That has caused major shipping companies like Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, and CMA CGM to change their schedules to steer clear of the port even as they warn their customers of additional delays. The port, the worlds' third-busiest, is also disrupting operations at other Chinese ports, putting further stress on supply lines that were already under pressure from additional troubles at the Yantian port. There have also been container shortages, factory closures due to the virus in Vietnam, as well as lingering delays from a blockage of the Suez Canal in March. "We currently expect the market situation only to ease in the first quarter of 2022 at the earliest," Hapag-Lloyd chief executive Rolf Habben Jansen noted in a recent statement. In short, the world's supply chain is in dire straits and the problem isn't going to go away anytime soon, which is also working to raise the cost of shipping — costs that will be passed along to customers up and down the line.