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Severe disruptions to maritime supply chains, including port closures, congestion and shortages in shipping capacity, have occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper’s purpose is to explore flexibility-based countermeasures that enable actors in maritime supply chains to mitigate the effects of disruptions with different characteristics.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with shipping lines, shippers, forwarders and ports. Data on the COVID-19 pandemic's effects and countermeasures were collected and compared with data regarding the 2016–2017 Gothenburg port conflict.

Spatial, capacity, service and temporal flexibility emerged as the primary countermeasures, whilst important characteristics of disruptions were geographical spread, duration, uncertainty, criticality, the element of surprise and intensity. Spatial flexibility was exercised in both disruptions by switching to alternative ports. During the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring capacity flexibility included first removing and then adding vessels. Shipping lines exercising service flexibility prioritised certain cargo, which made the spot market uncertain and reduced flexibility for forwarders, importers and exporters that changed carriers or traffic modes. Experience with disruptions meant less surprise and better preparation for spatial flexibility.

Understanding how actors in maritime supply chains exercise flexibility-based countermeasures amid disruptions with different characteristics can support preparedness for coming disruptions.

Comparing flexibility-based measures in a pandemic versus port conflict provides insights into the important characteristics of disruptions and the relevance of mitigation strategies. The resilience of maritime supply chains, although underexamined compared with manufacturing supply chains, is essential for maintaining global supply chain flows.

Logistics service providers (LSPs) have unique resources and capabilities that position them to deliver supply chain finance (SCF) solutions. The study aims to discuss and illustrate the necessary resources and process of value creation and capture of LSPs, potentially offering SCF solutions.

Relying on a theoretical framework, combining a resource-based view (RBV) with the literature on SCF, the authors apply an abductive case study methodology, including 11 interviews with representatives from four LSPs.

The main findings are as follow: (1) although an LSP has sufficient resources for value-added SCF solutions, it may not capture enough value to motivate realising them; (2) an LSP considering offering SCF should account for the interaction between its resources and cargo transit times, risk and regulatory restrictions and (3) future studies should distinguish between financing the logistics services and the moved products.

The authors contribute to the growing field of SCF research by analysing motives and barriers for LSPs to offer SCF service to their customers. Because none of our case companies decided to move beyond experimentation further research is needed on the resources and capabilities needed for LSPs to successfully venture into SCF.

The study provides LSPs with clear indications of the difficulties involved when contemplating a move into SCF solutions and discusses the potential value of offering such services.

Despite evidence of LSPs engaging in SCF in various industries, academic contributions do not go beyond operational conditions or quantification of benefits. The authors add evidence on how LSPs are currently evaluating the prominence of adding SCF to their value offerings, including a new perspective on resources, value generation and capture mechanisms.

The purpose of this paper is to study current practices in adopting blockchain technology amongst export companies in West Sweden and to capture their CEOs’ knowledge of and attitudes towards blockchains.

Factors enabling or hindering the adoption of blockchains were identified from a comprehensive literature review and a survey of 72 chief executive officers (CEOs) of export-oriented firms in West Sweden, all with turnovers exceeding €2m, regarding their knowledge of and attitudes towards blockchains.

Blockchain technology is not currently perceived to provide benefits that would outweigh the costs of introducing it into West Sweden’s export firms. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that such technology, though currently too immature to meet today’s industrial requirements, could experience more widespread use if certain key factors (i.e. lower cost, traceability, improved security or trustworthiness and new blockchain-enabled business models) are prioritised.

Answered by 72 CEOs, the survey achieved a response rate of 6%, meaning that the findings are only exploratory. Even so, they offer new insights into CEOs’ attitudes towards blockchain technology.

The CEOs reported comparatively limited knowledge of and experience with implementing blockchains, the lack of which has hampered their large-scale implementation in multi-actor supply chains.

Negative sentiment amongst CEOs towards blockchain technology may lower on-the-job satisfaction amongst tech personnel aspiring to develop and implement blockchain applications in their firms.

Knowledge of and attitudes towards blockchain technology amongst top-level managers, as well as about factors enabling or hindering its adoption, guide managers in crafting strategies for implementing blockchains in their organisations and maximising the benefits therein. Unlike past studies focussing on technological aspects or views of experts and middle-management, the study was designed to capture the views of CEOs.

There are large differences in both speed and costs between the traffic modes road and air. Rail has not yet successfully offered services “faster than road but cheaper than air”, although there are technical, logistical and economical opportunities for competing with air for intra‐continental shipments and co‐operate for intercontinental ones. The article categorises segments of the European express freight market and analyses them in a rail perspective. Services between Sweden and Continental Europe and domestically in Sweden are focused. System modelling tools are also adapted to the application of express intermodal transport and prospective roles for rail in express transport are defined. The analysis shows that a transport chain with many actors and long distances does not necessarily entail longer transport times than a short‐distance with the same circumstances under a single management. The analysis also shows that many express transport systems are built in a modular way, implying that subsystems can be exchanged.