Thursday, October 3, 2019

“Supply chains cannot tolerate even 24 hours of disruption. So if you lose your place in the supply chain because of wild behavior you could lose a lot. It would be like pouring cement down one of your oil wells.”
– Thomas Friedman –

I recently sat with a business experiencing vendor and supply chain issues likely caused by the ongoing tariff spat. Their issue reminded me of the fragility of our global supply chain and its dependence upon “freedom of the seas.” This same question is considered in the book The Free Sea: The American Fight for Freedom of Navigation, a review of which may be found by Clicking here. Most businesses don’t think much about maritime security, though, so the question you need to ask yourself is this: When your supply chain lets you down, what’s your backup… and then what’s your backup to that?