Home News Features Compliance

🕒 Article read time: 2 minutes

Globalisation could be going into reverse, logistics expert warns conference delegates


Logistics and global trade could be moving to a new economic order, Alan McKinnon, Professor of Logistics at Kuehne Logistics University, told delegates during his keynote speech at Logistics UK’s Supply Chain Resilience Conference in London yesterday (30 March 2022).

And, he asserts, this will have a significant impact on the way that goods are moved around the world.

“The feeling is that the economic order that has been in place for the last 30 years, which is underpinned by globalisation, is breaking down,” McKinnon said, “We see that in the case of the current Ukrainian crisis.”

The hope that globalisation, trade liberalisation and the internet would have promoted democracy across the world just hasn’t happened, he argued. But it has stoked up geopolitical tensions and that has impacted supply chains and has effectively weaponised connectivity in supply chains. Countries threatening to stop the supply of critical materials, for example, can become a surrogate for military action.

“This will change the nature and scale of the threats to our global supply chain,” McKinnon said, “because if we’re moving into a new world, we are going to have to completely reconfigure our supply chains. There will be a lot of strains and stresses in that process and that will be disruptive in the shorter term.”

Chaired by Phil Roe (the incoming Logistics UK President) the Supply Chain Resilience conference armed senior business leaders with the insight required to protect their operations against global and national supply chain pressures, and was sponsored by Quincus, Port of Dover and WTW. Almost 100 attendees discussed key issues affecting the sector, including the resilience of international supply chains and resilience whilst reaching net zero during the one-day event.

*www.logistics.org.uk/events/supply-chain-resilience-logistics-uk-business-conf

Published On: 31/03/2022 16:00:36

 

Comments Section

If you are a Logistics UK member login to add comments.

There are no comments yet.

In brief

PREPARING FOR THE BIRMINGHAM 2022 COMMONWEALTH GAMES

The Commonwealth Games this summer will be located across the West Midlands and Logistics UK has been working with Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) to keep the region moving in the run up to and during the Games.

TfWM is hosting an introductory online webinar on Tuesday 5 April at 10am to tell businesses more, including the latest information on how logistics businesses can continue to operate across the area during the Commonwealth Games. 

Sign up to the webinar here.

Latest articles

Ask the MAC

With Ray Marshall - Manager, Compliance Information, Logistics UK

Read time: 3 minutes

View article

Generation Logistics Case Study

Lydia Minett, Head of Marketing UKI  – CEVA

Read time: 2 minutes

View article

GB Railfreight showcases new low-emission shunters

GB Railfreight has introduced three new Zephir ‘LOK 16.300’ depot shunters into service at CELSA Steel UK in Cardiff.

Read time: 2 minutes

View article

E-news archive

You can also view our e-news archive here.

E-news archive

Interested in Membership?

Get in contact using the Membership Enquiry Form.

Membership Enquiry Form

Logistics Magazine Portal

The hub for finding relevant and informative features, news & compliance guides from Logistics Magazine

Logistics Magazine Portal Home

Sponsorship Opportunities

Learn more about advertising on the new digital Logistics Magazine, with a variety of advert options to reach 30,000 relevant readers.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Magazine Contents

News

Logistics Magazine will cover all the latest news on stories breaking in the industry, including developments on COVID-19,  Brexit, Clean Air Zones, transport law and decarbonisation.

News

Features

Our frequent features will tackle the broader issues affecting logistics such as the COVID-19 vaccination programme, technology and innovation, the political and economic landscape, global trade and the drive to reduce emissions across all transport modes.

Features

Compliance

Each month we explore a different topic in depth in our popular Compliance section, while each week we will publish answers put to our Member Advice Centre team.

Compliance

View Supplements and Previous Printed Editions

View Supplements and previous printed editions of Logistics Magazine here.

Previous