In touch with the world ... at home on the High Plains

WATCH: Shipping Around The World In 1:40

Given a deal to end to a nine-month slowdown at West Coast ports announced on Friday, we thought now might be the time to promote this new-to-us video from FleetMon.com that gives us a strong representation of just how busy are the world's shipping lanes.

The video shows satellite tracking of routes superimposed over Google Earth. It focuses on some of the main choke points for international shipping, such as the Strait of Malacca on the southern tip of Malaysia, the Suez Canal, the Strait of Gibraltar and the Panama Canal.

It's a good reminder that about 90 percent of all the goods traded globally spend at least some of their transit time on a ship.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Scott Neuman is a reporter and editor, working mainly on breaking news for NPR's digital and radio platforms.
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