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A global shortage of shipping containers that has sent ocean freight rates skyrocketing shows signs of easing, according to an index that tracks the steel boxes used to transport 90% of the global trade in goods.

The humble shipping container has a new status in the COVID-19 pandemic: hot commodity.

The nation’s ports continued to see steady growth in November cargo volume, as shippers moved goods to the United States from overseas in advance of the holiday shopping season and rushed to get cargo stateside ahead of expected tariffs on shipments from China.

Cosco Shipping Holdings Co.’s sale of a container terminal in Long Beach, Calif., has drawn interest from potential buyers, including Blackstone Group LP and KKR & Co., people familiar with the matter said.

September and October were record months for many of the nation’s ports as shippers prepared for a busy holiday shopping season and rushed to get cargo into the U.S. ahead of the Trump administration’s tariffs against several nations, including China.

Innovators within the produce industry are breaking the boundaries of food production — by growing crops not in fields, but in recycled shipping containers.

Steamship line Hapag-Lloyd will increase fees to transport freight to the United States and cross-border freight from Canada. Cargo between Canada and the United States will be subject to a carbon tax.

The Port of Long Beach recovered from a rocky 2016 with a record-setting year in 2017, moving 7.5 million industry-standard twenty-foot-equivalent units, the port’s leader announced at the State of the Port address Jan. 24.

The Port of Savannah has shattered its record for container traffic in a year, processing more than 4 million industry-standard 20-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) in 2017, the Georgia Ports Authority announced Jan. 22. The previous record was 3.7 million TEUs in 2015.