The year 2021 ended somewhat similar to 2020, as the COVID19 pandemic continued its hold on the world for a second year, resulting in a continued disruption of global shipping. Although more than 8.5 billion doses of vaccine have been administered globally, new and highly contagious variants, along with highly contrasting national strategies on coping with the pandemic, have continued to stretch supply chains, halt production lines, create demand swings that have resulted in multiple transportation bottlenecks.