The Covid-19 Pandemic which impacted global supply chains hard in February of 2020, has grown as on “steroids” as we approach the 2nd Quarter of 2021.
There is no professional logistics service provider, freight forwarder, NVOCC, Carriers, 3PL, customhouse broker, consultant, or any expert in the industry who would have anticipated what has happened in the past 12 months and likely to have a legacy well into the balance of this year.
Demand had impacted capacity and capacity has impacted cost. Ocean freight rates have doubled and in some trade lanes have tripled and air freight pricing has multiples of 4-8 times more than we witnessed towards the end of 2019.
Making this all worse is how long this crisis has developed with no specific end in sight.
Tied into capacity and cost are the logistics delays, doubling and tripling expected ETA’s.
This past year has been a “nightmare” for all supply chain managers who are looking for relief … when very little is in-sight.
