The supply chain crisis is a growing problem for the maritime industry. Day by day, ports are becoming more congested with the arrival of goods and materials that are needed by consumers and industries alike. It’s a problem for everyone but is something that might not seem all too real for the ordinary consumer.
However, the effects of the shipping crisis are unfortunately more real than what most people can imagine. Fewer items are displayed on supermarket shelves while some are just completely out of stock. Trivial as it may sound, this supply chain crisis can be best illustrated by the shortage of potato fries that is currently being experienced by a fast-food giant. The multi-billion-dollar company has since resorted to limiting the size of french fries to smaller portions instead of offering their usual supersized or upsized versions.
The supply chain crisis occurs when there are not enough ships to fulfill customer demand and this can result in delays in shipping goods. For example, if one company needs to ship 100 containers, but only has space on 20 ships, then those containers will have to wait until another ship comes around or until the backlog is cleared from other ships. This can lead to delays in delivery and increased costs for customers.
This is why the maritime industry should take a look at ways how to improve different areas in their field like ship management, crew management, and vessel management. These areas can greatly improve the efficiency of the overall transport and shipping process that can alleviate the continuously growing stress on ports and the limited workforce on ships and docks.
While there may still be a shortage of ships plying the routes from one dock to another, improved ship management systems can greatly lessen the turnaround time that can be a cause for delays in the process. The supply chain crisis—which was also made worse by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic—highlighted the areas that the maritime industry can improve upon and all that shipping companies can do is keep up with the times and make things better on their end.
Ship management systems are designed to solve this issue by allowing companies to manage their fleet of ships more effectively by synchronizing their schedules with each other so that they can avoid unnecessary delays or congestion at sea lanes and ports. This is an often overlooked area in marine management that more companies should look at if they’re looking to get ahead in the competition. Robust solutions like improved ship management, ship audit, and the like can very well be the solution to smooth the kinks in the planning phase to avoid further disruptions during the actual transport stage.
As it is, Maersk CEO Soren Skou has projected that the shipping crisis may well soon be over in the second half of the year. However, it may still be too early to bank on the predicted upswing when it comes to the maritime industry. As most ship or dock crew members know, anything can happen in the port or during transport that can affect the turnaround of goods. It’s always a good idea to modernize processes to expedite the exchange of supplies between ports.
