American retailers are concerned about import delays at U.S. east and west coast ports, but a study released today shows that European supply chains are also facing “massive challenges” due to Covid-19, demand shock, labor shortages, port disruptions, and capacity constraints.
In response to those hurdles, some businesses have accelerated their adoption of supply chain visibility solutions, but more than 60% of European companies admitted they’ve been slow to react, according to the “State of the European Supply Chain: Logistics, Sustainability and Visibility Report 2022” produced by logistics technology firm FourKites and Reuters Events.
The results came from a survey of over 450 supply chain providers across the continent, with particular emphasis on the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands.
The study also revealed that respondents from those nations had different answers when asked to name their three biggest pain points in transporting goods. In the U.K., 71% cited end-to-end freight traceability, carrier relationships, and dwell times. But in the Netherlands, 75% of retailers and manufacturers said their biggest pain point was carrier relationships, and in Germany, 100% of respondents said they were struggling with ensuring end-to-end freight traceability.
Another difference between the countries concerned each region’s most commonly used mode of transportation. Sixty-three percent of U.K. respondents cited full truckload, while 80% from the Netherlands pointed to less than truckload (LTL), and 100% of German respondents said they are transporting freight by air, both domestically and internationally.
Common conclusions that applied across the continent included:
- Over half of all respondents are currently using supply chain visibility solutions, but one-third (33%) are having trouble improving data-driven processes such as forecasting, receiving operations, and labor.
- The majority of respondents (67%) cited end-to-end freight traceability as their biggest pain point when transporting goods.
- More than half of respondents (63%) cited carriers providing inaccurate estimated time of arrival (ETA) data as a persistent problem.
“Being able to see your goods in transit is one piece of the puzzle, but it doesn’t help navigate the many disruptions and delays that inevitably take place once the product leaves the ship or warehouse,” Matt Elenjickal, founder and CEO of FourKites, said in a release. “For that reason, the paradigm is shifting to full end-to-end supply chain visibility, wherein the goal is total predictive visibility across the entire supply chain, enabling proactive risk management vs. reactive problem-solving.”
