RISK MANAGEMENT
remained a prominent feature of global supply chains throughout the year as containment measures as well as infection outbreaks , labor unavailability , and component shortages impacted business operations ,” commented Shehrina Kamal , Product Director , Risk Intelligence , Everstream Analytics .
Fluctuating supply and demand challenges Since the start of the pandemic , it has been no secret that supply and demand have experienced fluctuating disruption . The most significant short-term challenges highlighted by those in the industry include demand shocks and surges , supply shortages for critical materials , and components and cargo capacity shortages . Such challenges can be seen on the ground in Europe with restrictions resulting in closed retail stores driving growth in ecommerce , while other heavy manufacturing and machinery industries around the world have experienced drops in demand .
In addition to these challenges , others identified in the industry include cash flow pressures , COVID-19 outbreaks among the workforce , parts shortages , production delays , and stoppages . “ Surprisingly , only 31 per cent of all respondents for this question stated that the lack of visibility for suppliers below the Tier-1 level was expected to be a significant short-term challenge within the next 6 months ,” notes DHL Resilience360 ( now Everstream Analytics ).
Logistics challenges As COVID-19 ’ s impact rippled out around the world , those that relied on exports and imports to and from some of the early affected countries - China , Japan , South Korea , and Italy - soon faced obstacles in
their logistics operations , including delayed cargo , elevated logistics costs , disrupted production lines and lost sales . Since then the challenges have continued to grow , with COVID-19 causing delayed border movements , disrupted labor supply at ports , and passenger flight cancellations .
While 2021 is slowly bringing back normality , there still remains multiple challenges to overcome when it comes to logistics , including air freight rates , capacity and disruption , as well as ground transportation restrictions , trucking shortages , ocean freight disruptions and capacity shortages , warehousing congestion , imbalance in container supply and labour shortages .
118 June 2021