Pandemic lessons and trade war turbulence define a new logistics era

In the nearly 20 (gulp) years I have been on the logistics “beat,” so to speak, it is hard to find a period in time in which supply chains have seen so much volatility and uncertainty, in various ways as over the last five years. That is nothing new, to be sure, but, at the same time, it does speak to the significance of the industry (whether you may be a shipper, carrier, 3PL, academic, analyst, lobbyist, or anything else along those lines).

It is fair to say that the tide started to come in for supply chains in early 2020, at the onset of the pandemic, and it sometimes feels like it has not gone out at a commensurate pace. That was especially notable during the pandemic’s early days, when we saw the global economy essentially freeze, with the majority of people stuck at home and not going to work. But that subsequently led to a heightened frenzy of supply chain activity, with people keeping e-commerce networks beyond busy, ordering goods for things like home improvement and renovation projects, among other things.     

While that led to very healthy order books for many shippers, it also, as we all well know, led to various logistics bottlenecks, in the form of things like: record port congestion; asset imbalances (notably for containers); and not nearly as much available capacity. What’s more, and this is not all of it, really, it also led to stockouts for vital household goods like cleaning supplies and toilet paper. And, notably, a key lesson learned from the pandemic was focused on supply chain stakeholders diversifying their supplier bases and also look into sourcing closer to home via nearshoring or reshoring efforts.

The pandemic will continue to serve as a reference point for industry stakeholders, no matter how far along they were in their career when it occurred. And as the days, weeks, and months of 2025 continue to fall off the calendar, it really is time to add the White House’s tariffs—which one veteran supply chain stakeholder told me, has had a similar impact, akin to setting off a hand grenade on the global supply chain—to the list.

While that comment was made in jest, the impacts of ongoing shifting trade policies and tariff rates are anything but comical for those in the supply chain. If you need more proof of that, simply look through the pages of this magazine or its website—where you will find more than enough examples.

Whether you are for or against tariffs, which really is not the issue here, one common theme has been that their collective impact has been incredibly damaging and led to what could be viewed as angst or confusion, say many industry stakeholders. Making things even more difficult have been quick, or sudden, shifts for things like when tariffs on a certain nation were set to kick in, pauses in tariffs, and general confusion, which has created, in many cases, a sense of an overwhelmed supply chain, at times, of course.

While there are clearly more examples of how real-world issues like the pandemic and the ongoing trade war impacted supply chain and logistics operations, one thing made clear with each—and I have likely mentioned this before in this space—is that they raised the profile of the supply chain.

In other words, things went from a consumer expectation of getting an item delivered or pulled off a shelf, to the item not being there. And in the case of the trade war, while available inventory is not ostensibly an issue, what they paid, or are now paying for certain things, has gone up, for some goods, to be sure, with economists noting that more pain may be coming. Either way, our family and friends, at the very least, have a better idea of what we all do, right?

These two events, in my opinion, are two of the biggest things to impact logistics and the supply chain over my nearly 20 years in writing about this industry. Will that still be the case down the road when I am eventually retired? That remains to be seen, but one thing for sure is that our industry’s profile has been significantly raised. In the meantime, let’s hope this supply chain-driven tide heads out a little bit more.