It seems appropriate during this most unusual holiday season, when supply chains across the globe have suffered massive pandemic-induced traffic jams, to address how parties to maritime transportation contracts allocate the cost of delays to the movement of merchant ships and cargo. Merchant shipping is a capital-intensive industry that requires enormous financial commitments to build and operate the gargantuan container ships that everyone sees on the news these days at anchor off Southern California. Of course, those vessels are only part of the global merchant fleet, a third of which are tankers devoted to the carriage of crude oil and petroleum products. Still other vessels service offshore wind farms, carry grain, agricultural products and commodities like coal in bulk, transport liquified natural and petroleum gas, and fish the oceans, among other ventures. All told 90 percent of the world's goods are transported by sea.