One morning last week we woke up to a new world where supply chains were suddenly cool. People wanted to understand why essentials (like toilet paper!) were no longer on the shelves, and the answers would just come back to the fundamentals our industry knows instinctively.
Like always, logistics professionals are keeping the world moving. But now, the public is taking more notice.
At Terminal 49 we watched the lives of those around us being turned inside out, and it shifted our priorities. In an effort to discover how we could best help the logistics community we conducted an online survey to determine the general outlook for the future, how people are adapting to the changing environment and what people want help with.
"Concerned" yet "Optimistic"
The general pulse of respondents is depicted in the below word cloud. When prompted to "...give us three words that summarize how you feel?" concerned and worried were the most common given answers and combined with uncertain and unsure made up 24.3% of the words given. But lots of respondents also felt hopeful, optimistic, and expressed that they are trying to stay positive.
Word cloud: Most people are concerned and worried. Some are Optimistic and hopeful.
Folks mainly want to know what others are prioritizing right now.
When asked "What are you most curious about?" the overwhelming majority wanted to know what other logistics professionals are prioritizing right now.
Poll: What are you most curious about?
This leads us to how we best think we can help. First, we will curb this curiosity and share what others in logistics are prioritizing. We will also share some thoughts on how to stay positive in the midst of this crisis.
What Logistics professionals are prioritizing
The spread of COVID-19 is impacting the supply chain in ways that are difficult to evaluate and estimate. In this unprecedented situation, how do you decide what to focus on? We found that 45.1% of respondents are prioritizing working with stakeholders to plan for changes in supply and demand. 34.3% of respondents are prioritizing getting accurate delivery statuses from suppliers. These combined mean that 79.4% of logistics professionals are focused on communication and collaboration.
A few are making drastic changes to their supply chain like pursuing alternative sourcing strategies (6.2%) or utilizing air freight to shorten ocean lead times (9.3%).
Staying Positive
The disruption of lives and industries caused by COVID-19 shows just how interconnected our global society has become. There is a lot of uncertainty looming, but the way we respond to this challenge is up to us.
In Wuhan people are going outside again. Pollution has reduced around the world and in the USA. People are singing and playing instruments to each other across streets and empty squares so that their neighbors don't feel alone. Nature is returning to Venice.
One thing is certain: we'll get through this together.
Terminal 49 will be free during for the next two months.
Given almost 80% of you are focused on communication and collaboration - with 35% worrying about delivery updates - we feel the best thing we can do is offer our product for free to any new account.
We are proud of what we've built and we hope that it can be of service as we navigate difficult times.
After two months we'll consider where things are at and take it from there.
