The upheavals of the Pandemic and then the Ukraine war have led to a sharp reappraisal of supply chain security issues.

The strategic response for multi-nationals has been two-fold – on the one hand there has been a desire to move production closer to demand on the other there has been a surge in the search for other low-cost Asian suppliers.

It’s far from clear how far this process is really one of ‘nearshoring’ and not simply a ‘no-China’ policy. The implications for port development of these competing strategies are quite different.