Supply chain. The unprecedented disruptions of the past few years have made “supply chain” a household word—because nearly every household in the world has been affected by the shortages of goods and services, all created by breaks in the supply chain, and the resulting inflation.
Remember when the giant containership Ever Given got wedged last year after a windstorm in the Suez Canal? For six days, it blocked the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia, which transits about 15 percent of world shipping. People across the globe watched in amazement as the ship, which carried a towering wall of 18,300 containers, was ultimately freed. After the disruptions to goods and services already seen by COVID-19, we received another reminder of the fragility of our global supply chains.