Supply‑chain confidence falls
A new survey shows supply‑chain leaders are less confident than a year ago as geopolitical risk rises — firms report slower reactions to shocks even while AI spend grows, signaling a gap between tech investment and operational resilience. That makes scenario planning and multi‑sourcing more urgent for island operations. (itbrief.co.nz)
A DP World study found 82% of supply‑chain leaders expect geopolitical risk to increase over the near term, while only about 25% say they feel fully prepared for those disruptions. (dpworld.com) PwC’s 2025 Digital Trends in Operations survey reports 57% of operations and supply‑chain leaders have integrated AI into selected functions or across the organisation, yet 92% say their tech investments “haven’t fully delivered” the expected results. (pwc.com) RELEX’s recent research reports nearly half of organisations are actively investing in AI‑driven inventory and supply optimisation even as some verticals report uneven outcomes, with one RELEX‑linked summary noting 67% of retail and manufacturing leaders say AI has increased their decision‑making confidence. (marketwatch.com) Maersk polling of more than 900 companies shows the majority of cargo owners expect elevated volatility to persist for 12–24 months, a timeline that aligns with survey findings of slower operational reaction times to shocks. (supplychaindigital.com) Regional logistics analysis for the Caribbean highlights a US$4.8 billion logistics market handling roughly 9.5 million tonnes of freight (with several million TEUs processed regionally), while AMI/CSSA research labels the region “fragmented” and recommends multi‑node distribution to reduce single‑point failure risk. (hoperesearchgroup.com) UNCTAD and carrier advisories continue to flag Panama Canal incidents, severe weather and port congestion as recurrent disruptors to Caribbean lanes, underlining why multi‑sourcing and alternate port routing are now common mitigation actions. (unctad.org) A three‑part framework promoted by MIT Sloan—continuous geopolitical signal monitoring, scenario planning with flexible sourcing options, and rapid operational adaptation—appears repeatedly in consultancy guidance as the practical counter to the gap between AI spending and real‑world resilience. (sloanreview.mit.edu) Concrete regional responses already underway include Caribbean Development Bank pushes for stronger public‑private intra‑regional logistics partnerships and recent airline‑cargo tie‑ups (Winair with World Cargo Solutions) to boost air connectivity, while luxury resort projects are increasingly using centralized consolidation and local warehousing for FF&E and OS&E to shorten lead times. (caribank.org)
