(6 December 2021 – Australia) Despite the pandemic driven transition in consumer demand from services to goods losing steam, several key variables will continue to perpetuate supply chain disruptions according to Toll Group.
Increased quarantine protocols approaching the Chinese Lunar New Year in February, turnaround failures that have left over a tenth of the global container flow standing still, ageing truck drivers and industrial labour disputes at key Australian and US stevedoring centres are all influential factors.
Toll Group finds choke points in Australian warehouses often are derived from offshore factories, suggesting more Australian corporates should raise their sights beyond China to South Ease Asian markets such as Vietnam and Indonesia where labour costs are lower. The Toll Global Express name will be withdrawn in Australia in Q2 2022 as a two-year rebranding exercise by new PE owners Allegro Funds commences. Toll Group is moving on into an era referred to internally as “Toll 2.0.”.
“If you’re only focusing on the supply chain that hits Australia, you can’t really fix the problem. Many people hope or believe we can fix one part of the chain and everything else will miraculously disappear. But what’s happened is many inefficiencies have come together and are now working against each other. There’s always been a problem with truck drivers around the world getting older, for example. Suddenly, with these other issues, it’s become a massive problem” commented Toll Group Managing Director, Thomas Knudsen.