大象传媒

Christmas is celebrated around the world as a Christian religious festival. For many it's also a time for consumption - shopping and partying - and basically spending much of our hard-earned cash. This, of course, keeps the wheels of the global trade system turning. But right now those wheels can't turn fast enough and shortages are beginning to emerge - not least in the US.

So after talks with unions and business, President Joe Biden has urged the private sector to work around the clock to clear the backlog of half-a-million containers at two of the biggest ports in the US. And he鈥檚 promised federal support if needed.

Nick Vyas, executive director of the Randall R. Kendrick Global Supply Chain Institute at the University of Southern California, says the problem is partly over-reliance on global supply chains and partly increased shopping.

鈥淚f we were to do a forensic analysis of how we got here, the Western democracies fell asleep behind the wheel when the supply chains were getting decoupled out of their respective regions and countries into the long-stream single country node, China.鈥�

鈥淪o the focus became cost and speed. And we lost the perspective of sustainability and resilience. When Covid hit China, 168 countries were disrupted.鈥�

(Pic: Shipping containers and ships at the Port of Long Beach, Los Angeles; Credit: Reuters)

Show less