Supply Chain Management Review Podcast Network

The episode delivers a reasonable density of concrete, data-backed observations - particularly around the unusual week-four peak in diversions, feedstock/fertilizer exposure, and named port dwell times - but roughly a third of the runtime is spent on generic 'invest in visibility' advice that adds little for a knowledgeable operator.

“the actual high for the number of weekly diversions was week four. So over uh, 9,500 diversions in week four. And then week five was actually the second highest. So that is very unique.”

“Navi Mumbai, which is a massive container port in India, was probably the most Affected it went up to about 15 days as of recently, you know, 260% higher than, than pre conflict in terms of the actual dwell times.”

The fertilizer/feedstock framing and the counterintuitive observation that diversions peaked in week four rather than week one are genuinely non-obvious; however, the bulk of the episode recycles well-worn supply chain resilience and visibility themes, and the closing advice is essentially a vendor pitch dressed as strategic counsel.

“the production from Qatar on synthetic and nitrogen fertilizers was feeding 45 million people in the United States, Brazil and India alone. That is one country in a country that is full of larger, bigger producers.”

“Usually there's spikes and then things taper off and maybe they don't get exactly back to normal, but they, they kind of smooth out over time. That was not really what happened here.”

Eric Fullerton is VP-level at a genuine supply chain visibility platform with proprietary real-time data across 81,000+ tracked diversions, making him a credible practitioner for this specific topic; however, he is fundamentally a vendor representative with a commercial agenda throughout, not an operator who managed the disruption from the shipper side.

“we had a reported, you know, 3,950 rerouted shipments, diversions. And just for context, that's, that's reduced significantly since earlier in. It's still over 250% higher than the pre conflict baseline.”

“Jebel Ali as an example, she's a major port in that region. It's been operating at 4% of normal volume and it has a backlog, um, of dwell that's been in the mid 30 to upwards of 40 days.”

This is the episode's clear strength: named ports with dwell figures and percentage baselines, a Qatar fertilizer stat tied to three specific countries, Cape of Good Hope traffic up 41%, Jebel Ali at 4% of normal volume with 30 - 40 day dwell backlog, and Singapore at 2x normal - all compared against explicit pre-conflict baselines rather than vague assertions.

“Cape of Good Hope vessel traffic lane and route that increased about 41. Yeah 41% above the pre conflict baseline.”

“Jebel Ali as an example...It's been operating at 4% of normal volume and it has a backlog, um, of dwell that's been in the mid 30 to upwards of 40 days.”

The host structures the conversation reasonably with a logical two-part question on 'normal' and a useful 30/60/90-day metrics question at the close, but consistently fails to push back on heavily caveated or self-serving statements, lets the guest deliver extended product pitches unchallenged, and rarely probes the 'how do you know' behind the data claims.

“I was gonna say I was, I was so hopeful that you would just go tell me, oh, everything's gray, the sun's shining, and every, everything's back to normal.”

“So it's really, I mean, what you're really talking about is visibility, right? I mean, it's, it's getting the data and then having the visibility into that”