots-now-a-california-doctor-on-his-unvaccinated-colleagues","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/media-assets/image/1843_20220111_COVIDDOCTOR_014.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}}],"__typename":"HasPart"}},"section4":{"id":"/content/arf6v6apbfv7pa17gm9ipjqoulhgsg79","type":["Chapter"],"headline":"By Invitation","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","hasPart":{"parts":[{"headline":"A young Afghan woman on breaking free of the burqa","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2021/12/29/a-young-afghan-woman-on-breaking-free-of-the-burqa","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/media-assets/image/20220101_BID001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1920,"height":1080},"__typename":"Media"}},{"headline":"David Miliband on fixing the broken global aid system","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2021/12/15/david-miliband-on-fixing-the-broken-global-aid-system","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/media-assets/image/20211215_BID001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1920,"height":1080},"__typename":"Media"}},{"headline":"Eric Li on the failure of liberal democracy and the rise of China’s way","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2021/12/08/eric-li-on-the-failure-of-liberal-democracy-and-the-rise-of-chinas-way","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/media-assets/image/20211207_BID001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1920,"height":1080},"__typename":"Media"}}],"__typename":"HasPart"}},"hub1":{"id":"/content/94nkhvfvhqbmr4gar1hacphb1es2gv4p","type":["WebPage","HubPage"],"headline":"Our coverage of the coronavirus","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/coronavirus-pandemic","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","hasPart":{"parts":[{"hasPart":{"parts":[{"headline":"China stands alone in its attitude towards the pandemic","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2022/01/18/china-stands-alone-in-its-attitude-towards-the-pandemic","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":null,"__typename":"Media"}},{"headline":"The number of children in American hospitals with covid-19 is rising fast","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2022/01/17/the-number-of-children-in-american-hospitals-with-covid-19-is-rising-fast","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":null,"__typename":"Media"}},{"headline":"The case for updating covid-19 vaccines for the Omicron variant","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/the-case-for-updating-covid-19-vaccines-for-the-omicron-variant/21807136","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220115_stp504.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}}],"__typename":"HasPart"},"__typename":"Content"}],"__typename":"HasPart"}},"section6":{"id":"/content/hppb652hqkpjac47drsdf1npcdb5qpp6","type":["Blog"],"headline":"Films","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/films/","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","hasPart":{"parts":[{"headline":"Why China’s access to personal data is MI6’s biggest concern","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/films/2022/01/20/why-chinas-access-to-personal-data-is-mi6s-biggest-concern","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/media-assets/image/20220120_FLP002.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1920,"height":1080},"__typename":"Media"}},{"headline":"How to keep innovation moving","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/films/2022/01/18/how-to-keep-innovation-moving","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/media-assets/image/20220118_FLP001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1920,"height":1080},"__typename":"Media"}},{"headline":"How to fight racism","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/films/2022/01/13/how-to-fight-racism","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/media-assets/image/20220113_FLP001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1920,"height":1080},"__typename":"Media"}}],"__typename":"HasPart"}},"hub3":{"id":"/content/v979le2rckrb3kjbfrt4p88b3vrth1g8","type":["WebPage","HubPage"],"headline":"Our latest coverage of climate change","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/climate-change","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","hasPart":{"parts":[{"hasPart":{"parts":[{"headline":"What is ExxonMobil’s new climate strategy worth?","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/business/what-is-exxonmobils-new-climate-strategy-worth/21807259","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_wbp001.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"headline":"A lot of Arctic infrastructure is threatened by rising temperatures","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/a-lot-of-arctic-infrastructure-is-threatened-by-rising-temperatures/21807133","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220115_stp503.