Shipping containers are moved from the Fairview Cove Container Terminal In Halifax in May 2021.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
The world needs robust supply chains that are founded on sustainability, collaboration, trust, transparency, visibility and diversification of supply.
Ships waiting to dock at Los Angeles.
EPA
All the extra profits that shipping companies have made from high freight rates should be put to good use.
Global plastic supply chains have been altered by COVID-19.
Filmbetrachter/Pixabay
The problem of increasing plastic waste has been exacerbated by the pandemic, requiring better regulation and monitoring to solve.
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Don’t expect to buy online in early December and have your parcel delivered by the 25th.
Consumers are still finding bare store shelves.
AP Photo/David Zalubowski
An expert on global supply chains explains why shortages of many products have persisted throughout the pandemic.
A factory in Qindao, Shangdong making coal briquettes.
EPA
Xi Jinping has been talking tough on decarbonising China, but blinked after an energy crisis threatened to derail the world economy.
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Short fixes won’t last.
Maureen McLean / Alamy Stock Photo
Three ways the government could address the lorry driver shortage with longer-term solutions.
The global economy depends on shipping containers.
AP Photo/Seth Wenig
Before the container was standardized, loading and unloading goods was very labor-intensive, inefficient and costly.
It’s all to play for. Well, sort of.
Ian Hubball/Alamy
Everything from lorry driver shortages to container ship problems are conspiring to make it a tight Christmas for retailers.
Supply chain disruptions can have negative effects on people’s health.
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The COVID-19 pandemic revealed how disruptions to global supply chains could also affect access to health care.
Woolworths
The pandemic home-delivery boom is driving a push to automation and precarious work by Australian supermarkets.
A Bangladeshi man gets his jab.
AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu
Each dose of Pfizer has a long and complex path involving mixing, storage at temperatures colder than the South Pole and specific protocols that must be followed before it becomes a jab.
Shutterstock/easyknotcoco
Shortages of chicken at Nando’s are due to disruptions in supply, rather than demand.
Blue Planet Studio/Shutterstock
A major investigation finds the essential supplies most at risk are personal protective equipment and chemicals. Onshore manufacturing mightn’t do much to help.
A customer shops at a drive-thru farmers market in Overland Park, Kansas, on May 2, 2020.
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
Farmers markets aren’t just for yuppies – they are increasingly serving customers at all social and economic levels, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Claudio Divizia/Shutterstock
Greater Sydney sold $281 billion of goods and services to the rest of Australia in 2019/20. Cutting off Sydney could affect everything from petrol and parcels to soft drinks and sliced ham.
Fuel storage tanks at South Africa’s Durban harbour. Blocking the transport of fuel will stop the transport of food.
Photo by Hoberman Collection/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
South Africans should not panic about the food system. But authorities will need to act swiftly and assertively to restore stability.
Maksim Shmeljov / Shutterstock
Cybersecurity for pipelines and ports is too important to leave unregulated.
An avocado orchard in Tzaneen, South Africa. Food insecurity in the country went up in the wake of COVID-19.
Photo by Guillem Sartorio/AFP via Getty Images
Government support for farmers, higher rainfall and grain imports have helped sub-Saharan Africa stave off food insecurity, but the region isn’t out of the woods yet.