TRG | The Bottom Line – 10/1

“Are we at a supply chain tipping point?” That is the question being asked more frequently as TRG heads into our Q3’21 “survey season.” Over the past week, we have reached out to our valued industry contacts to get a read on big themes from the quarter. The supply chain debate has certainly gotten more complex and more acute as we entered 2H’21. As one global building products manufacturer shared with us, “We are seeing issues moving up the value chain – the suppliers to their suppliers are having issues.” The issues popping up now are varied, from manganese castings to electric components for conveyor belts. The common theme is this is largely a purely logistics problem. The vast network of ports, container vessels and trucking companies that moves goods around the world is a hot mess, and against this backdrop, the cost of shipping continues to skyrocket. The situation has been exacerbated by holiday shipping, which really started to heat up mid-year. This has lead transport heads make “urgent pleas” to global government to take measures to ease the glut.