Saw this in a newsletter...
Why the big dumb ship in the Suez is Bill Clinton’s fault: I’ve written a few pieces now on the stupidity of making giant ships that can’t fit into the Suez Canal. The reason we have this problem is because the industry is highly consolidated. As usual, there’s a law behind the changes, in this case it’s the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998, which legalized secret rebates by shippers and spurred massive consolidation of the industry.
Before 1998, ocean carriers had to post their prices and terms publicly, so small shippers could ask for the same prices as the big guys. Once carriers and shippers could negotiate for secret prices, big shippers could demand secret rebates unavailable to their smaller counterparts. Corporate size and power, not the ability to ship effectively or reliably, became the dominant competitive advantage. Carriers merged in a wave of deals, and then further combined into three global alliances.