Queues of tankers have formed off China’s busiest oil ports as the vessels wait to offload crude for refineries that are quickly ramping up production amid a rapid rebound in fuel demand.
Even as countries try returning to some semblance of pre-pandemic life, ongoing restrictions are wearing thin a crucial human link in the global supply chain.
At a time when ports are suffering from severe congestion and scarcity of land, one designer of cargo-handling equipment is proposing a radical new way of moving ocean containers between ship and shore.
As economic lockdowns complicate efforts to bring electricity to every corner of the planet, one company is putting generation units on ships that can sit offshore and plug into local grids at short notice.
The coronavirus outbreak has forced the cancellation of many shipping services from China, and the effects of that disruption will be felt for some time to come.
Port restrictions and canceled flights are straining the ability to replace seafarers on board ships, further weakening global supply chains already snarled by the coronavirus pandemic.
The cost of storage is exploding, in sharp contrast to the price of the commodities themselves, which are collapsing amid the chaos of the coronavirus.
The coronavirus outbreak is having a serious ripple effect throughout global supply chains. Factories have shut down, product flow in many cases has come to a halt, and consumer purchases of all but the most essential items are plummeting.