Just When You Thought Your Toilet Paper Supply Was Secure

 

I remember when toilet paper stock in my local store began to shrink about this time last year. I saw people in the checkout line with their carts full of toilet paper. I  thought they were being stupid and resolved not to participate in the stupidity.

Then it totally disappeared (along with almost all the other paper products) and was gone for quite some time. I came dangerously close to running out before some packages started to trickle back in.

The disappearance was not the result of supply chain problems or any actual shortage. It was the result of panic buying. As soon as people calmed down stock  was rebuilt.

Well now we might be on the verge of another toilet paper shortage.  This time it is supply-chain related, though not the way you might think. It turns out that most of the wood pulp used to make toilet paper comes from Brazil. They can make plenty of pulp, but for it to be turned into toilet paper it has to be shipped here.

The problem is there is a shortage of shipping of the kind used to ship pulp. A shipping crisis has been brewing for some time due to a disruption in the flow of containers.  Pulp is not packed in shipping containers, but is shipped "break bulk," i.e. loaded directly onto ships.

The shortage in container shipping is squeezing the availability of break bulk, for reasons that aren't clear to me from the reporting. Perhaps the ships that normally transport break bulk are being used to move empty containers.

Anyway, here we go again. Just to be safe I bought a package of toilet paper when I was at the store today. 

Header image by Alexandra A life without animals is not worth living from Pixabay 

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