Ports, Trucks, and Silos: What London Shipping Week Taught Me About Supply Chain Fragmentation

It's been about a month since London International Shipping Week ended, and I still catch myself thinking about it, not the panels or receptions, but what the week revealed about how fragmented the supply chain industry really is.

After twenty years in trucking and brokerage, I thought I understood logistics. I've spent enough time in warehouses, dispatch offices, and meeting rooms to know what makes the system tick and what makes it break. But stepping into the maritime world reminded me that we aren't one industry. We're a collection of silos, each fighting similar battles without realizing how much overlap there really is.

We're All Solving the Same Problems, Separately

At LISW, surrounded by shipowners, port authorities, and marine insurers, I noticed a strange kind of déjà vu. Every conversation sounded familiar. The terminology was different, but the pain points were the same ones I've heard for years in trucking.

Everyone's worried about recruitment and retention.

Everyone's under pressure to decarbonize faster than infrastructure allows.

Everyone's trying to make sense of new technology, shifting trade routes, and a workforce that's stretched thin.

It was a reminder that logistics may move the world, but it's not always moving together.

Recruitment, Retention, and the Human Equation

Whether you're moving cargo by road or by sea, finding and keeping good people has become the hardest part of the job.

In trucking, people talk about "driver shortage vs driver retention." In maritime, it's the "crew crisis." Two sides of the same issue: an aging workforce and a younger generation that isn't convinced logistics is a career worth starting.

One attendee at LISW put it simply: "We can't attract the next generation by telling them how hard this industry is. We have to show them why it matters."

That resonated. Most people outside logistics have no idea how essential, or how interesting, this work can be. The systems behind global trade, the problem-solving, the sense of connection, it's all there. We just don't tell the story very well, or even at all.

And even when we do bring new people in, we don't always keep them. Across both trucking and maritime, burnout and mental health challenges are quietly eroding the workforce.

Both trucking and working on a ship share the same stressors: long hours, isolation, constant pressure to perform, safety concerns. They add up. If we want people to stay, wellness can't be treated as an HR talking point, it has to be part of operational planning and the overall culture of the organization and industry.

Recruitment and retention aren't just about pay or policy. They're about designing work that people can not only survive, but actually enjoy and thrive at.

Sustainability and the Race Against Infrastructure

Decarbonization was one of the biggest themes at LISW, and it's one of the biggest talking points in trucking too. The difference is mostly in the details: ships are testing new fuels like methanol and ammonia, while carriers are trying to make sense of electrification and hydrogen.

But the challenges are nearly identical, massive costs, uncertain regulations, and infrastructure that's nowhere near ready.

A comment from one of the maritime panels could've been said in any trucking meeting: "We're making decisions based on today's policies, knowing they'll change long before these assets reach mid-life."

Everyone's trying to balance environmental goals with economic realities. There's real commitment, but also fatigue. Bureaucracy, red tape, and a "get it done now" attitude are in constant conflict with each other.

Technology: Progress Without Connection

If there's one place where the silos are most visible, it's technology.

Every sector is chasing digital transformation, new TMS platforms, automation tools, AI everything, but most of it happens in isolation. No industry tech seems to be available across modes, and that seems like a miss to me.

One LISW panelist joked, "We've digitized everything except communication." It got a laugh, but it's true.

We've built tech for every piece of the puzzle, yet we still struggle to see the full picture. Each link is optimizing its own efficiency instead of building true interoperability. And that gap, between sectors, systems, and people, is where the majority of inefficiencies hide.

When I spoke with industry leaders during LISW, the consensus was clear: collaboration can't just be a buzzword.

Trade Instability: Different Ships, Same Storm

Another theme at LISW was trade instability, because of course, but again, it mirrored what's happening inland. Tariffs, shifting manufacturing, and geopolitical uncertainty have made global logistics a moving target.

Maritime speakers talked about "trade tectonics", the slow, unpredictable shifts in global patterns. The trucking side sees it too: U.S. imports shifting from West Coast to East Coast ports, Canadian exporters chasing new markets, cross-border volumes swinging with every policy change.

We're all reacting to the same global currents, just from different vantage points. Yet there's almost no structured conversation between the people steering ships and the ones dispatching the trucks that unload them. That disconnect makes the whole system more fragile than it needs to be.

Fraud, Piracy, and the Visibility Problem

Maritime still deals with piracy in the traditional sense, hijacked vessels and stolen cargo. Trucking's version is less dramatic but just as costly: double brokering, identity theft, and digital fraud.

Two completely different threat environments, one shared vulnerability: lack of visibility.

Both sectors are investing heavily in tech to combat risk, but without shared data standards and consistent oversight, criminals are always a step ahead. Imagine what could happen if maritime and OTR security teams compared notes instead of separately reinventing the wheel.

Finding Common Ground at LISW

I'll admit, I was nervous walking into LISW. I didn't know many people, and I definitely don't speak fluent maritime. But I was so happy to find everyone open and welcoming.

When I mentioned I came from the trucking side, people were curious, not dismissive. A few even said, "You're the first person from that world I've met here." Which kind of proved my point.

Every conversation led back to shared challenges. Port congestion affecting inland networks. Trucking delays backing up vessels. The constant struggle to communicate between modes. Once we started comparing notes, the similarities were impossible to ignore.

That week reminded me how powerful it can be when different corners of the supply chain actually share space. It wasn't about merging industries, it was about understanding how dependent we really are on each other.

Breaking the Habit of Isolation

The truth is, the industry doesn't need another conference theme about collaboration, it needs actual collaboration.

That means showing up in rooms that weren't built for you. Maritime people at trucking events. Trucking people at port summits. Tech leaders listening to operations teams before building another "solution."

We don't have to agree on everything, but we do need to start hearing each other. Because right now, too many of us are solving the same problems in parallel, wasting time and resources that could be shared.

One of my biggest takeaways from LISW was how much respect and insight comes from simply showing up in someone else's world. It can change how you see your own.

What Comes Next

The future of logistics isn't going to be built by one mode, one technology, or one policy framework. It's going to be built by connection, real, human, cross-sector connection.

When we stop treating cross-sector communication like a bonus feature, when tech bridges modes instead of isolating them, when wellness and sustainability are woven into how we operate, not tacked on as PR, that's when we'll actually build something worth keeping.

LISW reminded me that these aren't separate worlds. They're bricks of the same bridge.

And if there's one thing I took away from London, it's that we have far more in common than we think, we just need to start the conversation.