Protestors blocking traffic between the U.S. and Canada to oppose vaccine rules have further stretched an auto supply chain already worn thin by pandemic-related labor shortages and a scarcity of chips.
Surging prices of the raw materials needed for your refrigerators, automobiles, window frames and plumbing show no signs of abating as America’s supply chain crisis spills into another year.
The COVID-19 pandemic has produced and will continue to produce artificial demand and supply shocks, and it will take time to rebalance the equilibrium.
The Supply Chain Risk Management Consortium projects an impending “bullwhip effect” caused by distorted information flowing up and down supply chains — leading to an imbalance between demand and supply.
The helter-skelter playing out on U.S. factory floors from labor and supply shortages, transportation bottlenecks and the coronavirus looks likely to persist into the second half of the year.
A new U.S. requirement that went into effect January 22 requires any essential workers crossing the border into the U.S. to be vaccinated. And that includes truckers.