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"headline":"Can big oil’s bounce-back last?","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/business/can-big-oils-bounce-back-last/21807153","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220115_wbp501.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}}],"__typename":"HasPart"},"__typename":"Content"}],"__typename":"HasPart"}},"section5":{"id":"/content/rvj2s19g2lkbek4tevm6sn1va1se84sl","type":["Chapter"],"headline":"Culture","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/culture/","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","hasPart":{"parts":[{"headline":"Beneath the rhythm, Congolese rumba is a link to the past","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/01/22/beneath-the-rhythm-congolese-rumba-is-a-link-to-the-past","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_CUP006_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"headline":"In “Free Love”, a woman finds liberation in “swinging London”","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/01/22/in-free-love-a-woman-finds-liberation-in-swinging-london","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/2022/01/articles/main/20220122_cup508.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}},{"headline":"The art of fasting","url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/01/22/the-art-of-fasting","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","image":{"main":{"url":{"canonical":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20220122_CUD001_0.jpg","__typename":"URL"},"__typename":"Content","width":1280,"height":720},"__typename":"Media"}}],"__typename":"HasPart"}}}],"useNewArticle":false,"statusCode":200,"featureFlags":["SF_SIGNPOSTING","ESPRESSO_AUDIO","HOMEPAGE_NEW_WEEKLYEDITION","CONTENT_COLLECTIONS","IDENTS","ONBOARDING_NOTIFICATION","OPTIMIZELY_SELF_HOSTING","NEWSLETTER_SLICE_HOMEPAGE","FETCH_NEWSLETTERS_FROM_API","ARTICLE_GIFTING_SWITCHOVER"],"isAmp":false,"newsletters":{"newsletters":[{"code":"espresso","ident":"espresso","title":"Espresso","description":"Our morning briefing, delivered before breakfast Monday to Saturday.","frequency":"Daily","promo":{"title":"Get Espresso in your inbox","description":"Our morning briefing, delivered before breakfast six times per week","tagline":""},"imageUrl":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://myaccount.economist.com/file-asset-public/Espresso?oid=00D3z000002JvyiEAC","theme":"none","keywords":[],"tagline":"Subscriber only","priority":-1,"subscriberOnly":true,"isKeywordFallback":false},{"code":"cover_story","ident":"cover-story","title":"Cover Story","description":"A behind-the-scenes look at how we chose and designed this week’s cover.","frequency":"Weekly","promo":{"title":"How we chose this week’s cover image","description":"Delivered to your inbox every weekend","tagline":"Subscriber exclusive"},"imageUrl":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://myaccount.economist.com/file-asset-public/Cover_Story?oid=00D3z000002JvyiEAC","theme":"none","keywords":[],"priority":3,"tagline":"Subscriber only","drupalId":"21776199","subscriberOnly":true,"isKeywordFallback":false},{"code":"checks_and_balance","ident":"checks-and-balance","title":"Checks and Balance","description":"Exclusive insight from our correspondents in America.","frequency":"Weekly","promo":{"title":"Exclusive insight and reading recommendations from our correspondents in America","description":"Delivered to your inbox every week","tagline":""},"imageUrl":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://myaccount.economist.com/file-asset-public/Checks_and_Balance?oid=00D3z000002JvyiEAC","theme":"none","keywords":["United States","United States Senate","Republican Party","Donald Trump","Joe Biden","Democratic Party","Executive Office of the President of the United States"],"priority":6,"tagline":"Subscriber only","drupalId":"21776200","subscriberOnly":true,"isKeywordFallback":false},{"code":"simply_science","ident":"simply-science","title":"Simply Science","description":"A weekly fix of our mind-expanding science coverage.","frequency":"Weekly","promo":{"title":"Curious about the world? Enjoy a weekly fix of our mind-expanding science coverage","description":"Delivered to you every week","tagline":""},"imageUrl":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://myaccount.economist.com/file-asset-public/Simply_Science2?oid=00D3z000002JvyiEAC","theme":"none","keywords":["science and technology","Science \u0026 technology","biology","astronomy","philosophy","chemistry","diseases and conditions","genetics","cancer","medicine","physics"],"priority":4,"drupalId":"21797937","subscriberOnly":false,"isKeywordFallback":false},{"code":"climate_change","ident":"the-climate-issue","title":"The Climate Issue","description":"Climate-change