MT Magazine January/February 2022

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

FEATURE STORY

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worse: “In 2021, we estimate the industry is roughly 80,000 drivers short of what it needs to optimally meet current freight demand.” Even if one has built a plant in Anywhere, USA, transport is an issue. Cybercrime. And if all of this isn’t enough to make a manufacturer think that it might be easier to do something else for a living, there is another factor that can wreak havoc on the supply chain: Cyberattacks. According to Black Kite, which provides security rating services for companies, nearly half of automotive suppliers are “highly susceptible” to a ransomware attack, and more than 17% of them are likely to incur an attack. Other Things. Like magnesium. The material is used for structural applications in vehicles (e.g., diecast cross-car beams) as well as for alloying aluminum. The vast majority of the material comes from China, and there is concern there may be a shortage. Chip capacity may go up. Magnesium availability may go down. I asked Jeff Schuster, president, Americas Operation and Global Vehicle Forecasting at LMC Automotive: What are the potential ramifications of a magnesium shortage if, on a scale of 1 to 10, the chip shortage is a 10?

and there are 26 more being built – four in the United States. The semiconductor industry is clearly making a big spend on increasing capacity. SIA estimates that the average capex rate of spend from 2021 to 2025 will be $156 billion, as compared with $97 billion annually from 2016 to 2021. It is worth noting that not only were more semiconductors sold in Q2 2021 than “any quarter in history,” but the auto industry set records in its purchase of semiconductors every month from September 2020 to July 2021. All that, and we are still mired in a shortage. But Wait, There’s More Ports. Whether it is semiconductors from Asia or components from Japan, there is the issue at the ports. The Port of Los Angeles – the United States’ biggest port – reported that it processed 26.4% more cargo in the first three quarters of 2021 than in the same period in 2020. Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka notes the port was handling 17 ships at anchor daily – a 70% increase over pre-pandemic volumes. Trucks. There is the situation leaving the ports: According to the American Trucking Associations, pre-pandemic, the United States was short 60,800 drivers. Now, they’ve found it’s gotten