Seven of the world’s top ten container ports too are Chinese—Shanghai the largest—and China normally accounts for over 40 percent of the world’s container shipments. Trade in turn is almost 40 percent of China’s GDP, making that flow of exports outward, and the flow of oil and other commodities inward, essential for economic growth and indeed the foundations of political and social stability. Containerization became the backbone of global commerce. Yet the full extent of both China’s and the world’s dependence on containerization—and the supply chains that rely on it—really only became
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