Whiteshield presented the results of its 2022 Global Freight Resilience Index at the World Government Summit, convened under the theme "Shaping Future Governance," where more than 10,000 government officials, thought leaders, and business leaders gathered to discuss strengthening the economic frameworks and policies that accelerate connectivity and recovery.
The world is now three years into unprecedented global supply-chain disruptions triggered by largely unexpected events, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Suez Canal obstruction, the war in Ukraine, the rising cost of living, and heightened geo-economic tensions, and 2023 will bring its own disruptions that continue to test the resilience of global supply chains. What the last few years have made clear is that being prepared is key to survive and thrive. Preparing for Black Swan events requires agility, flexibility, and a great deal of digital technology.
Singapore tops the Global Freight Resilience Index 2022 once again, on continued performance across most dimensions of freight resilience. Germany returns to the top 10 following strong trade growth and technology investments.
New Zealand's laudable pandemic response came at an economic cost, with GDP growth forecast among the lowest and the second-worst impacted growth score in the index. From a dynamic standpoint, the Middle East & Africa, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific regions saw the greatest volatility in both winners and losers, hosting eight of the ten strongest improvements and nine of the ten largest declines in the rankings.
Looking ahead, a key component in enhancing freight resilience is to keep markets open to international trade in goods and services. The pandemic and recent spikes in global inflation led many countries to adopt short-term protectionist policies, most notably on food. While appealing in the short term, such measures ultimately produce no winners, and their adoption has a huge impact on a global supply-chain industry that must reinforce its resilience to future-proof itself.
