Thread by @sarahmillerdc

1/ Listening to @POTUS' speech on supply chains? The shipping business is complex. But the crisis that’s rattled the supply chain for consumers and businesses alike, and left store shelves empty during a global pandemic? That’s simple.

One word, four syllables, starts with ‘M.’

2/ Shipping is among the most concentrated industries in the world. Just 4 monopoly shippers control 60 percent of all cargo capacity. Just 8 control 80 percent.

These 8 corporations operate in three “alliances” -- legalized cartels designed to avoid competition.

3/ If you buy something that gets put on a boat to get to you, or rely on imports or exports to run your business, you are at the mercy of these monopolies -- and they’re merciless.

The cargo cartels have hiked prices roughly 600 percent since the pandemic began.

4/ This means the shipping cartels are booking insane, unprecedented profits even as they do a worse and worse job of moving stuff from one place to another on time. These monopolists are reporting profits four, five, nine, TWENTY times their recent-year performance.

5/ The three shipping “alliances” that control global trade have also used aggressive merger & acquisition strategies to gain control of much of the rest of the logistics business. They own dozens of terminal operators, shipping container makers, and on-shore delivery networks.

6/ The shipping monopolies are in effect both buyer and seller on many of the transactions that determine what stuff costs and when it arrives. They abuse this “vertical integration” to maximize their own profits without regard for quality of service.

7/ Now we've all felt the pinch, except the ringleaders of these massive cartels. For them, it’s raining money -- money that's supposed to be in our pockets, not theirs.