Insolvency, labour issues & weather main supply chain woes

Financial alerts, airport and labour disruptions and extreme weather events are among the supply chain risks to have seen a substantial increase in the past quarter, a report shows. 

Resilinc, which offers supply chain mapping and risk monitoring solutions, has releasedQ1 2023 data showing the biggest disruptions impacting supply chain. 

The data – compiled by the company’s EventWatchAI database – shows there were 3,821 disruption alerts across all industries and that “risk events” were up 8% compared to Q4 2022. 

Compared to data from the same quarter in 2022, global bankruptcy alerts increased by 240%, with corporate restructuring events rising by 135%.

Zoning in on country results, the scale of financial problems are shown by the continued rise of UK insolvencies, which reached a 13-year high, and is set to remain a “prominent cause of disruption in future”, says the company.

Other notable Q1 trends include an increase in airport disruption, which was up 86% quarter on quarter. This was largely caused by labour strikes as well as worker shortages. 

Most recently, around 1,400 Heathrow Airport security staff at Terminal 5 went on strike action over the Easter break, impacting cargo handling and leading to further supply delays. 

Labour supply chain disruptions up by 24%

In total, there were 313 labour disruptions reported globally, a rise of 24% on Q4 2022, and a 107% increase compared to Q1 of 2022. 

Extreme weather events also contributed to wider supply chain problems, as well as airport disruptions. Such events were up by 61% compared to Q4 of 2022. 

And alerts for supply shortages also rose, increasing 38% quarter on quarter. For the past few quarters, alerts have been falling. The recent rise suggests problems stemming from power shortages, raw materials, ongoing semiconductor part shortages and manufacturing issues, says Resilinc 

These supply shortages also impacted factory disruptions which were up 17% QoQ.

Through EventWatchAI, Resilinc is able to highlight key quarterly supply chain disruptions, and says it can “recommend a combination of mapping, risk assessments and monitoring to help organisations avoid further disruption in future in response”.