It has been one year since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, highlighting vulnerabilities in supply chains and creating a new challenging landscape for international trade for many organizations around the world.

The foundation of an efficient supply chain process had always been dependent upon predictable supply and demand forecasting. It all changed as the pandemic struck around the world, and the most tremendous turbulence in the supply chain, ever experienced in this lifetime, began to unfold.

The Impact of One Year on Supply Chains
The ‘aftermath’ of the pandemic (although still prevalent in many countries) has emptied shelves and diminished safety stocks as manufacturers reduced production at the outset of the Coronavirus crisis.

The impact of the bullwhip effect has never been more prevalent than at present. Demand is now outstripping supply in many parts of the world, and transporting cargo is still challenging.

Consumers are in purchase mode. Having been faced with lockdowns and closed stores, consumers have reawakened from the pandemic. According to a recent report by JP Morgan, consumer spending in the U.S. is increasing:

• Retail sales rose 5.3% in January, above expectations.
• During 2020, U.S. household savings nearly doubled.
• Last year’s federal stimulus packages helped real household income grow 3.7% in 2020.

It would appear that the U.S. is returning to regular lifestyle activities post-pandemic, and consumer demand has kick-started in 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic in the past year has indeed been ’a perfect storm’ for supply chain professionals. The culmination of reduced manufacturing output, empty shelves due to panic buying, limited air freight capacity in the belly hold of passenger planes, closed borders, and increased capacity demand required for COVID-19 vaccines and supplies led to a multitude of disruptions. Additionally, Brexit added to the turbulence.

One year later, supply chain disruption is still ongoing with container shortages, limited passenger flights, and most recently unpredictable circumstances such as the most recent blockage of the Suez Canal. Costs are rising due to the challenges and are impacting companies around the world.

Logistics Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic Disruption
Supply Chain resilience will depend on an organization’s capability to resume efficient operations in the ‘new normal.’ Many will also face the challenge of recovering from the impact of the past year during the pandemic.

In a recent interview with Air Cargo World, Keith Winters, CEO of Crane Worldwide Logistics, explained that the pandemic brought unforeseen challenges for our clients.

“As our client’s needs changed, air freight rates increased exponentially and disruption began to impact supply chains, the most important factor for us to be a successful client advocate was to adapt our modelling according to the situation.” 

“Throughout the pandemic, being agile and nimble to respond to the challenging market was key to being a successful logistics partner to our clients,” he added. True resilience is adapting to change quickly and effectively and providing logistics solutions regardless of the turbulent environment.

An essential lesson for potential future disruption is to ensure all supply chain partners have contingency planning to support global operations. When the unexpected occurs, supply chain partner relations add the most benefit to a successful supply chain operation.

Going the extra mile and seamless communication play a huge role in a supply chain partnership, and that’s when true teamwork comes into play.

Visibility of supply chain operations is also a valuable source of information to understand the current environment when turbulence arises. Supply chain technology allows partners to have complete visibility of shipments down to purchase order level, inventory in stock, and freight in transit.

The accuracy of supply chain data allows for better decision-making when a company needs to pivot away from its forecasted or contingency plans. Forecasting is a challenge; however, the more information provided for space requirements for air and ocean freight allows service partners to book capacity in advance.

Trust, collaboration, and teamwork are fundamentals of the Crane Way culture and the way of doing business worldwide. Our frontline workers, operations teams, and management adhered to our Technology, Service, and People value proposition during the COVID pandemic.

During times of crisis and rapidly evolving circumstances, partnerships throughout the supply chain are imperative to maintain an agile and visible approach to fluctuating supply and demand. Supply Chain disruption has almost become the ‘new normal,’ and it is questionable that we will soon see stable and predictable operations.

Crane Worldwide Logistics is making investments such as expanding our global footprint of warehouses and adding capacity through charter operations where needed.

Being flexible and agile to address our client’s needs will continue as a focal point for Crane Worldwide as it has been since the company began in 2008.