The continuous pandemic disrupted supply chains, worldwide, and revealed the weak links in the logistics sector. Many countries are still striving to come to terms with the supply chain difficulties posed by the pandemic to satisfy anxious consumers; some of them even promoting localisation as an antidote. Dubai, though, is seeking to convert new challenges into new opportunities by funding in futuristic technologies.
It is right that unlike several other countries, Dubai or the UAE did not undergo large-scale shortages of primary goods due to Covid-induced supply chain disruptions. What assisted them to weather the crisis was a mix of good foresight, fast action and the important investments in multimodal facilities and infrastructure made over decades.
Managing director, Dubai Industrial City, Saud Abu Al-Shawareb says businesses in Dubai are moving to employ new environment-friendly technologies, adding: “These add huge value, reduce operational cost and wastage and help reach the customer a very high-quality product.” Dubai which geographically embraces the world’s two-thirds of the population by air within 8 hours will remain to be one of the best logistics hubs in the world, Al-Shawareb asserts.
As Dubai’s logistics sector supports to an inspiring journey, the one positive fall out of the modern pandemic has been that it exacerbated the difficulties, exposed the deficiencies in the existing supply chain system and urged the stakeholders to come up with creative solutions.