Autumn is here – plan for spring

Autumn is here! Prepare for winter, and hopefully a spring will eventually come.

World trade is on the brink of autumn. It has been a turbulent period with a global pandemic, trade wars, Brexit and a war in Central Europe. These factors affect us with more expensive prices, rising interest rates, longer delivery times and more expensive energy and fuel. Just to mention some examples.

There is no ’new normal’ post-pandemic. We will see more of the same – rather than a return to what existed before. The crises are not over, they have only begun. Companies are adjusting their supply chainstrategies from just-in-time (JIT) to JIT and just-in-case. So what are we going to do about this?

Trade is an answer, not a problem. We know that global trade drives economies, creates jobs and growth, fight poverty. We need increased trade, not the opposite.

What can be done then? Is it just to give up? Stop producing goods for export? Slow down on trade. Accept soaring import prices and difficulties in competing? No, you can actually do a lot. Naturally some of these factors will stabilize, including the price of transport. We are already seeing that, but there will be new ’black swans’ impacting the challenges of global trade. We all know it.

However, crises is also the driver for change. How can you as a company or trader not only survive in bad times, but even grow?

It is about planning and the importance of maximizing what you can actually influence.

One of these things is customs and borders.

We have today the data, the models and the digital tools to make your journey through supply chains and across borders, transparent and more predictable. If you want to know how, contact us in Maersk Customs Services – we know and we help customers and partners every day.

”We have today the data, the models and the digital tools to make your journey through supply chains and across borders, transparent and more predictable”

The border and customs holds the key to the future and the key is your customs and trade data. What we previously thought was a complicated issue that could never be influenced, can now become what makes us all competitive going forward.

Plan your customs better and you will be a winner in gradually more complicated and complex world of trade.

Don’t wait too long to start autumn preparations for good customs routines. It will be a cold winter.

Still, spring can come faster than we think.