There’s a growing crisis in the shipping industry as we’ve changed the way we shop and because of the things we’re buying as people have been stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. This New York Times article explores how industries worldwide, from home exercise equipment to agriculture, have found their shipments idled because of disruptions in trade caused by the pandemic. The disruption has driven up shipping costs and thrown off “the choreography” of moving cargo from one continent to another. At the center of the chaos is the shipping container, those metal boxes that move goods stacked high on top of each other on giant ships crossing the oceans. An increase in demand in the U.S. for home office furniture and home exercise equipment has created a shortage in shipping containers as boxes pile up at U.S. ports.