Supply Chain

When Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, international supply chains were still fragile after the massive impact of coronavirus (COVID-19). Although the devastating invasion is not causing the same kind of impact on shipping routes as the initial quarantine lockdowns of March 2020, when planes were grounded and ports closed all over the world, it’s nonetheless affecting supply chains enough to cause significant difficulties for organisations and individuals the world over.

The immediate future of the global supply chain rests on a bargaining table in San Francisco, where the union representing all West Coast dockworkers is hashing out a new contract with the assembled bosses of maritime shipping.

The immediate future of the global supply chain rests on a bargaining table in San Francisco, where the union representing all West Coast dockworkers is hashing out a new contract with the assembled bosses of maritime shipping.

Bubs Australia and Kendamil are heading to American store shelves after Abbott Nutrition’s plant shutdown and recall exacerbated a baby formula shortage.

The White House is facing new questions about whether it acted quickly enough after the leading baby formula plant shut down in February.

In the first year of COVID we became armchair experts in infectious disease. The next, we earned our PhD’s in global supply chains, chalking up the months-long wait times for new screen doors and patio furniture to that container ship stuck in the Suez Canal. Most recently, it’s baby formula that’s been affected by disrupted global supply chains.

One is product shortages, as with the shortage of personal protective equipment early in the pandemic and recently with infant formula. But are we willing to pay higher prices for less reliance on the global supply chain?

Economists and other market watchers often look at signals from the transportation sector, especially trucking (which carries a significant majority of US freight) for insight into the direction of the broader economy.

The global supply chain issues the Federal Reserve has been worried about plagued the country’s busiest ports last year. A new report from the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence ranked the efficiency of more than 350 ports worldwide based on how long ships had to wait at port last year. Los Angeles and Long Beach, which handle more than 40% of all maritime imports to the U.S., came in dead last for efficiency.

A day after invoking the Defense Production Act to help alleviate a nationwide shortage, administration officials had few answers for how the law would lead to more supply.