COVID-19 had a significant on global supply chains, and no one escaped the pandemic's effects. In the 2021 Third-Party Logistics Study, more than half (58%) of shipper respondents reported at least a 25% reduction in supply chain operations, excluding corporate or administrative shutdowns; 6% reported total supply chain shutdowns. A smaller number, 15%, reported that they are exceeding normal operations. All of which creates disruptions within the supply chain.
The areas most impacted for shippers were international transportation and logistics (55%), manufacturing (46%), supplier network and being unable to restock from key suppliers (39%) and labor/workforce management (39%).
Meanwhile, the areas most impacted for 3PLs were labor/workforce management (54%), domestic transportation and logistics (45%), international transportation and logistics (40%) and customer network with customers being unable to accept orders.
Roughly one-third of shippers reported that they experienced disruption in contracted services from at least one or more 3PL partners.