Corporate DispatchPro FRANCO AZZOPARDI – CEO OF EXPRESS TRAILERS
The Perfect Logistics Storm 2021 was meant to be the year of recovery as the world economy recaptures momentum thanks to improved vaccination rates and lower hospitalisations related to Covid-19 across the globe. Yet, 2021 seemed determined to not want to be undone by its predecessor. While the virus originating from Wuhan could easily assume the image of the fictional monster ruining 2020, the situation is much more complex this time round. Retail outlets, restaurants and other service providers are finding themselves having to grapple with rising transport and logistics-related costs sometimes reaching up to 800%. As often happens, when a big crisis hits home it is the result of a mix of situations – and that is what seems to have cooked the perfect logistics storm. Although business in Europe has regained traction during the first half of year, surges in Covid-19 numbers in South-East Asian countries have necessitated new curbs which included the closure of factories not only in China, but also in major manufacturing hubs such as Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand. A quick glance at the packaging of most consumer products that we purchase on a regular basis, from clothing to smartphones, from domestic appliances to fashion apparel will likely indicate such countries as their origin. More than that, factories in such countries produce basic components, without which the rest of the process ends up completely stalled. Big manufacturers in Europe and the US are shutting down factories because of a lack of semiconductors. Apple stopped production of 10 million iPhone 13s due to chip shortages. Ironically, all this happened practically over the same timeframe where consumer demand was rebounding in spectacular fashion.
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