Skip to content
Business
Economics

Covid Supply Chain Chaos Is Just a Dress Rehearsal for What’s Next

Shipping systems developed before the virus struck weren’t battle-tested for pandemics, wars and extreme weather.

Shipping Activities at Yokohama Port Ahead of Trading Figures
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

Subscribe to Stephanomics on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to Stephanomics on Spotify

Despite all the highfalutin advances in automation and just-in-time inventory, Covid-19 has still managed to upend the world’s supply chains. But all of this pandemonium may be a dress rehearsal for future chaos, courtesy of challenges such as political unrest and the climate crisis, warns one author who has tracked the global flow of goods.