Hi there, Welcome to Supply Chain Radar!

Let’s start off this week with something we all can use, a little guidance.

Inflation tends to hit a lot of resources like oil, vessels, containers, etc., which are fundamentally important in the global supply chain to get sh*t from point A to B. In such turbulent times, supply chain professionals like us play a pivotal role for our clients and employers.

Click the link here to learn from Gartner’s Paul Lord about how companies are responding to inflation and how supply chain planners can help offset the impact of high inflation for companies.

Onto the neeewwsss!!!

Week's Top Stories 🗞️

University Study Shows (yet again) Positive Proof for Gender Equality
You’ll Miss 100% of the Shots You Don’t Take..
Container Ship Backlog Grows Again at the Port of Savannah
France’s Sauciest Shortage

University Study Shows (yet again) Positive Proof for Gender Equality 🧠👩🏻

In a collaborative study conducted by the Universities of Arkansas and Akron to better understand the relationship between retailers and suppliers, researchers discovered that women performed more efficiently than men.

The study consisted of 214 volunteers randomly assigned to pairs and given the role of either supplier or retailers. The retailer's job was to forecast product demand while suppliers decided on production volume. Throughout the scenario, the partners were kept separate and given fictitious names to imply gender.

Subjects behaved differently, depending on their gender and that of their partner. According to researchers, female retailers were “significantly less likely” to inflate product demand forecasts, regardless of the gender identity of their partner. The inverse was true for male retailers, which tended to increase product demand forecasts, regardless of partner identity.

Learn more about the study here.

You’ll Miss 100% of the Shots You Don’t Take... Don’t Miss This! 🧠

We all know supply chain visibility is important. Some call it the path to the future for all successful businesses (and if they don’t, they should) Despite that, too many businesses are missing out on the quintessential ingredient for success.

Don’t let that be you! Sign up for your spot at the Tive Webinar and prepare to take a deep dive into supply chain visibility with some of the best in the biz!

Join Timothy Dooner, Host & Producer at FreightWaves, in a conversation with:

- Krenar Komoni, CEO & Founder at Tive Inc,

- Stephanie Loomis, Vice President, Procurement, CargoTrans Inc, and,

- Florian Dussler, US Growth Lead, Orkestra SCS

🚢 Container Ship Backlog Grows Again at the Port of Savannah

The port of Savannah, the fourth-largest container gateway in the U.S., is showing signs of increasing congestion. The East Coast port has just hit a backlog of 40 ships waiting to berth.

During the Spring, the vessel backlog was only about 30 ships, which was eventually cleared to nothing. However, a recent spike in demand is driving up imports, and once again, a queue has formed.

“We've more than doubled the demand that we had in pre-pandemic on the import side,” said Griff Lynch, executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority, which operates the Savannah port. “That is driving some congestion on the berthing side.”

Mr. Lynch believes that a large driver for the increase in demand is retailers attempting to get ahead of supply chain congestion for the back-to-school season.

France’s Sauciest Shortage 😯

Yes, yes, technically mustard is a condiment, and the argument can be filed alongside such famous debates as ‘is a hotdog a sandwich?’ Regardless of how you choose to classify mustard, the tangy topping is in short supply throughout all of France.

France is the largest consumer of mustard in the world and has a special claim to the condiment through the Burgandy region, which is home to the city of Dijon. Despite France’s love of mustard, roughly 80% of the country’s mustard seed supply comes from Canada.

Last year, Canada was hit with drought and heatwaves, which severely hindered the global supply. France’s own supply of mustard seeds has been decimated by pests, which excel in the warmer temperatures. Between the short supply, high transport costs, and inflation, mustard is not only hard to come by, but it’s also being sold at a premium.

Learn more about France’s mustard shortage(and condiment caper that became the talk of the town)

Secret Links 🤫

💚 Sustainability straight outta sci-fi

🗝️ The no-so-secret key to the supply chain of the future.

🏠 Shipping Containers: Big SCAM for Tiny Houses

🚅 FLYING TRAINS?! Well... not exactly

The Radar Word Search Challenge🔠

Hey there cowboy! Welcome to the great Radar Word Search Challenge! This week's theme is Trucking Lingo!

Take a screenshot, mark the answers, post the solutions on LinkedIn, tag us @Supply-chain-radar and get a chance to win our custom mug.