Trade tea leaves showing peak season status quo

(Read more on FreightWaves)

Cutting through the hyperbole and rhetoric around peak season this year, this article takes a more data-driven approach by looking at what’s being ordered for the holiday season. This approach doesn’t account for the timing of these orders, so it’s difficult to tell at this point what the impact might be on existing inventories, especially those still bloated from last year’s overhang.

East Europe's logistics carry on through war, thanks to Covid lessons

(Read more on The LoadStar)

For companies in Eastern Europe that survived the COVID-induced lockdowns and supply chain tangle of the last few years, the current set of disruptions stemming from the conflict in Ukraine has presented an opportunity to practice what they learned. Shifting to alternative suppliers, planning around extended transit times, and rerouting freight around closed ports and congested borders have all become regular practice in the region.

Reduced risk, regionalization become supply chain priorities, economics expert says

(Read more on FreightWaves)

Business columnist for the Financial Times and CNN economic analyst Rana Foroohar, speaking at a recent FreightWaves event, said that the focus on redesigning supply chains for resiliency rather than purely for efficiency is the way forward. She also offered a caution, that this process will necessarily be different in terms of speed and impact across industries, similar to the broader digital transformation in other sectors.

Automotive industry change will spark a whole new supply chain

(Read more on The LoadStar)

The shift to electric powertrains and autonomous navigation systems is changing the dynamic of the auto industry and its supply chain. Take as an early example semiconductor manufacturers, who don’t prioritize automotive companies as much as the tech industry. This shift means that whereas they used to be the sole focus of a supplier, car manufacturers are now increasingly finding themselves up against established organizations in completely different industries.