Jackson Jambalaya

 Shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, Panama Canal, Black Sea, and Suez Canal may seem irrelevant. But these maritime chokepoints link worldwide transportation arteries essential to Mississippi industries like poultry, farming, manufacturing, and logistics. Disruptions there impact what we pay here for groceries, fuel, feed, and more.

The Iran-US battle fight over the Strait of Hormuz continues to spark repeated eruptions in diesel and gasoline prices. Mississippi farmers and truckers felt these immediately. Each extra dollar per gallon ups costs for planting, harvesting, hauling grain, and delivering feed. Natural-gas-based fertilizer price increases have driven up costs for row crops and feed costs for poultry and livestock. 

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, commercial traffic in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov largely halted as vessels got stranded and war-risk insurance premiums surged. The conflict has disrupted exports of wheat, corn, and sunflower oil, pushed up bunker fuel demand and freight rates, and inflated war-risk insurance premiums and security costs. Resulting price volatility rippled across Europe, Asia, and Africa and into U.S. commodity markets. 

Houthi rebels in Yemen has warned shipowners against calling at Saudi Arabia’s ports. Along with recent attacks on ships, this is causing disruptions in Suez Canal traffic, raising global container rates and insurance costs. While Mississippi producers do not directly ship through Suez, higher ocean freight costs feed into the price of imported machinery, equipment parts, and consumer goods that arrive at Gulf and East Coast ports before moving inland. Over time, these costs show up in household budgets and business balance sheets alike.

Compounding these issues are recent delays in Panama Canal transits. The above conflicts shifted a noticeable share of global shipping through the canal. Now, El Niño driven droughts have lowered mid-point water levels and forced Panama to cap daily ship transits, causing delays and costly product rerouting. For poultry growers already squeezed by thin margins, higher refrigerated container rates and longer transits mean lower payments and tighter contracts. For row‑crop farmers, delayed and costlier shipments can erase price advantages against competitors in Brazil and Argentina.

For Mississippians, these are not meaningless issues. They inflate food and fuel prices, deflate farm income, and disrupt jobs at processing plants, farms, ports, and warehouses.

Watching our political leaders deal with this has been bewildering. Instead of using their power to suppress the wars behind these conflicts, they offer farmers and producers deficit-busting subsidies and tax breaks to ease their pain while telling consumers to suck it up. 

“The righteous and the wicked God will judge, because there is a right time for every intention and for every action” – Ecclesiastes 3:17.

Crawford is an author and syndicated columnist from North Jackson.