Explore our collection of specialized reports and industry analyses. Curated by SCL faculty and top Georgia Tech researchers, these documents provide focused insights into specific supply chain challenges and logistics management strategies. We invite our community of alumni and industry partners to use these findings as a catalyst for discussion, recruitment, and strategic planning.
Modeling COVID-Style Shortage Risk from a Prolonged Iran Shock
Seventy-two days into the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the global supply chain conversation has moved well past crude oil prices. Asian refinery run cuts, fertilizer shortfalls, European jet fuel pressure, and a widening circle of industrial materials — including aluminum, plastics feedstocks, pharmaceutical precursors, and base oils — now carry meaningful shortage risk. The IEA has characterized this as the largest oil supply disruption in the history of the global oil market. What most practitioners have not yet fully internalized is that this is no longer primarily an energy price story. It is a networked supply chain problem, and the frameworks appropriate for energy price shocks are insufficient for what is unfolding.
The right modeling frame is not a single commodity-price shock. It is a networked shortage problem with three distinct failure mechanisms: physical energy rationing, economic curtailment from cost pressure, and feedstock unavailability inside production processes.
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Gateway Choice Is a Total Cost and Reliability Decision Implications for Inland U.S. Supply Chains from Asian Imports
This paper, developed by the Georgia Tech Supply Chain and Logistics Institute (SCL), presents a data-driven analysis of Asian import flows through Los Angeles/Long Beach (LA/LB) and Savannah, with a focus on inland destinations including Atlanta, Memphis, and Nashville.
For many years, gateway selection for Asian imports has been treated primarily as an ocean freight decision. Rates from Asia to the West Coast versus the East Coast are visible, negotiated frequently, and often used as the primary lens for routing decisions. The work summarized here suggests that this approach is incomplete and, in many cases, misleading for inland supply chains. The findings point to an important conclusion: total landed cost and arrival reliability are driven far more by inland transportation and port dynamics than by ocean transit time or ocean rates. This has practical implications for how shippers design networks, allocate volume across gateways, and manage service risk.
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