The impact of Supply Chain disruptions and mitigation – A conversation with the FMC

Supply Chain can perhaps be termed as the “Phrase of the Year” in 2021. Whether you were involved in the business of supply chain or not, everyone heard about it, everyone was reading about it, everyone was talking about it and everyone was affected by supply chain disruptions that rocked 2021.

Whether it was due to

• extreme increases in ocean shipping freight rates;
• lack of containers on land and space on board ships;
• chassis, truck or driver shortage;
• blockage of the Suez Canal; or simply;
• an unprecedented increase in demand;

supply could just not keep up with or meet the demand by global consumers.

This COVID induced demand carried on right through 2021 and is set to continue deep into 2022. Supply chain disruptions were more pronounced in the USA than in any other country in the world grabbing the attention of mainstream and industry media and even the White House.

While the initial issues impacting the supply chain was said to be due to COVID-19, is it still the case, and can we attribute all the problems and issues plaguing the industry currently to COVID-19,  or are there any deeper issues behind this whole saga?

Who better to discuss these issues with, than Commissioner Carl Bentzel of the Federal Maritime Commission? Commissioner Bentzel was appointed by President Trump to serve a term of five years as a commissioner along with four other commissioners and has been working in Washington, DC on shipping issues for over 30 years, including the House in the Senate and has a lot of experience in maritime shipping matters. 

Commissioner Bentzel was joined by Josh Brazil, the VP of Data Insights at project44 and Shabsie Levy, CEO and Founder of Shifl in this data driven discussion on the impact of supply chain disruptions and its mitigation.

You can view this video in full below.

Timestamps for the video

00:00 – Introduction
07:25 – Port Congestion
16:49 – Consumer Spending
20:10 – How Port Congestion Started
23:41 – Fewer Ships Waiting at ports
30:36 – East Coast Ports
33:58 – Govt’s plan to tackle Consumer Panic
37:18 – How Project44 can help the Govt.
40:03 – How can FMC help
45:38 – Predictions for Future Of Supply Chain