The Drone on DHL’s Runway
At Leipzig/Halle Airport, the drone was not supposed to be there. It was found on the runway area, carrying explosives, at one of Europe’s busiest cargo airports. This is not a battlefield. This is the…
Risk Management
From the Rhine to the Arctic: The New Geography of Supply Chain Risk
A container ship just sailed from South Korea to Rotterdam through the Arctic. On the same day, barge traffic on the Rhine River, Europe’s busiest inland waterway, ground to a near halt because there was…
The Battery Bust: What Varta’s Collapse Means for Europe’s Energy Supply Chain
If you have ever changed the battery in a child’s toy, a TV remote, or a hearing aid in Europe, there is a strong chance you were holding a Varta. In 2022 alone, the company…
Red Sea, Canal Droughts, and Sanctions: The Triple Squeeze on Global Shipping
In early July, a senior logistics manager at a Rotterdam-based freight forwarder opened her morning dashboard and found three red alerts. A Saudi tanker had been struck by a Houthi drone in the Red Sea….
The Multifront Storm
When a Canadian logistics director wakes up to find that 25 percent of his trucking fleet is suddenly stuck at the Ambassador Bridge because of a retaliatory tariff hold, he does not have time to…
You Wanted Supplier Diversity. Now You Have Supplier Proliferation.
In 2021, a European automotive manufacturer decided it had too many eggs in one basket. Its braking system for three flagship models came from a single supplier in the Czech Republic. When that plant shut…
Riding the Storm: How El Nino Is Rewriting the Rules of Global Shipping
In early 2026, a major container line quietly adjusted its North Atlantic schedule. Transit times between Rotterdam and New York were padded by three days. The official explanation mentioned “operational optimization.” The actual reason was…
Diesel Is the Weakest Link in Global Supply Chains, and It’s About to Snap
Diesel is the single most exposed fuel in the global supply chain, and disruptions are converging. Photo: Pexels. Supply chain professionals have learned to watch semiconductors. A shortage of microchips can shut down an automotive…
The Hormuz Supply Chain Plan B
Last year, the average freight rate from Shanghai to Rotterdam rose by 340 percent. The reason was not a pandemic, a war, or a natural disaster. It was the quiet escalation of tensions around a…