Globalization is not dead!!
Welcome to Rethinking Supply Chains by me, Cathy Roberson. I write for publications such as the Journal of Commerce and Air Cargo World. I also do random supply chain projects for folks.
In the past, I did a weekly newsletter for my business, Logistics Trends & Insights, but things change or evolve and after reminding folks, again and again, the name of my company, I figured I would start writing my thoughts, minus the company, on supply chains.
Seeing other folks I know on this platform helped me make the decision to try it out so here I am.
How supply chains are evolving has always fascinated me so I plan to focus on this in upcoming posts. Knowing me, I’m sure to stray but I promise to get back on track.
So….the Ever Given…yeah, I know, I grew tired of seeing all of the Tweets, memes, and other social media coverage of it but I had a few journalists call me (thank you to the Washington Post, Fox News, and Business Insider btw. Article links below) and each one asked me if this was the clincher to ending globalization.
Definitely not. As I told Mike King for his Business Insider, "Political rhetoric such as America First is just that, rhetoric. What's important to shippers is their bottom line and they will continue to embrace globalization until it no longer financially makes sense to do so."
Okonjo-Iweala, who heads up the World Trade Organization said that the fact that “the Ever Given was able to cause so much disruption is a sign that global merchandise trade is relatively robust — and that global supply chains have held up through the pandemic.”
In its latest forecast for 2021 which was published on March 31, the WTO expects the world merchandise trade volume to increase by 8.0% in 2021 after falling 5.3% in 2020. (Source for the image below: WTO and UNCTAD for trade volume data; WTO for forecasts).
World merchandise trade volume, 2015Q1-2022Q4
Index, 2015=100
So, the big supply chain problem is lots of demand for goods but equipment shortages, and here in the US, extra stress on inland infrastructure all the way to our front doorsteps.
The Journal of Commerce has a number of fantastic articles on the current problems, which, btw, date back to last June. I strongly encourage folks to check them out. Reminder though, there is a paywall but if you sign-up for the newsletter, I believe you’ll get a limited number of articles to read for a while.
Just in case you were wondering….
Some stories I wrote this past week:
On-demand warehousing startup nabs new funding to expand offerings, network, JOC
Are FedEx Express’ new services a competitive threat to DHL and UPS?, Air Cargo World
Check me out ( 😊)…I was quoted in a few articles…..
The 4 biggest losers of the Suez Canal fiasco — and 4 surprising winners, Business Insider
Suez Canal traffic halt could raise prices of goods, jolt US economy, Fox News
Why a ship stuck in Egypt threatens the economy in the United States, Washington Post
My first post is done and thank you for hanging out with me. Next week the post will have a bit more meat to it.
Now, I’m off to the mountains for the weekend.
Thanks,
Cathy