Shipping Container Crisis.

Early in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic began to spread, many countries instituted total or partial lockdowns, halting mobility, production, and flow of goods and services, ultimately pulling the plug on economic activity and growth. The Covid-19 lockdowns negatively impacted the shipping industry, accounting for nearly 80% of the world trade. Shipping companies reduced the number of cargo vessels out at sea. This stopped the usual flow of imported and exported goods and saw empty containers not being collected. The usual flow of imported and exported goods was interrupted globally.

So, while China resumed exports earlier than the rest of the world in the mid of 2020, other nations were dealing with restrictions, a reduced workforce and minimal production. A consequence of this is that almost all the remaining containers in Asia headed out to Europe and North America, but those containers did not come back quickly enough.

Research the global shipping container crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and write a summary which must address the following questions:

1. What were the reasons for the shipping container shortage?
2. How did the shortage of shipping containers impact Canadian consumers?