The Supply Chainer

Geopolitical disruption is once again distorting global logistics flows, but its impact is proving uneven. Tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, fluctuating fuel costs, and shifting carrier behaviour are creating instability across key trade lanes. Yet rather than triggering a broad-based surge in costs and delays, the effect remains fragmented and dependent on underlying market conditions. Global Signals Remain Fragmented Rates on major routes have moved only modestly. Freig

This year at MODEX 2026, the scale of automation on display was familiar, but the emphasis has continued to shift. Beyond robotics and point solutions, discussions across the floor pointed to systems that move from supporting decisions to executing them - continuously, and across operational layers. Across multiple booths and sessions, the focus turned to how autonomy is being applied in live environments rather than pilots. YMX Logistics highlighted the growing role of auton

Career paths across logistics and supply chain are becoming less predictable. Many of today’s founders, operators, and senior executives did not follow a clean, step-by-step progression. They started in billing, on warehouse floors, or in entry-level sales roles, and built their way up through exposure to real operations. The shift is not just about ambition. It reflects how the industry itself works - complex, fast-moving, and dependent on people who understand how things ac

In the latest episode of the Resilient Supply Chain Podcast, host Tom Raftery speaks with Constantine Komodromos, Founder and CEO of VesselBot, about a problem hiding in plain sight across global operations: most companies still lack a single, real-time view of their logistics performance. The discussion centres on transport data, emissions visibility, and the growing gap between what organisations think they know and what is actually happening across cost, service, and execu

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

With U.S. retail return rates estimated at roughly 15–20% annually, reverse logistics is becoming a central factor in retail profitability rather than a secondary operational concern. Retailers and logistics providers are increasingly rethinking how returned goods are processed, moving away from centralized national facilities toward regional returns infrastructure designed to shorten processing times and reduce costs. The shift reflects broader pressure on retailers to contr

Retail e-commerce sales topped $6 trillion globally in 2024, fueling continued growth in international parcel flows. Cross-border orders now account for roughly one in five online purchases worldwide, with about 59% of online shoppers reporting purchases from overseas retailers, according to recent consumer research. Amid this growth, tariffs, de minimis caps, currency fluctuations, and geopolitical tensions are adding new volatility to global parcel networks. Facing shifting

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,