Container ships, bulkers, car carriers all earning fortunes.

The global shipping industry is getting its biggest payday since 2008 as the combination of booming demand for goods and a global supply chain that’s collapsing under the weight of COVID-19 drives freight prices ever higher.

Whether it is giant containerships stacked with 40-foot steel boxes, bulk carriers whose cavernous holds house thousands of tons of coal or specialized vessels designed to pack in cars and trucks, earnings are soaring for ships of almost every type.

With the merchant fleet hauling about 80% of world trade, the surge reaches into every corner of the economy. The boom back in 2008 brought with it a huge wave of new vessel orders, but the rally was quickly undone by a demand collapse when a financial crisis triggered the deepest global recession in decades.

This boom’s causes are twofold — an economic reopening after COVID that has spurred surging demand for goods and raw materials. Alongside that, the virus continues to cause disruption in global supply chains, choking up ports and delaying vessels, all of which is limiting how many are available to haul goods across oceans. That has left the majority of the shipping sector with bumper earnings in recent months.