Legislation aimed at curbing the power of the container shipping industry, which has seen prices increase tenfold during the pandemic, breezed through the House on Monday and could head to the Oval Office for a signature as soon as this week, The Hill reported. The administration is hoping the law, which is designed to slash the bargaining power of container shipping companies and their industry alliances, will address a critical bottleneck in global supply chains — an issue economists widely believe is a key factor driving inflation. But experts caution that supply chain fixes for inflation can be elusive and that tinkering with the logistical channels that deliver bargain manufactured goods based on cheap labor from Asia can have unexpected consequences. Supply chains over the last few decades have been pared down to minimize costs associated with storage, inventory and labor. These “just-in-time” or “lean” supply chains are cost-efficient specifically because they don’t bother developing and maintaining the infrastructure that can accommodate big swings in demand.
