But I agree, has anything actually changed?
Yes, the cost of insuring shipping has entered an entirely different magnitude, which is the point the article is making. Also the "shipping" part of large industrial trade is no longer trivial details to be worked out later, now it determines the markets of the goods being traded more than ever before in the modern age of shipping.
I still think the article takes a very defensive pro-industry stance but it makes some good points about global costs being incurred by flashpoints in the strait of hormuz and red sea/gulf of aden.