A closer look
During the pandemic, global shipping cartels realized a beautiful, terrifying truth: systemic bottlenecks are intensely profitable. Because the ocean freight industry is controlled by a tiny handful of consolidated alliances, they possess massive pricing power. When ports jammed up and demand for goods skyrocketed, they didn't just pass along their costs; they exponentially multiplied their fees. A steel box that cost two thousand dollars to move across the Pacific suddenly cost twenty thousand. They essentially levied a global inflation tax on every physical good imported worldwide.
