See this Forbes article: “Blocked Suez Canal Is Latest Reminder Why Companies Need Crisis Plans.”
There really isn’t anything new about the issue we’ve watched grow on our television screens over the past seven days. What is somewhat new is how businesses and countries are reacting to the slowing of global transport of goods by ship. Syria imposed fuel rationing due to the shortage. Manufacturers are shutting down production lines due to parts not being available. A week of disruption is not an eternity, but when you are sitting idle and time is money, it can seem to be an eternity.
Like always, the question is, will companies learn something from the experience, or as the ships start traversing the canal again, will it all just be a painful memory that is hoped will not be repeated? If you don’t want it to be repeated, then you need to rethink your supply chain resilience and maybe put some redundancy into the system. Some still consider redundancy to just be duplication, but when you need the flex in your system, the pennies spent in redundancy can pay big dividends.
