Canada

In the past few weeks, we have learned that two major steamship lines have chosen to temporarily suspend services from Vancouver to Latin America owing to congestion issues, making this trade lane more expensive than ever. East Coast vessel space remains tight; however, we have not yet seen such drastic changes as those in Vancouver.

In late April, Statistics Canada stated that March 2022 had brought the largest month-over-month gain in the Consumer Price Index since 1991, having moved from 5.7% to 6.7% and confirming fears of accelerating inflation.

Although it has been a cold start to spring across most of Canada, the economy has been marching on strongly. By adding 15,300 jobs in April, the country set a record-low unemployment rate of 5.2%, beating the 5.3% recorded in 1976.

The economic picture is strong overall but challenging for policy-makers to prevent it from overheating.