International Chamber of Shipping Pens Open Letter Warning of a Global Supply Chain ‘Collapse’

In an interesting development for the global supply chain community, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) have issued an open letter to the United Nations General Assembly that a “global transport system collapse” is on the rise should governments not restore freedom of movement to transport workers and give them prioritization in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

This is just the latest development in what has in recent months been a dour news cycle for the global supply chain. Stringent COVID-19 protocols in ports in the U.S. and abroad have led to a substantial level of congestion that some analysts predict will be felt for years to come, CNN reports. Compounding the issue is also the high quantity of natural disasters such as floods that have been seen in recent months in critical supply chain junctures through Europe and Asia.

“Global supply chains are beginning to buckle as two years’ worth of strain on transport workers take their toll,” the letter reads. “The letter has also been signed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the International Road Transport Union (IRU) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF). Together they represent 65 million transport workers globally.

At the height of the pandemic, approximately 400,000 sea workers on transport carriers were unable to leave their boats due to COVID-19 restrictions. According to reports, some workers had their contract extended for as long as 18 months. Today, while restrictions have subsided, the spread of the Delta variant has led to a wide and varied landscape of protocols and restrictions. Requirements from location to location are very inconsistent, and in some cases seafarers have been forced to be vaccinated multiple times. Vaccine dosages have also been distributed in a widely unequal fashion; according to reports, for example, only 25% to 30% of the transport workers in India and the Philippines have been vaccinated.

“All transport sectors are also seeing a shortage of workers, and expect more to leave as a result of the poor treatment millions have faced during the pandemic, putting the supply chain under greater threat,” says the letter. As organizations look toward 2022 and beyond, considerations must be made to insulate their supply chains from disruption as much as possible, in both the short and long term.