Market Forces win every time: even during these ‘Force 10’ conditions

It is rare that politicians are proactive and head problems off or scale them down when they first appear. Let’s be honest, it is more often than not a case of “shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.” There is certainly no evidence in the UK of implementing strategy early-on to minimise supply chain problems – the one notable exception being the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccine which was undertaken very successfully. The general rule, however, is “bluster, bluster, bluster” and little meaningful action. The article on p30 of this issue UK Trucking: The Hot Topic confirms this – in short there is a crisis now because corrective action has not been implemented early on. ‘An accident waiting to happen’ is a phrase that springs to mind!
It is certain that this or similar scenarios will have played out in other countries around the globe in the months since the advent of the Pandemic.
What do we do to change this? There are those that say regulation is the way to go. But is it?
Inviting the heavy hand of government into maritime shipping, port and logistics operations other than for environmental, safety or good governance reasons seems a high-risk strategy. Yes, the sector is struggling at the moment and will continue to struggle for a while yet, but it is still a sector that has performed well for decades based on responding to market forces and not more and more layers of regulation. Indeed, there is a case to be made that even contemplating such an idea in these exceptional times is a naive and wholly unrealistic approach.
Consider, for example, the ports sector – the number of countries that have formally endorsed the idea of a Ports Regulator can be counted on one hand. To a significant extent the approach of ‘one size fits all’ is not one that is applicable in the ports and logistics sector other than in the more neutral areas such as safety matters referenced above.
It is the industry’s response to market forces that has been proven, time and time again, to be the best approach. Let’s stick with that it is tried and tested – and the sector will learn and adapt, even during these Force 10 conditions.