With less than a week before the 4th of July, it’s getting to be crunch time for fireworks dealers throughout Southwest Missouri. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.

Christmas and the 4th of July have something in common. They are holidays where a lot of us wait until the last minute. But this 4th you may want to plan to purchase fireworks earlier. The pandemic has created an unprecedented backlog of containerships from China, which has generated stress on the rest of the transportation infrastructure that gets fireworks to Southwest Missouri.

Vince Hudkin with Big Charlie’s Fireworks in Joplin has 25 years of experience in the industry, he says, this is a year unlike any other in the business. “Freight and insurance on a container has more than doubled. That’s if you can get a container on a boat. 42% of the world’s cargo ships right now are steaming around empty. Because they can’t get in to get loaded.” Big Charlie’s Fireworks is a family-operated business that has served Southwest Missouri with 8 locations for 30 years.