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Welcome to the Thomas Index Report for the week of January 24th.
Two new reports published earlier this month illustrate the record-breaking impacts of supply chain disruptions on global shipping costs, noting that today’s disruptions are even more significant than those during the financial crisis of 2008.
The first report from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis notes that prices for ocean freight shifted more than 72 percentage points over the course of the pandemic. This time frame spans from early 2020, when companies were slowing shipments in the early days of the pandemic, to a peak in Q3 2021, when prices were more than 50% above average container shipping rates. That 72 point shift in ocean freight pricing is notably higher than the 41 percentage point swing observed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
On the Thomasnet.com platform, our data shows that demand for ocean freight services is up 111% over last quarter averages.
In the second report, which was published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, economists developed a Global Supply Chain Pressure Index to take a closer look at disruptions affecting supply chains on a worldwide scale. Analyzing figures dating back to 1997, the report explains that COVID-19-related supply chain pressures far exceeded long-term supply trends, reaching a new high in October 2021.
But, they explained, a shift back down the following month may indicate that “global supply chain pressures, while still historically high, have peaked and might start to moderate somewhat going forward.”
Looking ahead, the digital push of Industry 4.0 is poised to revolutionize the logistics industry by optimizing the sustainability of global supply chain services. In 2019, the global next-gen supply chain market drove about $32 billion. Within the next eight years, that market size is expected to more than double.
I’m Shawn Fitzgerald, and this is the Thomas Index Report.
Top 10 Categories with the Most Sourcing Activity Month Over Month
- Mining Machinery: 5400%
- Aluminum Contract Manufacturing: 3322%
- Burners: 2778%
- Meters: 1986%
- Boxes: 1762%
- Turnstiles: 1683%
- Protective Clothing: 1613%
- Industrial Vacuum Cleaners: 1521%
- Machining: 1218%
- Repair Services: 1194%
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