Logistics UK’s Supply Chain Resilience conference keynote warning

Professor Alan McKinnon from Kühne Logistics University Hamburg took to the stage at Logistics UK's fourth Supply Chain Resilience conference in London last week to discuss the potential climate change issues facing logistics, in what proved to be an enlightening and sobering address.

Professor McKinnon's keynote highlighted that few activities are as exposed to climate risk as logistics, a claim that is mirrored by the fact that the number of papers produced on the subject of supply chain resilience had quadrupled since 2007.

Supply chain risk factors include environmental, geopolitical, cyber, medical, economic, labour related and infrastructure concerns. McKinnon also highlighted the potential role for AI in creating new opportunities for customised risk mitigation, alerting and response systems.

The professor identified the main causes of supply chain disruptions in the 2023-24 period as  third party failure, cyber attack, natural disaster, adverse weather, transport network disruption, data breach, loss of talent/skills and political change.

And the conclusions he reached as a result of his analysis were outlined to the audience:

• Over the past 25 years, the number, variety, severity and extent of supply chain risks have greatly increased.
• Resilience of freight transport systems and supply chains is likely to be severely tested by the inter-related impacts of geopolitics and climate change for the foreseeable future.
• A more complex array of supply chain resilience strategies and tactics is now required to deal with these risks, some generic, others customised.
• Artificial Intelligence is likely to have a major impact on the management of supply chain resilience.
• Businesses need to ensure that efforts to deal with the different categories of supply chain risk are compatible.
• There is strong, but not perfect, alignment between freight transport resilience and decarbonisation objectives.
• Resilience of freight transport systems and supply chains is likely to be severely tested by the inter-related impacts of geopolitics and climate change for the foreseeable future.

Other key areas covered in panel sessions across the day included: 

• Government programmes to support improving resilience of UK supply chains
• Cost of transportation as key to resilience
• Resilience for cities and urban infrastructure
• Achieving resilience through the use of technology while mitigating technology-related risks
• Resilience of international supply chains; Resilience of online retail operations
• Skills to unlock resilience. 

Phil Roe, President, Logistics UK chaired the day and the panel events were hosted by Ben Garratt, Logistics UK's Deputy Director – Public Affairs, Michelle Gardner, Logistics UK's Deputy Director – Policy, and Jonathan Walker, Logisitics UK's Head of Cities and Infrastructure Policy and Bethany Windsor, Logistics UK's Head of Skills and Generation Logistics.

Panelists included:

– Lydia Green, UK Space Agency's Head of Unlocking Space, and Laura Marquis, Department for Transport's Deputy Director of Logistics and Supply Chain Policy.

– Nick Graham, NED and Board Advisor Logistics Leadership and Sustainability • Annette Nemethova, Group Sustainability Lead, Gregory Distribution Ltd • Andrew Scott, Product Director, TVS Group

– Richard Guy, Fleet and Plant Director, Amey • Simon Keen, Partner, Commercial real estate team, Birketts • Piers Windsor, Associate Director, Asset Management London, Segro

– John Court, John Court Associates Ltd. • Helen Flanagan, Product Director, Wincanton

– Keiron Myall, Managing Director UK/IE, Customs Support Group • Seamus Nevin, Chief Economist, MAKE UK

– Tim Jones, Director of Marketing, Communications & Sustainability, DPD UK, Justin Laney, Partner & General Manager, John Lewis Partnership

– Leigh Anderson, Managing Director, Bis Henderson Recruitment