Supply chains connecting the world’s economies are at or near the breaking point due to the COVID-19 surge, natural disasters in Asia and Europe and a potent cyberattack in South Africa, Reuters reported.
Experts said the combined effect of the forces is significant disruption of the flow of consumer goods and materials essential to manufacturing, according to Reuters. In some ways, it looks like 2020 all over again.
In ports, limits on crew disembarking imposed by pandemic-weary local authorities have badly interrupted the rotation of crews necessary to keep ships sailing, Guy Platten, secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping, told Reuters.
“We’re no longer on the cusp of a second crew change crisis, we’re in one,” he said, per the report. “This is a perilous moment for global supply chains.”
According to Reuters, about 90 percent of global trade travels by ship.
German container line Hapag Lloyd…
