The Supply Chainer

These were the 10 most read articles in the first quarter of 2026, which was also the beginning of the second quarter of the 21st century. The Top 10 articles that generated the highest readership and engagement among the supply chain community (Shippers, Service Providers & Carriers) were: Food Safety Risks Loom; Sysco and DHL Address Recall Questions  (January 21), highlighting how food safety risks and recalls have become a major pressure point with Sysco and DHL facing to

April 2026 reflected a continued focus on execution, structural scaling, and internal capability building across logistics providers, consultancies, and food-linked supply chains. Alongside selective leadership appointments, companies are investing in operational depth, digital procurement, and physical network expansion to support resilience and growth. 4C Associates Promotes Retail and Supply Chain Transformation Leaders to Associate Partner 4C Associates promoted Katy Gall

The Strait of Hormuz has shifted from acute disruption to a managed but unstable operating environment. Partial vessel movements have resumed under heightened military tension, but transit remains constrained, unpredictable, and insurance-sensitive. For global supply chains, the impact is now cascading beyond crude oil into air freight, refined fuels, and industrial inputs. Roughly 20% of global oil and a significant share of LNG flows pass through Hormuz. Even partial disrup

By Robert Handfield, Bank of America University Professor of Supply Chain Management Everyone seems to be developing a new AI platform that will forever change the world of supply chains. But will it really? Let’s review a few facts about AI and what it means for retail business strategies. Artificial Intelligence is the study of the “general principles of rational agents and components for constructing them” (Russell and Norvig 2016). On the other hand, agents are systems th

About thirty years ago, in a nondescript warehouse that smelled faintly of dust and diesel, a logistics manager stood over a thick spiral notebook, flipping pages with the kind of urgency that comes from knowing that somewhere, something is already late. Next to him sat a box of index cards. Each card meant something real - a pallet, a shipment, a promise made to a customer who would not care how complicated things were behind the scenes. There were no dashboards, no alerts,

For decades, warehouses have relied on barcodes, scanners, and manual data entry to track goods as they move through receiving, storage, and outbound operations. Those systems, while reliable, are increasingly straining under the weight of today’s e-commerce-driven order volumes , tighter delivery windows, and rising expectations for on-time, in-full (OTIF) performance. Many distribution centers still depend on periodic cycle counts and delayed reporting to reconcile inventor

As global trade realigns in response to tariffs, geopolitics, and localized shocks, supply chain leaders are under mounting pressure to relocate or redesign networks with little time to spare. But in this race to adapt, many are unintentionally paving the way for cyber vulnerabilities — especially when legacy systems are involved. In a written reply to The Supply Chainer , Paolo Palumbo, Vice President of WithSecure Intelligence, flagged the operational and security minefield

Earlier this year, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling struck down a set of tariffs imposed under emergency economic powers, effectively requiring the government to return funds already collected from importers. These tariffs had been embedded in pricing, sourcing, and cost structures across global supply chains. Now, with CBP launching the CAPE system to process refunds, companies are being pulled into a complex recovery process - one that sits at the intersection of trade complianc

What started as a temporary rerouting decision is quietly becoming the new operating model. Attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea have forced carriers to divert around the Cape of Good Hope, with Reuters reporting that “rerouting a ship around Africa adds roughly 10 days and $1 million in fuel costs.” Bloomberg has also noted that “the diversions are stretching global shipping capacity and driving up freight rates.” In practice, this has extended typical Asia–Europe tr

Trump’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has pushed one of the world’s busiest maritime corridors to the edge of a logistical paradox: ships are waiting, but they still need to be fed. At any given moment in recent weeks, dozens and likely hundreds of vessels - oil tankers, product carriers, bulkers - have been idling across the Gulf, some inside, some outside the narrow choke point. Traffic has not fully stopped, but it has slowed sharply. The result is not just a shipping d

Over the past 24 hours, the situation in and around the Strait of Hormuz has shifted from controlled access to what operators increasingly describe as a de facto maritime siege. Direct pressure from Donald Trump, including explicit public threats toward Iran, has coincided with a sharp drop in vessel movement and a growing backlog of ships unable or unwilling to transit the corridor. Traffic that had partially resumed under a fragile ceasefire framework is now deteriorating a

In the latest episode of the Resilient Supply Chain Podcast, host Tom Raftery is joined by Cynthia Lai, a governance and financial literacy advisor and former banking executive director. The conversation centres on a shift many supply chain leaders have not yet fully internalised: carbon data is moving beyond reporting and into the core of financing, insurance, and operational risk. As banks and insurers face tighter regulatory expectations around financed and insured emissio