"Can't find the goods you want in the store? You're not alone." USA Today reported on the recent shortage of goods in the United States on October 15. According to Bloomberg reported on October 17th, COVID-19's impact on the global supply chain has intensified, and the world's multinational ports have become more congested and goods accumulated. This may destroy the upcoming Christmas holiday economy, thereby eroding corporate profits and pushing up consumer goods prices. David Dreyfus, an assistant professor of the global supply chain department of the Business School of Rutgers University, said in an interview with the Beijing news that under the epidemic, countries all over the world are facing long-term and short-term challenges in the supply chain, but the challenges will be different due to the different positions of countries in the supply chain. To meet the challenges of supply chain, countries should focus on both the short term and the long term. Many countries are faced with shortage of goods and personnel Recently, KFC in the United States has no chicken to fry, French fries in Korean fast food chains have been out of stock for a long time, the shortage of goods in the Christmas shopping season in the United Kingdom is ahead of schedule, and the labor shortage in Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand... The global supply chain crisis has led to a shortage of goods and people in many countries. Southeast Asia is an important part of the global supply chain. Due to the rebound of the epidemic and the implementation of blockade measures, there is a shortage of labor required to produce goods. According to the US business insider website, it is expected that the shortage of workers in Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand may delay the logistics of cross-border shopping during Christmas this year, which will bring major problems to retailers before the holiday. South Korea may fall into a food supply chain crisis. South Korea online haps English magazine published an article saying that during this period, factors such as the shortage of global maritime logistics capacity led to the interruption of the supply chain, and there was a shortage of imported food materials in South Korea. French fries in most McDonald's stores in South Korea are out of stock or in short supply. Frozen strawberries, sour cucumbers, cream and other foods with high sales on the Korean online shopping e-commerce platform are frequently out of stock recently. Some restaurants specializing in selling Vietnamese rice noodles once had no food materials available. The United States is also plagued by the food supply chain. US consumer news and business channel (CNBC) reported that KFC said it decided to temporarily cancel the advertising of the product due to the shortage of boneless chicken. Wingstop, a fast-food restaurant famous for "fried chicken wings" in the United States, has to develop new chicken leg products to replace it because of a large shortage of chicken wings, and Pepsi Cola will also issue a price warning due to the shortage of beverage bottles. On September 28, 2021 local time, the British government considered military deployment to speed up fuel delivery. However, it is still difficult for oil giants to maintain supply. Figure / IC Photo Ports in many countries around the world are also congested due to the lack of truck drivers and containers. With the recovery of the global economy from the epidemic, manufacturers use a large number of containers to transport goods, but these containers stay there after they are transported to ports such as Los Angeles. The situation of port congestion is exacerbated by the absence of dockers and the shortage of truck drivers. "In ports around the world, ships can't load and unload containers quickly. Without containers, goods can't be transported. Without truck drivers, goods can't be unloaded and transported again," David said. There are many reasons behind the supply chain crisis David believes that there are many reasons for the current tight supply chain, but he points out that COVID-19 has a profound impact on the global supply chain. Specifically, people are no longer traveling as usual, influenced by COVID-19, and buying patterns have changed. Tourism expenditure is still at the pre epidemic level, but consumer demand for electronic products has increased. The supply of raw materials and parts of goods such as electronic products is insufficient, and manufacturers are unable to put into production to meet consumer demand, which further leads to product shortage. Data from the Statista Research Department of the Online Statistics website show that COVID-19 enables people around the world to work, study and spend their free time at home, promoting the demand for consumer electronics. However, due to the global shortage of chips and the interruption of supply chain, many electronic products are still in shortage. According to the analysis of foreign media such as the Wall Street Journal, the sharp increase in consumer demand also comes from the recovery of many countries from the economy and the arrival of Christmas shopping season. Since the epidemic situation improved in October, more and more people in Japan have shown interest in buying cars, and American and British residents are ready to buy Christmas goods in advance. However, according to the Wall Street Journal, alixpartners, a global