Following the recent air traffic control disruption at UK airports, what does this kind of disruption reveal about the fragility of time-sensitive cargo and supply chains?
Karin Strom, VP at Proxima, tells us: “Every day, thousands of tonnes of cargo move through UK airports, often in the holds of passenger aircraft. When flights are grounded, that capacity disappears, often leaving businesses scrambling to source stock from alternative suppliers.
“Whether it’s specialist medical equipment, engineering replacements or electrical components, many of the shipments that depend on reliable air links are innately time sensitive. The healthcare sector is particularly vulnerable, with its reliance on aircrafts to transport human organs, blood products, specialist biological materials and certain cancer diagnostics that use radioisotopes. These shipments operate on narrow clinical windows that, if disrupted, can have a real impact.
“Businesses are increasingly holding less stock and becoming more reliant on just-in-time supply chains, which can often hamper resilience. When a major international cargo hub shuts down, factories, hospitals and laboratories across the global can feel the impact in a matter of hours – this was made clear in our Global Supply Chain Resilience Outlook, which found half (51%) of global businesses could not maintain day-to-day operations uninterrupted for over three weeks following a major supply chain shock.
“While the investigation into the issue will help to understand what caused the technical fault, the lesson for businesses is already clear. To boost resilience, businesses must demand full transparency from suppliers around where their critical dependencies lie. This will allow procurement teams to develop a holistic understanding of the business’ vulnerabilities, and develop detailed crisis response plans that can maintain stock levels should the worst happen.”
