Blog Archives

Wintry disruptions…again

Winter has come early to Europe this year. Very early. Snow has covered much of Europe that hasn’t seen snow in winter for years,with widespread ramifications for all sorts of transport.

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Volcanic ash cloud – really a surprise?

Icelandic civil aviation authorities have warned Europe for a long time about the potential consequences of a volcanic ash cloud, but no one took them seriously…perhaps we should have.

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Volcanic Ash Cloud Day 5

While it is fair to assume that volcanic eruptions are in the business continuity plans of most airlines, it is probably not so fair to assume that 5 days of sudden air traffic restrictions is in the business continuity plans of most companies reliant on frequent air travel.

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Can we do without air traffic?

The German newspaper Die Welt has an interesting, semi-humorous article, looking at the possible impacts of a volcano scenario that lasts one week, one month and one year. Can we do without air traffic?

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Business continuity 101

This is the 3rd day with severe transportation and thus supply chain disruptions all over Europe, due to the volcanic ash clod from Iceland, forcing travellers, cargo shippers and logistics providers to seek alternative solutions. In essence this is a very practical lesson in business continuity.

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Today’s transport disruption: volcanoes

Now Norway and much of Northern Europe are facing a major supply chain disruption: The shutdown of all air traffic because of a volcano eruption on Iceland. What will happen next?

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Happy Holidelays!

We rarely see news flashes of truck drivers stuck in snow, or perishable goods that has to be scrapped. That is not news that sells. What does sell are passengers and people, but should they really count so much?

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Airports – vital to supply chains?

Is the temporary shut-down of Bangkok’s two international airports important in a supply chain perspective? So far, the issue has been stranded tourists, maybe as many as 100000. Not only that, air freight will also be impacted, but why is this important?

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Oslo airport shut-down…lessons learned?

The airline industry is a highly competitive market and even established airlines like SAS have been forced to give in low-cost carriers and reduce their own prices. But slashing ticket prices often causes slashing service too, in order to keep expenses down. However, the long-term costs of loosing passenger loyalty compared to the short-term costs of dealing with an emergency cannot be underestimated.

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ARTICLES and PAPERS
Security, visibility and resilience
The numerous possibilities of disruptions and disturbances in the supply chain demand a supply chain[...]
Infrastructure Vulnerability
This is a paper that has been collecting dust in my articles archive for quite a while, but it is in[...]
BOOKS and BOOK CHAPTERS
What are Logistics Clusters?
This is a guest post by Professor Yossi Sheffi, Director, MIT Center for Transportation & Logist[...]
Book review: Networks and Algorithms
If you are into network analysis of any kind, this book teaches you the basics. As the name implies,[...]
REPORTS and WHITEPAPERS
Transport infrastructure resilience
Is it possible to devise a simple framework for assessing the resilience of the transport infrastruc[...]
Global Risks 2008 - A prediction come true
In my post on Hyper-optimization and supply chain vulnerability: an invisible global risk? I highlig[...]
from HERE and THERE
Finding academic articles without academic journals
As a researcher within supply chain risk, I try to read as many academic journals as possible, and I[...]
INSTR 2012 - Call for papers
This is a conference that you shouldn't miss if transport reliability and vulnerability is what inte[...]