Between Black Friday – the opening day of the Christmas shopping season, a North American tradition that has spread to the rest of the world – and Christmas, 106 million shipments are expected. These figures are estimated by the UNO organisation, which warns of the human and technical effort involved. Per day, the employers’ organisation expects companies to handle an average of 3.7 million shipments, numbers that could reach 5 million during the days of maximum volume.

Companies in the logistics sector, aware of these forecasts, have been preparing for months for this avalanche that will test their ability to plan operations in the short or medium term and also to react to unforeseen situations. This is the case of Stock Logistic, a logistics operator with a global transport capacity, with services by land, sea and air all over the world.

This increase in demand will take place against a particularly complex backdrop: the tension in the global supply chain. In recent months, the lack of equipment, very high sea freight rates and congestion in the world’s major port hubs have conditioned the day-to-day life of the logistics world. This is in addition to the problems that industry is suffering, with high energy costs, or the shortage of certain raw materials and microchips, essential for many productive sectors. A disruption for the world economy in every sense of the word.

Possible stock-outs?

The fear of a possible shortage of products has been making headlines in the media or generating commentary among the public for weeks. This is a half-truth, as large logistics operators and shippers dismiss the possibility of such a situation occurring in the near future. Although they recognise that there could be a shortage of certain materials or products that are not basic necessities. Black Friday and Christmas will undoubtedly test the extent to which logistics is capable of overcoming bottlenecks in order to reach the end consumer with as few surprises as possible.

In 2022: standardisation?

Many experts agree that this situation could normalise – although only in part – in the first half of next year when demand is expected to be more diversified over time. It is very likely that there will continue to be a lack of space on ships, although less markedly than in recent months. As for land transport, it will continue to suffer from the structural lack of drivers, so intermodality will start to play an increasingly important role.