The near-shoring shift

Aggressive carriers ‘biting the hand that feeds them’ as importers shun China

There are growing signs that the sky-high freight prices on the Asia-Europe trades may be beginning to structurally undermine it, as European importers begin to look for alternatives to sourcing from China.
Keith Gaskin, group commercial director of Seko Logistics in the UK, said: “I am seeing importers in the UK and Europe actively telling their merchandisers to look for near-shoring solutions, because the freight rates from Asia have reached such …

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Does diversity bring resilience to global supply chains? That’s the puzzle

Recent studies show companies are anxious to make their supply chains more resilient to cope with future disruptions – diversification is a central theme in this quest, but geography is a puzzle.
After a hugely disruptive year, 3D Hub’s Supply Chain Resilience Report 2020 found that 72% of companies experienced external disruptions to their manufacturing supply chain.
Much of this has been attributed to Covid-19, which the 3D Hub report calls the …

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Supply chains need more resilience, but shippers in no rush to re-evaluate

The Covid-19 pandemic has been widely described as a wake-up call for shippers and consignees to re-evaluate supply chains exposed as vulnerable.
The disruption has put supply chain risk in the spotlight, reinforcing concerns raised by earlier cataclysmic events, like severe flooding in Japan and Thailand.
Among voices extolling the need for more resilience – even at the cost of higher spend on production – has been the Council of Supply Chain …

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‘Risk to supply chains from climate disruption a bigger issue than Covid-19’

Supply chains are undergoing a profound transformation, according to DHL and consultant McKinsey.
DHL has published a study entitled Post-coronavirus Supply Chain Recovery, which predicts more diversification of geographies, suppliers and business models as well as a more holistic view of risk management.
“Post-coronavirus supply chains will not be the same as they were pre-coronavirus,” it says, and one prominent trend in this transformative process is a stronger emphasis on supply chain...

https://theloadstar.com/risk-to-supply-chains-from-climate-disruption-a-much-bigger-issue-than-covid-19/

On the wires: Existential threats – supply chain near-shoring & geopolitical risk

The post Covid-19 world could be a very uncomfortable place for a raft of transport and logistics players, as anecdotal and empiric evidence of a shifting pattern towards near-shoring is emerging.
If you trust the bears, headwinds of all sorts are building across multiple modes of transport and verticals, with road and rail likely to benefit but air and ocean freight the obvious casualties.
Take yesterday’s note from UBS, headed: “UBS Evidence Lab …

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Gloomy picture of next few years at container ports as volumes recover slowly

Container ports “will take years” to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, but accelerating trade regionalisation could increase hub-and-spoke transhipment services.
According to PSA International CEO Tan Chong Meng, the industry should be prepared for a recession.
“Bankruptcies will increase, unemployment pressures will rise and consumption will remain relatively sluggish in the medium term,” he noted in a letter to employees.
“Therefore, our business, which relies on trade volumes, will...

https://theloadstar.com/gloomy-picture-of-next-few-years-at-container-ports-as-volumes-recover-slowly/

Ports with vision can return to the heart of business life as new enablers of trade

Despite the fact that we are living in a era in which supply chains are under a continual, and unprecedented, threat of disruption – you know the buzzwords, trade wars, Brexit, climate change – there also remain some constancies: the trading world is (mostly) connected by ships because 71% of the world’s surface is water, and ships are useless unless there are ports to serve them.
This simple fact, taken in …

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