Welcome to 2025! We are excited for the new year and our upcoming 188th Annual Dinner (grab a few remaining tickets here)! 

Every now and again, events from far, far away might have an impact on our membership, and so I thought I’d discuss how disruptions in shipping lanes might one day affect the things you need. The post-World War II maritime order is under major stress. Within the last few weeks, we’ve seen the Israelis expand their interest with the Houthis in Yemen. To weaken the Houthis, that means disrupting the cargo ships carrying drones from Iran. The Finnish government recently boarded and confiscated a Russian ship they’re certain is in violation of present-day trade sanctions, and possibly guilty of purposefully ruining under-sea data and energy lines important to Scandinavia and the Baltic. There are other examples and more seem to be piling on every other day or so. 

When you consider that over half of all internationally traded oil is carried on ships, and one-third of all food production is transported similarly, you observe a challenging set of circumstances in the making. Our Delaware businesses may rely on raw materials, intermediate finished goods from other places around the globe, or finished goods like clothing and textiles for our retail sector. Much of that comes here, daily, on cargo ships from around the world. The risks for much of that are growing.