Improving Global Supply Chain And Logistics

When we just started breathing again and saw the possibility of the COVID ghost finally disappearing after 2 long years, we were reminded again that, no matter how good you are at planning, life always throws some new challenges at you.

China decided that it should pursue a zero COVID policy and created some of the biggest supply chain disruptions ever seen which made the “Ever Given” Suez Canal incident look like a minor event.

Russia with its invasion of Ukraine also reminded us further of the risks of “too much kaizen (rapid improvement processes)”, mono sourcing and commodity dependency issues.

Not only geographically in its impact, Russia and Ukraine provide about 14 percent of all global seafarers, most of them senior officers, who are now harder and harder to keep employed and paid.

Adding to these two major pressures, supply chain professionals around the world face an increasing challenge to determine the right set of measures to face the ESG and sustainability challenges which our clients rightfully demand. 

We are dealing with a decoding of buzzwords that are floating around everywhere and turning them into measurable and presentable small projects, proving the seriousness of the organization to play a part, especially in the social aspects. Even more important for a leading Ship Management company like us employing more than 7000 seafarers, is the different challenges under COVID and difficult crew change conditions. Also, regulatory demands on many levels are ever increasing.

"Agility and perseverance coupled with integrated smart digital tools equals a recipe to survive and excel in a complex and interdependent world"

So how did the more successful organizations in the global Supply Chain and logistics sectors respond? In almost all cases the cocktail mix was agility, resilience and the integration of smart digital tools producing transparency. Companies needed to create exceptional customer experiences considering out of the box solutions and lots of “extra miles”.

Technology and new solutions, including startups, gained a lot of ground. The main drivers here were: using/ embedding of AI in most legacy areas, building of digital twins, focus on the real end user and pain points, true embracing of partnerships with data sharing.

VC Investments in the Maritime Sector and new related technologies amounted to USD 11.3 billion in 2021, doubled from 2020, the money was invested also for example into autonomous Supply Chain operations to work leaner and smart.

While a lot of projects already exist in optimizing container flow, positioning and transport, the industry finally started looking into a so far untapped area of optimization. It is a fact that on average about 24 percent of global container space is unused which can be improved dramatically with production, loading and packaging algorithms and forwarder collaboration of consolidation with a tremendous positive impact on cost and CO2 footprint.

It is obvious that going forward a combination of good ideas with hard work and determination to solve ever evolving problems will lead to success and support for all organizations to stay relevant, socially, and economically responsible and accountable as well as “sexy”. This would address the next big industry challenge to continue to attract new young talent with the new skillsets needed without which the not so brave new world will no longer be able to meet the stretch between technology and continuous