Anyone who works in the transportation, shipping or logistics
sectors knows how even the small details — sometimes
especially the small details — can have a major impact on
supply chains.
I will never forget an interaction I saw when I worked as a
supply chain analyst some years ago. A supervisor came up to the
newest member of our team and informed him that instead of shipping
a 40-foot container full of chemicals to the Netherlands, he had
actually shipped it to the Netherlands Antilles, more than 4,000
miles away.
The new team member's exasperated reaction was priceless:
"How many Netherlands can there possibly be?"
The thought of missing these kinds of details keep logistics and
supply chain professionals up at night. Despite my years of
training and experience in international logistics, it was not
until I entered the practice of law that I began to appreciate just
how significant the details of one routine shipping document
— the bill of lading — be.
