The US Navy is back fighting the forgotten war
Story by Tom Sharpe • 6h
Ninety per cent of everything is shipped by sea, whether that’s the chair you’re sitting on, the phone you’re reading this on or the fuel that’s keeping your lights on. Shipping tends to work on long lead times, which means that right now a lot of this year’s Christmas presents are en voyage.
As an island nation and net importer, we British are highly dependent on the uninterrupted global trade of products, energy and information by sea. Cut that flow off and we perish. Disrupt it and prices go up and delays are incurred. This is what has been happening in the Red Sea since late last year as 66 per cent of ships which would normally travel through it, and over 90 per cent of the more valuable ones, are using alternative routes due to the Houthi threat.
Shipping has an amazing ability to self-heal in response to situations like this. It is a living organism with multiple stakeholders including shipping companies, ports, customs, insurers, brokers, banks and regulatory bodies. It spans global supply chains, navigating maritime laws, international treaties, and environmental regulations. Trade and profit are at its core and shippers will find a way. Initially, markets are shocked, and insurance premiums and spot rates spike whilst everyone works out what is going on, but soon enough the graphs settle down.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-us-navy-is-back-fighting-the-forgotten-war/ar-AA1qqBaQ?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=5e9a0ff088874e27bffda6385813af7d&ei=98
