When a Global Supply Chain is Taken Hostage

As of writing, a ceasefire has been called on the weeks-long US-Iran hostilities. It has already resulted in precious lives lost, infrastructure damage, and socioeconomic repercussions rippling throughout the world originating from the Strait of Hormuz.

Having spent most of my career in supply chain, part of it in the oil and gas industry, I can’t help but realize that choking a critical supply chain seems to be one of the quicker, more effective ways to settle a conflict.
 
This was the strategy in Henry Cavill’s “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare,” whose movie plot is derived from none other than the former Great Britain Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s diaries.

Demand/Marketing teams forecast what the market wants and how much of it can be sold. Planners convert the quantities of finished goods to how much raw materials are needed. Contracting and procurement teams use the total volume of raw materials required so that the company can get the best total deals (price and quality) for these. Planners manage the scheduled influx of raw materials for the utilization of manufacturing. Logistics teams arrange the delivery on-time, in-full, to the locations where the products are needed.

Pretty straightforward, right?

Professionals in this field can attest to a regular battle to keep Murphy’s Law at bay. A bottleneck in any portion of the flow of goods can lead to supply gaps or complete business stoppage—and whether the causes are internal or external –supply chains need to find a way.

Oil is a resource most sensitive to geopolitical tensions. The recent conflict revealed that some of the most vulnerable oil in the world are those barrels that travel through the Hormuz Strait – a 33-km wide, two-way shipping lane that traverses waterborne jurisdictions of 3 different countries: Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran. Ensuing oil shocks tore through entire economies, impacting daily living in many parts of the world.

During World War II, as Nazi Germany was taking over Europe one country at a time, the United Kingdom refused to surrender. However, the UK floundered economically in wartime as half of its supply and aid ships were sunk repeatedly by German submarines. With the Germans attacking the supply chain needed for their daily lives, they were sitting ducks, facing pressure to just surrender.

So they retaliated. Incognito.

The Brits decided to launch their own counterattack on Germany’s military supply chain.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a true story based on a black ops mission to paralyze the supply chain providing ammunition and most importantly, oxygen to the German submarines.

Since it was a covert undertaking, capture by the Brits would mean prison, but capture by the Germans would mean torture and death. A catch-22, if you will. But this is as lighthearted an angle as you can get for a war film.

Like a Hail Mary pass, a group of misfits with different backgrounds is hastily assembled: the flawed yet charismatic leader, the conventionally pretty one planted to seduce the enemy leader, the borderline pathological specialists with deep, dark pasts that warrant their willingness to join this World War II suicide squad. 

It’s a tempting fantasy to think a war can be stopped by a band of merry men. But this film showed that it can happen. That in history, it has been proven that a few good men can make a difference, and turn a catastrophe around.

Seeing a mostly maligned group of society’s rejects showcase their diverse skillsets for the sake of an impossible mission is always inspiring. It reminds us that redemption arcs are possible, and are part of a bigger picture that makes them even more glorious than we can imagine.

Maybe you feel insignificant or invisible, or maybe you even feel like a misfit in society, like our characters. But like a link in the supply chain, you are an important part of how the world moves. Whether you are a farmer growing food, a driver transporting people to work, a parent planning their household menu, a student doing grocery runs, a nanny taking care of the children of working parents, we all have a role to play and all our roles contribute to society.

Don’t discount the impact that you have on the world. I can assure you, the God who created you, created you uniquely, and you have something unique to share with the world!

Psalm 139:13-16English Standard Version
¹³ “For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.[a]
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.”