A carousel of uncertainty. We have entered a spin cycle.

Once upon a time trade was bilateral. Then it became multilateral. Today logistics networks encircle the globe. That’s the development vector logisticians rode for the last thirty years.

We cannot rely on that accelerating and unidirectional vector anymore. Brexit uncertainty. NAFTA uncertainty. The death of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The ongoing and escalating tensions with China. The gradual emergence of the New Silk Road, with its potential to undermine the basic structure and flow of global logistics.

These issues ripple through North American logistics. Even more unsettling is the disruption of the vector we’ve been riding for the last year. Volleys back and forth with the EU on protectionist aircraft tariffs and subsidies continue. Tensions with China now extend past soybeans all the way to the NBA.

It’s a new world for the logistician. Our perspective on the world seems to be shifting by the day. We are no longer on the march. We are riding the Carousel of Uncertainty. 

Time to double down on agility, not structure.