industry consultant, said that due to the shortage of chips, the global automotive industry will reduce the production of 7.7 million vehicles worldwide, close to 10% of the expected production in 2021. In addition, according to the British media the sun, a large number of people flocked to shopping malls and retail stores to buy toys and gifts in the past week. They bought gifts more than a month to two months earlier than in previous years, and the total number of customers increased by nearly 5% every week. The British Retail Research Center recently warned that there will be a shortage of Christmas gifts this year, and predicted that the supply chain crisis may last until April next year. In addition, David said that the shortage of containers, insufficient truck capacity and shortage of workers have made it impossible for goods to reach their intended destination as usual. "After the products are produced, the logistics suppliers will seize the time to transport. However, the epidemic has led to the suspension of schools, the need to look after children, and the cost of child custody is expensive... Multiple factors have led to a shortage of truck drivers and other workers, making it difficult to maintain the smooth operation of the global supply chain." Bloomberg reported that the data show that a large number of goods are overstocked in multinational ports. Among them, Savannah port, Georgia, on the east coast of the United States, had 25 waiting ships late Thursday, while only 6 were in the port, with a congestion rate of 80.6%, which is the most congested of all major ports. On the west coast, the number of waiting ships in the adjacent ports of Los Angeles and long beach exceeded that in the port, and the congestion rate reached 55.6% on October 15. Supply chain disruptions have increased global port congestion. Figure / screenshot of Bloomberg Report The CEO of MGA entertainment, the world's largest private toy company, believes that "the Christmas season in the United States is over this year", because "you can't find workers, find trucks and send goods." The Atlantic published an analysis on October 7, saying that the supply chain crisis facing the United States is the result of its domestic and global comprehensive factors. In addition to the covid-19 global factors, the domestic highway and rail freight system is out of date. Trans Pacific transport costs have increased by 6 times in the past year, with the demand surge. Both short-term and long-term measures are needed to get out of the supply chain dilemma On October 13th, CNN (CNN) quoted a recent report by Moodie, an international credit rating agency, that the interruption of supply chains in various sectors of the world is pushing up consumer prices and slowing the recovery of the global economy from COVID-19. Moody's pointed out in its report released on the 11th that the problem of supply chain interruption may "get worse". ABC quoted supply chain experts as saying that at present, the best choice for consumers is to wait and gradually reduce the demand for goods, otherwise once these long-awaited goods are listed, they may have to pay higher prices. Facing the current supply chain crisis, many countries attach great importance to and take action. U.S. President Joe Biden delivered a speech on the 13th local time, announcing that the two largest ports in the United States, Los Angeles port and Long Beach port, will implement a working system of 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, so as to solve the problem of port cargo congestion and allow local cargo transport trucks to transport goods at night with smooth traffic. Similarly, the UK, which is caught in the supply chain crisis, believes that for the UK, a long-term strategy should be adopted. The British government proposes to invest in the UK freight industry to train employees instead of relying on migrant workers, the Independent reported. At the peak of Christmas commodity production, Southeast Asian countries also strongly encourage production workers to return to work. According to Bloomberg, the Vietnamese government is providing transportation, and the company is raising wages and benefits, but it has little effect at present. On how to deal with the supply chain crisis, David said that to get out of the supply chain dilemma, we should focus on both the short term and the long term. In the short term, enterprises must give full play to their creativity and find alternatives, and customers have to wait patiently or find alternatives themselves. At present, some enterprises attract talents by raising wages and other incentives. Some enterprises rent ships and aircraft to transport goods instead of waiting for their usual suppliers. Customers are also exploring alternative suppliers as much as possible. "The problems faced by manufacturers and logistics suppliers will be solved over time, but it may take one to two years. Training more workers and implementing automation where possible will help to overcome some of these problems," David said. In the long run, enterprises should draw their flow charts to better understand their current bottlenecks and who is responsible for which, so as to manage risks more effectively. In addition, the management of enterprises and their suppliers and customers should be more integrated, which will help to minimize the impact of future supply chain disruption. (Xinhua News Agency)