Twin Crises Send Cargo Ships Back to 18th Century Trade Routes

A year that started with smooth sailing for the global economy — vanishing supply snarls, slower inflation and fading pandemic gloom — is ending with another gathering storm as the maritime industry and retailers that rely on it confront crises in the world’s two big ocean-to-ocean canals.

The sources of their woes are very different, but similarly acute.

Houthi militants, in a show of support of Hamas in its war with Israel, are attacking merchant ships as they sail past Yemen en route to — or from — Egypt’s Suez Canal. About 7,200 miles to the west, the world’s other ...