Resilient supply chains: managing delays and disruptions

The World Bank’s 2023 Logistics Performance Index stresses reliability in cross-border logistics. A route that is cheap on paper may prove costly when uncertain arrival times delay production or installation.

Map the vulnerabilities

Identify critical items, suppliers and replacement lead times. Single-supplier dependency, border bottlenecks and poor technical documentation require different responses.

Measure reliability

Look beyond average transit time. Track delivery variation, shipment visibility, documentation discrepancies and escalation speed between buyers, carriers and project teams.

Actions to prioritise

• Classify critical items by business impact
• Pre-check technical and commercial documents
• Qualify alternatives for essential materials
• Monitor on-time delivery and discrepancies
• Agree escalation triggers before delays happen

Conclusion

Resilience is not unlimited stockpiling: it is visibility, clear responsibilities and well-timed decisions.

Make disruption risk visible

Resilience is not unlimited stock. Record lead times, single-source exposure, item criticality and feasible alternate routes. Plan decision ownership for short disruption, prolonged delay and total supplier failure.

Incoterms clarify delivery risk and obligations, not operational continuity. Useful measures include on-time delivery, recovery time and the proportion of critical items with only one qualified supplier.