The results of the Lehigh Business Supply Chain Risk Management Index for the fourth quarter of 2024 say that the overall risk to the supply chain has increased significantly since last quarter. Six out of ten risks are on the rise.
The data for the LRMI was collected before nearly 45,000 dockworkers went on a brief strike earlier this month at 36 U.S. ports from Maine to Texas. On Oct. 3, workers reached a tentative deal to suspend the strike until Jan. 15 to provide time to negotiate a new contract. Many of the surveyed supply chain managers noted the possibility and dangers of a strike.
“The worries about the U.S. elections and the potential effects on tariffs, trade wars, and regulatory restrictions on source materials, methodologies, or technologies may have been the major reason for government intervention to surge to the number one risk, the highest it’s been in the past four years,” said Zach G. Zacharia, Ph.D., associate professor of supply chain management and director of the Center for Supply Chain Research at Lehigh. “The threat of the strike likely affected overall economic and transportation risks as well”.
“For the first time in over a year,…
