CMA CGM chief executive and managing director Rodolphe Saadé says the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to bring about key changes in the way international supply chains operate.
Mr Saadé, whose company not only operates in the Australian market but is a parent company to prominent player ANL, said the crisis would “no doubt change our consumer and working habits”.
“It will impact world economic flows and will necessitate that we all rethink our supply chain models,” he said.
“In view of our dependence on globalisation, supply chains will need to be redesigned with more resilience.
“They will also need to be able to quickly adapt to sharp fluctuations in supply and demand.”
Mr Saadé said digitalisation had become “an integral part of our lives during lockdown” and would continue to have a major impact “both on logistics flows, as well as on interactions between us all”.
“We are no doubt heading towards a reorganisation of international exchanges with diversified sourcing for companies and the development of intra-regional exchanges,” he said.
“Finally, we will need to accelerate energy transition and move towards more eco-friendly modes of transportation.”
