[sanjiva]

And this is a temporary reality - once the system starts operating at full steam again the costs will come down.

Moving production is much more complex and requires long term policies and strategies- something most countries (other than China) seem unable to muster.

[ksec]

>once the system starts operating at full steam again the costs will come down.

I doubt it will go back to the days before pandemic, where containers and shipping are operating at literally negative profit margin. Read Hanjin Shipping.

But it should hopefully ensure more healthy shipping industry.

[Denvercoder9]

If shipping operated at negative profit margin, how did it continue to run (until the pandemic)? I don't think it was a sexy sector that could just burn through venture capital money.

[mikeyouse]

Even better than VC -- tons of cheap debt. Hanjin had something like $250M in real assets and $10 Billion in debt when it collapsed.

[pas]

See also from Matt Levine: " For some reason this sort of “death-spiral financing” — issuing more and more shares at lower and lower prices — seems popular in the shipping industry; DryShips Inc. is a famous example."

[ladyattis]

Yes, I think this will take something akin to an act of congress to force some manufacturing back. And I don't think congress has much of an appetite for that now.