The Suez canal blockage seen from an Airbus satellite. Airbus photo (March 25, 2021). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/AirbusSpace/status/1375078054884749318

As the pandemic disrupted supply chains in multiple areas, visibility emerged as a vital instrument to identify problems and plot possible alternatives. Greg Orr, president of trucking firm CFI, says that the company’s drivers spend 15-18 hours a week on average waiting, which translates into more than 30,000 hours of idling for the firm. Visibility is key to reduce this unproductive time, he said.

It isn’t just humans who are avoiding contact with each other during the pandemic: Pre-Covid, 80% of containers were moved contacted, with the remaining 20% moving contactless. These proportions are now reversed, said Aparna Jayadevan, Group QHSE manager for Gulftainer UAE.