A very unhealthy world GDP analysis as it definitely is showing a massive shift favoring a certain few. The rest of the world needs to wake up before they are reliant on everything from a few.
I was helping out today as the family business received 30 containers all at once when normally deliveries are spaced out. Some of these containers that arrived today were supposed to arrive back in March which tells another story of how severe some of the delays really are. Would we be seeing such supply chain chaos if orders were up to date and everything being delivered was current?
I do believe that what we have witnessed this year is not going to go away any time soon as the trade imbalance is just that big. When you have so much coming from one country and nothing being manufactured locally anymore things need to change. The rest of the world is relying too heavily on China for their goods and this is not a healthy economy.
Vessels are slowing down due to congestion.
I read a report out of the US saying the supply chain issue is improving which is utter nonsense. The ships delivering the containers have slowed down and are taking weeks off their trips saving fuel travelling at half speed as they know they still have to queue once they get to their destinations.
We just have to glance at the GDP graph above showing how China has grown and the UK stagnated in their GDP. A flatline is the sign of death as stability and no growth in your exports is telling everyone something is seriously wrong. The UK seems to have handed over everything that in the past they should have been making themselves and they are not alone as 90% of the other countries are in the same position.
When will common sense appear as countries relying on others for virtually every item is not only very risky but counter productive. With the lockdowns we have all experienced over the last 2 or so years surely countries do not want to rely on others for everyday use case items. Look at disposable nappies which is a perfect example as they are only made in 3 factories around the world USA - Pampers and Huggies - Korea and China.. This is only highlighted when we have a supply chain issue which should never ever be the case.
The semi conductor issue which hopefully will be resolved with the US building new factories was a massive wake up call how fragile the entire market was. I was hoping Covid would at least bring about a positive result with many countries moving away from dealing with China and bringing the lost businesses back home. Japan is doing just that taking back control of what the companies farmed out to save on costs. If your country has no industry left then what do you have as a future besides constantly shipping stuff in.
The shipping trends will only get worse as the ports need to be made bigger to accept more cargo from the countries who have taken away what these countries used to produce themselves. One just has to look at the chart going back to 1992 and see how many countries have disappeared or have taken a back seat allowing others to step up and take over. This is a worrying trend and should be a priority of every country to re-galvanise their own industry.