DP World: Lost operational time is translating into significant and recurring financial losses
More than half (52%) of companies worldwide lose more than one month of operational capacity in any year affected by logistics disruption according to research from DP World. The findings show that recurring breakdowns across global supply chains are translating directly into lost productive time, increased costs and sustained pressure on growth and competitiveness.
Lost operational time is translating into significant and recurring financial losses across global supply chains. In multiple regions, a substantial share of companies report annual disruption costs of $1 million or more. In high-value sectors, the numbers are larger still. Automotive supply chains incur an estimated $13 billion in disruption costs each year. Technology firms face losses of around $16 billion. Industrial goods, chemicals and consumer sectors each incur multi-billion-dollar losses every year because of recurring supply chain failures. These estimates are based on modelling from reported cost ranges in the survey.
Beyond operational and financial loss, logistics disruption is increasingly driving commercial risk, with supply chain failures spilling directly into customer experience, contract retention and brand value. Across most regions and sectors, between 80% and 95% of companies report that logistics disruption has led to increased customer complaints. In some markets, the damage goes further: firms report lost contracts, weakened partner relationships and lasting brand impact. In other words, disruption is no longer contained within operations but is increasingly visible to customers.
Beat Simon, Chief Operating Officer – Logistics, DP World, said: “What this research makes clear is that disruption is no longer an exception that businesses recover from; it is a condition they are operating under. Companies are quietly absorbing the loss of weeks or months of productive time every year, with real consequences for growth, margins and customer trust.
“The question facing leaders now is not whether disruption will occur, but whether their supply chains are resilient enough to prevent it from becoming a competitive disadvantage.”
The pattern of disruption also varies sharply by sector. Retail, healthcare and perishables face near-constant disruption, each experiencing around 18,000 disruption events a year. Automotive and technology face fewer incidents, but each failure is significantly more expensive and slower to recover from, amplifying financial risk. This split means some sectors manage continuous volatility, while others face fewer but far more damaging shocks.
The research finds resilience is not driven by technology alone, but by the breadth of investment across the supply chain. Companies that strengthen multiple logistics capabilities, from factory logistics and inbound flows to warehousing and digital coordination, report dramatically lower disruption costs than peers with narrower investment strategies. In consumer goods, firms investing in four or more logistics areas report disruption costs around 76% lower than low-investment competitors.
While disruption is global, the response is diverging sharply by region. In several of the most exposed markets, businesses are among the most aggressive in building resilience, with the vast majority expecting to increase logistics investment this year. By contrast, parts of Europe show lower confidence in logistics partners and more muted investment expectations, despite high levels of disruption.
Despite these differences, the research finds a rare alignment across boardrooms and operations. More than 80% of respondents expect logistics to become a more strategic focus in board-level decision making, and nearly 90% agree that businesses with resilient supply chains will significantly outperform their peers in the years ahead.
The findings underline a growing divide in global trade between companies and regions that are building resilience to absorb recurring shocks and those that continue to lose time, revenue and customer confidence with each disruption. As a global supply chain solutions provider operating across logistics, ports and trade corridors, DP World has broad visibility into how disruption is evolving across markets and industries.
The research is drawn from DP World’s Without Logistics study, based on a global survey of 680 senior logistics and supply chain decision-makers across eight industries and nine regions.
