Most supply chain disruptions that make headlines trace back to something quieter: a missing document, a misclassified commodity code, a regulatory change absorbed too slowly. Jonathan Torres, Compliance Manager at Mevotech, brings more than 20 years in customs and trade to a candid conversation with host Michael Ostroumov on what that work really looks like day to day.
Torres walks through the specific failure modes that hold trucks and containers at borders: incorrect classifications, incomplete paperwork, system outages and shifting tariff regimes. Each is manageable in isolation but compounds fast when multiple variables move at once. For UK and EU shippers still absorbing post-Brexit compliance requirements alongside new tariff pressures, that compounding effect is a live operational risk.
The episode also covers how AI, automation and tighter system integration are changing trade compliance teams from reactive fire-fighters into proactive controls. That shift matters beyond the compliance function. When customs processes are embedded into wider supply chain systems rather than bolted on afterwards, delays shrink and capacity is not stranded waiting for paperwork to clear.
The conversation is practical and grounded in experience rather than theory, making it useful for logistics operators who treat compliance as a back-office concern rather than a critical path dependency.
