China’s announcement of military drills around Taiwan as U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits the island is already having ripple effects across global supply chains, prompting detours and causing delays of energy shipments.

The standoff between the U.S. and China over Taiwan has thrown a spotlight on growing risks to one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes — even a minor disruption could ripple through supply chains.

A backup of 40 container ships has grown off Georgia’s Port of Savannah, raising fresh concerns that goods arriving for the fall will face new delays as operators scramble to keep shipments moving.

California’s Port of Oakland has fully resumed operations after truckers protesting a gig-work law blocked access for five days and disrupted the flow of goods at the key shipping hub.

The pandemic has put unprecedented strain on global supply chains— and also on the workers who’ve kept those systems running under tough conditions. It looks like many of them have had enough.

At the Port of Los Angeles, Executive Director Gene Seroka describes a cargo bottleneck that’s bulging again on land and slowing railroad freight through Southern California.

The White House is monitoring labor talks in the logistics industry as unions representing 115,000 rail workers and 22,000 West Coast dockworkers negotiate fresh contracts, but won’t get directly involved in either bargaining process now, its supply chain envoy said.

Each wave of supply shock to hit the global economy during the pandemic seems to produce a different scapegoat.