Suez Canal is open again, but local expert says there could be ripple effects on the Miami Valley

The huge cargo ship that had been blocking the Suez Canal in Egypt for almost a week is finally free, but the effects of the situation are already reaching the Miami Valley.

The Ever Green, which had been holding up hundreds of ships and billions of dollars worth of cargo created a backup on the water that will take weeks to clear and is having massive impacts on the global supply chain.

News Center 7′s John Bedell spoke to a local expert about the ripple effects that are reaching the Miami Valley.

John LeBlanc, who spent three decades in supply chain management before teaching at Cedarville University, says that the situation on the Suez Canal can be compared to a crash that closes a highway for hours.

Traffic backs up as a result of the crash, and even after the scene is cleared, it still takes time for the backup to go away.

“The consensus is it’s going to take two to three weeks for that backup to get through the Suez canal,” said LeBlanc.

LeBlanc says that 12 percent of the world’s shipping trade passes through the Suez Canal.

“With 300 ships backed up and all the containers, that’s going to create a problem with ship availability and container availability which is already a problem,” said LeBlanc.

The Miami Valley is already being impacted by this, such as a rise in gas prices, according to Leblanc.

LeBlanc says that overall, the traffic jam on the Suez won’t have an impact on grocery stores as much for us because the U.S relies more heavily on ship trade routes through the Panama Canal to receive goods to the east coast.

He says that European markets are having a more direct impact.

“Although, we’re still seeing Lysol and some disinfectant type things that are in short supply because people are still shoring up for that. But I don’t expect us to have a problem with that as much as Europe,” he said.

Cox Media Group