Supply Chain risk and its effects on shippers’ decisions

Supply Chain risk and its effects on shippers’ decisions On January 29th 2020 Contship joined the Swiss Shippers’ Forum in Interlaken to showcase the Southern Gateway value proposition for supply chain risk management.   We often think about the logistics system as a network, but the reality is that trades are concentrated along specific corridors. Institutions and operators concentrate investments and business along these corridors, identifying optimal routes and partnerships. This makes perfect economic sense, but what happens when these corridors block, due to unforeseen disruptive events? Supply chain resiliency is often overestimated: when disruptive events, due to natural disasters, infrastructural damages, cyber-attacks, geopolitical crisis, sudden changes in regulations, unexpected surges in demand and bottlenecks hit the system, logistics operators scramble to find alternative routings, but are often frustrated by the time it takes to establish new partnerships, test new practices and activate new routes. Resilient supply chains rely on multiple options, differentiating risk through the creation of multiple partnerships and professional relationships, which allow them to me flexible and highly reactive when major roadblocks arise. For swiss and central European operators, a major risk diversification opportunity is provided by the Southern Gateway system, which allows them to import and export European volumes through Mediterranean ports, benefiting from reliable high-frequency connections from Ligurian and Adriatic ports (such as La Spezia, Genoa and Ravenna) to Switzerland and beyond. Contship value proposition is based on an international approach and a deep understanding of maritime and continental trades; through the Contship network, using Group-owned assets (providing terminal operations, rail traction, customs and Multimodal Transport Operator services) forwarders and cargo owners can diversify their supply chain, shifting a share of their trades to the south and benefiting from a competitive, reliable and tested transport service which provides a high-value alternative to the traditional routing via Northern Range ports.       Would you like to discover more? Download the keynote presented at the 2020 Swiss Shippers’ Forum, and get in touch with us, to learn more about the benefits of looking South.