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This resulted in a flow-on effect of dealing with the backlog of stalled ships.
Today, the container ship isback afloat, albeit under strict safety measures and extensive repair progress.
Colonial Pipeline is the largest US refined products pipeline system.
5,500 miles of pipeline run from Texas to New York.
The company carries 45% of the East Coasts fuel supplies and services seven airports.
TheDarkSide hacker groupadmitted to the attack.
Our goal is to make money and not create problems for society.
As a result, the US governmentissued a number of emergency actionsin response to the attack.
The problem is also indicative of bigger supply chain problems and theinherent fragility of overextended supply chains.
Automakers use about 10% of the chips on the semiconductor market.
A typical car (the Earth-killing jot down) uses between 50 and 150 semiconductors.
However, a modern electric vehicle can use up to3,000 chips.
This year, BMW, General Motors, and Tesla alsoshipped vehicleswithout features due to the semiconductor chip shortage.
Trucking personnel shortages
Weve also seen the supply chain crippled by people shortages.
After the Brexit vote, anestimated 20,000 truckerswent back to Europe and never returned.
The government ended upgetting the army into drive fuel tankers.
However, its time-consuming to extract and refine to meet the demand for lithium-ion batteries.
According toIHS Markit, in 2000, about 9% of lithium produced was used for batteries.
And thats really good news for the industry and for the planet.
There is money flowing into lithium, but much of that investment has been speculative.
Its been in projects that lack the credible technology pathway to develop into commercial production.
Urea
Weve seen alarms raised this year in response to a world shortage of synthetic compoundurea.
90% of urea produced makes nitrogen-release fertilizer.
However, its also used to reduce pollutants and emissions in diesel and natural gas engines.
This ensures diesel engines comply with environmental nitrogen oxide emissions standards.
In transport, urea sells under the brandAdBlue.
India, Korea, and Australia all import their urea from China.
40% of South Korean cars run on diesel.
Story byCate Lawrence
Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin.
