Dear Crabby, Can you tell me why everyone was fascinated by that ship stuck in the Suez Canal? I’m sure it’s not the first ship to ever be stuck, so why should I care about something happening 6,000 miles away?
Thanks, Sonny Seas
Dear Sonny Seas,
Well, I guess whether or not you should care depends on whether or not if you care for your gas prices looking like they are a National Honor Society student’s GPA, rather than a kid who is on academic probation. Even though the ordeal is over, that ship stuck in the Suez Canal probably cost us nearly $60 billion. Do you care now?
After being stuck for 6 days, 3 hours, and 38 minutes, The Ever Given container ship, managed to get free on Monday. But before we all go crazy celebrating, the bad news is the damage has already been done. More than 370 ships are waiting to pass through the canal. That’s not including all the other ships that chose not to wait and took a longer, more expensive route. Guess what these massive ships are carrying? Things like cars, oil, livestock, laptops, etc. You know, all things we either need or want that will now cost a whole lot more. Heck. I bought gas on Monday morning for $2.66 and by the afternoon it had jumped 20 cents higher! Mark my words. This is only the beginning.
So, if you’re like me you’re probably wondering how a 1,312-foot, 200,000 metric ship gets stuck in the first place. Well, the owners are trying to blame the weather. Something about tides and such, but the Suez Canal mucky-mucks ain’t buying that line. They think it was mostly human error. All I know is I wouldn’t want to be the person responsible for this mess. Can you imagine how awkward their next performance review is going to be? I had enough trouble one summer when our small fishing boat with a single-engine ran out of gas and we had to swim back to shore. The moral of the lesson? Don’t put a city kid in charge of making sure a boat has enough gas.
Naturally, this supply-chain disruption is going to make a mess of things on our end. Folks are getting their stimulus payments or tax refunds and are itching to spend it. So just brace yourself that it will take some time for whatever it is you’re waiting for to come in, and you’ll probably be paying more for it too. But for the love of all that’s holy, do NOT start hoarding toilet paper again! Mrs. Crabby requires at least 3-ply TP to do her business and there will be hell to pay if I can’t find it.
As Paul Harvey (look him up) used to say, “And now, you know… the rest of the story!”
Good luck!
Dear Crabby
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