analysis that you won’t read elsewhere in \u003cem\u003eThe Economist\u003c/em\u003e.","frequency":"Fortnightly","promo":{"title":"Climate-change analysis that you won’t read elsewhere in \u003cem\u003eThe Economist\u003c/em\u003e","description":"Delivered to your inbox every fortnight","tagline":""},"imageUrl":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://myaccount.economist.com/file-asset-public/Climate_issue?oid=00D3z000002JvyiEAC","theme":"none","keywords":["energy industry","migration of people","weather","energy and resource","plant","synthetic and plastic chemicals","forestry and timber","climate change","global warming","environment","environmental politics","environmental pollution"],"priority":5,"drupalId":"21775441","subscriberOnly":false,"isKeywordFallback":false},{"code":"money_talks","ident":"money-talks","title":"Money Talks","description":"Expert analysis of the biggest stories in economics, business and markets.","frequency":"Weekly","promo":{"title":"Expert analysis of the biggest stories in economics, business and markets","description":"Delivered to your inbox every week","tagline":""},"imageUrl":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://myaccount.economist.com/file-asset-public/money_talks?oid=00D3z000002JvyiEAC","theme":"none","keywords":[""],"priority":100,"drupalId":"21800479","subscriberOnly":false,"isKeywordFallback":false},{"code":"off_the_charts","ident":"off-the-charts","title":"Off the Charts","description":"Taking you behind the scenes of our data journalism.","frequency":"Weekly","promo":{"title":"Taking you behind the scenes of our data journalism","description":"Directly to your inbox every week","tagline":""},"imageUrl":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://myaccount.economist.com/file-asset-public/Off_the_charts2?oid=00D3z000002JvyiEAC","theme":"none","keywords":["Graphic detail"],"priority":99,"drupalId":"21797938","subscriberOnly":false,"isKeywordFallback":false},{"code":"the_extraordinary_story","ident":"the-extraordinary-story","title":"The Extraordinary Story","description":"Long reads and life from \u003cem\u003e1843 magazine\u003c/em\u003e.","frequency":"Weekly","promo":{"title":"Long reads and life from \u003cem\u003e1843 magazine\u003c/em\u003e","description":"Delivered to your inbox every weekend","tagline":""},"imageUrl":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://myaccount.economist.com/file-asset-public/the_extraordinary_story?oid=00D3z000002JvyiEAC","theme":"none","keywords":["1843 magazine"],"priority":100,"drupalId":"21799444","subscriberOnly":false,"isKeywordFallback":false},{"code":"te_today","ident":"the-economist-today","title":"The Economist today","description":"The very best of our journalism, handpicked for you each weekday.","frequency":"Daily","promo":{"title":"Handpicked stories, in your inbox","description":"A daily newsletter with the best of our journalism","tagline":""},"imageUrl":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://myaccount.economist.com/file-asset-public/The_Economist_Today?oid=00D3z000002JvyiEAC","theme":"economistToday","keywords":[],"priority":0,"drupalId":"21684566","subscriberOnly":false,"isKeywordFallback":true},{"code":"te_this_week","ident":"the-economist-this-week","title":"The Economist this week","description":"Highlights from the latest weekly issue, introduced by our editor.","frequency":"Weekly","promo":{"title":"Highlights from the latest weekly issue, introduced by our editor","description":"Directly to your inbox every week","tagline":""},"imageUrl":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629/https://myaccount.economist.com/file-asset-public/The_Economist_This_Week?oid=00D3z000002JvyiEAC","theme":"none","keywords":[],"priority":2,"drupalId":"21016205","subscriberOnly":false,"isKeywordFallback":false}],"status":"ok","stale":false,"cached":true}}},"page":"/[...slug]","query":{"slug":["finance-and-economics","a-perfect-storm-for-container-shipping","21804500"],"isAmp":false},"buildId":"pVBIhbGFyxOI3F_rMdBrD","assetPrefix":"/engassets","isFallback":false,"gip":true,"appGip":true,"scriptLoader":[]}</script><script type="text/javascript">(function(){window['__CF$cv$params']={r:'6d0e5b57888824fc',m:'q.CqIBVMSNgMW7dZJ9OPAgnm8IXjd32Wc1KttF4gY7Y-1642745189-0-AR57BBlSM+GQmnVdVg+7I1U7/qs/tieTJiKgZGn7kRZqMCYp8uDNVrM6f368XwT5k/baIJr2ZufDCuimL/J5MYOF+cypcz43QM4UY/SoAvu9ef/5sIYLx3cR9Hwh43QbBhXmtc452vcAgabBAomfEiocRgrJW9RNZZKk3yud0qjarwuUIWxtQC14miH6SLfxlCKv1XV9SyQAjO/kbON9Crk=',s:[0x92321cfb77,0x6bf8dabb35],}})();</script><script defer src="https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060629js_/https://static.cloudflareinsights.com/beacon.min.js/v652eace1692a40cfa3763df669d7439c1639079717194" integrity="" data-cf-beacon="{"rayId":"6d0e5b57888824fc","token":"f993f726f4db4f3d9107d9ff749c804b","version":"2021.12.0","si":100}" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> </body></html>