The economic suffering is spread over multiple tonnage and cargo sectors — bulkers and containerships idling in wait for cargo — and cargo choking the grain and forestry products terminals.
There is plenty of blame to go around, too, and the causes include trucker strikes, tight rail capacity, a strong annual growth in export volumes from Canada’s Great Plains, freight-rate arbitrage working in favour of shipping from West Coast ports and even cheap demurrage rates (as current weak spot rates reduce incentives for shippers to match ship arrivals closely with terminal capacity).
But
