The collapse of the Supply Chain or the beginning of a new era?

Current supply chain and logistics disruptions are reshaping the globalization concept dramatically. Enterprises relying on distant suppliers in their manufacturing process have started shifting their focus to local or neighboring markets. Uncertainties deriving from transit times and price fluctuations destroy the production planning and sales process of many companies worldwide. But should we only blame Covid for the collapse of the global supply chain or did we ignore already existing problems in the supply chain management until the pandemics kicked off?
When I started my undergraduate studies in Germany 15 years ago, I did not have substantial information about International Logistics and Supply Chain Management. Yet one of the first things that I repeatedly heard since then was the immense gap between the number of emerging logistics enterprises and the availability of talents in the market. The talent shortfall was the biggest concern during my 9-year professional career as a regional manager of different global logistics companies. To overcome talent shortfall, we had to regularly train our employees and educate many of the subcontractors to avoid disruptions in our logistics processes. The growing talent shortfall in the logistics industry threatened not only the sustainability of the industry but also global trade.
Although the problem was evident, public and private companies prioritized investments in logistics infrastructure, expansion of the fleet, wagon parks, and ships, omitting talent pool development. Logistics associations and academic institutions have always pinpointed talent management at the heart of Supply Chain Management, warning about possible adverse effects deriving from growing talent shortfall. The rate of globalization skyrocketed the demand for logistics service providers and transport companies. Simultaneously, third-party intermediaries, most of them lacking know-how due to talent shortfall distorted information flow more severely.
Effective logistics processes necessitate the flow of information in parallel to the cargo flow. Poor know-how in the supply chain process distorts the prerequisite of effective cargo movement- the effective information flow. In the pre-covid era, the problem was not noticeable enough due to relatively stable pricing and routing of the transportation process. Many companies were reluctant to change and disrupt their inbound and outbound freight processes despite their fragility due to limited know-how and poor technology, making the whole supply chain one of the least digitalized industries.
Logistics requires swift decision-making with limited resources and timing, making it an improbable task to achieve with current-traditional management styles. Controlling a single logistics process with multiple communication channels such as emails, phone calls, and fax is impractical as well as dysfunctional.
Learning from the past, the logistics industry entails better visibility and price transparency in overcoming the disruption and chaos in the industry. With an abundance of third-party intermediaries, distorted information flow has been a considerable barrier to the visibility of the logistics processes. Cutting-edge technologies should be exploited to alleviate defective management deriving from talent shortfall and poor know-how. Companies are craving innovative technologies providing access to the marketplaces and price transparency by circumventing third-party intermediary entities which are acting only as information disrupters.
As the global financing crisis gave birth to fintech, the rise of logtech became imminent amid supply chain disruptions.
The post-pandemic era will make the pain points of enterprises more severe, urging them to restructure and expand the supplier base yielding increased price and time consumption. Unpredictability entails diversification of logistics routing and pricing strategies. Logistics disruptions may be the beginning of the end for global trade, creating a domino effect across all channels of Supply Chain Management.
The chaos stemming from container shortage not only surges the container prices but also is leaving the next mess behind, clogging the seaports with massive amounts of piled-up empty containers, and thus, blocking the main exit and entrance points of the world trade.
Innovating logistics processes, providing visibility for the market players as well as compensating talent shortfall with the help of technology will unclog the main shipping hubs from empty containers and waiting trucks. The market is collapsing due to poor visibility created by an excessive number of third-party intermediary entities, but at the same time, the industry players are still resisting technological transformation. The downfall of a global supply chain is imminent unless the logistics world starts acting proactively and embracing the technological revolution of the industry.