Pandemic lessons and trade war turbulence define a new logistics era
Summary
In nearly 20 years covering the sector, Jeff Berman argues the past five years — most notably the pandemic and shifting trade policies — have produced rare and sustained volatility for supply chains. The pandemic kickstarted an e-commerce boom that strained networks, producing record port congestion, container imbalances, capacity shortages and stockouts of everyday items. A major lesson has been the need to diversify supplier bases and to consider nearshoring or reshoring to reduce exposure.
More recently, rapid changes in U.S. trade policy and tariffs have added cost and compliance uncertainty. Sudden tariff announcements, pauses and appeals have disrupted planning and raised costs for some goods, compounding the operational headaches created by pandemic-era bottlenecks. Together these forces have lifted the public and political profile of logistics and supply-chain management.
Key Points
- COVID-19 accelerated e-commerce demand and exposed structural fragilities in global supply chains.
- Principal bottlenecks included severe port congestion, container imbalances and constrained transport capacity.
- Many organisations are diversifying suppliers and pursuing nearshoring/reshoring to improve resilience.
- Recent tariff volatility has introduced additional price and planning uncertainty for shippers and importers.
- The combined impact of pandemic shocks and trade tensions has raised awareness of logistics as a strategic function.
Context and relevance
The article frames recent operational shocks within broader industry trends — resilience, sourcing strategies and rising logistics costs. It’s relevant to procurement, operations and strategy teams planning for inventory, supplier networks and tariff risk. It also connects to ongoing debates about onshoring, supply-chain transparency and logistical investment priorities.
Why should I read this?
Quick and useful: it explains why the last few years have made logistics everyone’s problem now — not just the people in warehouses. If you want a clear snapshot of how the pandemic and tariff swings force firms to rethink sourcing, stock and contingency plans, this is a short, punchy read that saves you time.