THE world's shipowners and managers, after nearly two years of disrupted supply chains, say new approaches are needed to building resilience into the shipping ecosystem, reports New York's Fortune magazine.

Speaking to the recent Fortune Global 500 Summit in Hangzhou, Maersk China manager Jens Eskelund said: "What we're seeing is a consequence of the single-minded focus we've had on just-in-time delivery."

In just-in-time manufacturing, if one component is delayed, it can upend entire production cycles. And in the past two years, such disruptions have become commonplace.

But it is not as simple as that, he said. "You cannot single out any particular aspect of the transport chain. The disruption cuts across all elements of the transport chain. It's the warehouses, it's the rail, it's the trucks, it's the shipping lines," said Mr Eskelund.

Most supply-chain analysts have pointed to just-in-time manufacturing - a strategy that encourages manufacturers to maintain a bare minimum of stock in their own factories to save space and costs - as the bogeyman responsible for the current supply-chain crisis.

Global supply chains are still recovering from the whiplash caused by the city lockdowns governments imposed in 2020 to contain Covid. Initially, lockdowns in China shuttered factories, which stalled much of the supply side in global shipping.

Then lockdowns in the US prompted a surge in demand, as people ordered electronics and gadgets to facilitate working from home.

Many other scattered disruptions -such as China closing shipping ports in August and June to prevent a Covid outbreak, and the US suffering a trucker shortage have hobbled the shipping industry's ability to rectify snags in their shipping schedules.

According to Bloomberg, 77 per cent of the world's ports are experiencing abnormally long turnaround times. Scores of ships remain anchored off the coast of US and Chinese ports, idle, and waiting for space to dock.

The turmoil has pumped seaborne freight costs to record highs, rising over 300 per cent year on year as of August, encouraging some exporters to hold off on shipping goods with low profit margins.

With the Christmas wholesale delivery rush abating now shipping costs are falling, roughly halving between September and October, but docks won't be able to work through the logjam of ships anytime soon.

But supporters of the just-in-time manufacturing argue that shipping goods across the world was never a good idea. So shortening supply chains by home-shoring production is the best way today.

The US, the EU, Japan and China are all currently trying to on-shore semiconductor manufacturing. Delays in delivery of all-important semiconductors have been the most prominent example of the world's supply-chain issues. But Mr Eskelund says slow and expensive ships aren't the only loose link in global supply chains.