Former Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli said, “Inflation is inseparably linked to the supply chain. I look at a global view of the container ships around the world and we have well over 550 ships right now floating on the water waiting to get unloaded. We have an equal number of tankers floating on the water ready to get unloaded. Supply chain has caught every company off guard here, and I just don’t see it getting better. I think we’re in for a long, rough patch, certainly through the balance of this year until we get stability back in the supply chain.”

He attributes the rise in prices to shipping disruptions generated by the pandemic, from container shortages, port backups and Chinese lockdowns. Presently a fifth of container ships are “stuck” in ports, and a quarter of those are stuck in Chinese ports. Since February the backlog of container ships in Chinese ports has increased 195%, with Shanghai having a 34% increase in stuck ships. As a result in the last year shipping a container from China to the US has roughly doubled.