A Study on Geopolitical Risks and Their Influence on Global Freight Forwarding Business and Operations

Recent global geopolitical developments pose numerous challenges for the global freight forwarding and
logistics profession. Here we will look at how various geopolitical risks such as conflicts, trade war, sanctions,
maritime security threats, and climate impacts are currently affecting this industry in terms of global trade
and supply chain and routing of ships, shipping costs, changing shipping routes, and potential long-term
impacts on supply chains. Five major disruptions examined are: Iran/Israel Conflict; Red Sea Crisis;
Russia/Ukraine War; US/China Trade War; and Panama Canal Drought. All these disruptions have resulted in
diversions of shipping routes, fluctuations in the price of freight rates, delays in shipments and uncertainty in
booking, as well as increases in insurance and operational costs. The findings of the study support the
importance of having a diverse supply chain, good risk management practices, multi-modal logistics, and
increased use of digital monitoring systems, to increase resilience and maintain continuity of operations for
global freight forwarding professionals.