IR Import Risk Intelligence

Coverage built around your risk exposure

Coverage is scoped to your products, suppliers, sourcing countries, and trade lanes, then translated into clear analysis on the external risks most likely to affect cost, timing, and decisions.

Available as focused risk briefs or retained monitoring.

SIGNAL

Only developments with real operational consequence.

CONTEXT

Interpreted for timing, exposure, and downstream impacts.

ACTION

Escalated so you can protect your operations.

Focused Risk Briefs

Clear judgment on the issue that matters.

A one time brief for importers who need an answer now,
without committing to ongoing coverage.

One-Time Brief

  • Targeted Question A specific tariff action, enforcement development, or logistics disruption that needs a clear answer fast.
  • Scoped to Your Exposure Assessed against your actual products, sourcing countries, and trade lanes.
  • Forward Looking Window What a recent development likely means for cost, timing, or decisions over the next 30 to 60 days.

What You Receive

  • Clear implications
  • Stated confidence
  • What to watch next
  • Not a generic research memo
  • Structured for executive review
See brief examples →
Get in Touch →

Usually prepared in 3 to 5 business days and delivered in PDF format by email.

Retained Coverage Model

Ongoing monitoring across multiple external risk lanes.

Need broader surveillance tailored to your trade lanes? Retained coverage provides continuous monitoring, escalation, and executive updates.

What I Monitor

Core external risk lanes, tailored to your exposure profile.

  • Tariffs and trade policy Duties, tariff actions, quota changes, product scope shifts, and regulatory moves that can change landed cost or sourcing assumptions.
  • Sanctions and enforcement Sanctions developments, CBP posture, exam trends, detention risk, and enforcement signals that may affect clearance, counterparties, or trade flow.
  • Transportation, ports and terminals Ocean carrier conditions, blank sailings, routing shifts, rail and drayage constraints, congestion, dwell time, terminal disruption, and local clearance friction affecting import flow.
  • Geopolitics and security Conflict spillover, chokepoints, instability, and developments affecting routing and operational risk.
  • Labor actions Contract risk, strikes, slowdowns, and union led disruptions across ports and logistics networks.
  • Weather and natural disruption Severe weather events affecting ports, lanes, terminals, and inland networks.
  • Cyber and infrastructure risk System outages, ransomware, port IT disruption, and infrastructure vulnerabilities impacting logistics flow.

Choose a single risk lane or full coverage.

See engagement options →

What You Receive

Structured, decision focused output.

  • Continuous monitoring Daily surveillance across all seven core risk areas to identify developments that could affect cost, timing, or execution.
  • Exception based escalation Urgent updates only when material changes are likely to imminently affect cost, timing, or execution. If nothing crosses that threshold, it is captured in the monthly update.
  • Monthly executive update (PDF) Covers what changed, why it matters, and what to pay attention to now. Structured for quick review and internal circulation.
  • Impact framing Each development is assessed for likely operational impact, with a stated confidence level.
  • Follow up access Questions within your coverage scope are welcome. I respond the same or next business day. I am not on call around the clock.
  • Selective engagement My client base is intentionally limited to ensure each engagement receives focused, consistent coverage.
  • Personal attention You work directly with me. You will not be handed off to a junior analyst or routed through an account layer.

See how this looks in practice.

View sample alerts + updates →

Decision focused clarity for leadership. No noise. No unnecessary escalation.

See engagement options

Common Questions

Why not just hire an analyst, rely on our broker, or use a risk dashboard?

Hiring an analyst means headcount, ramp up, and overhead. Brokers know their lanes, not yours. Dashboards generate alerts that still need someone to interpret them. IRI provides the interpretation without the cost of building a full internal risk function.

How are the monthly update and escalation alerts different from a news summary or data feed?

The update is built around your operating profile, not the news cycle. Each update reflects that profile: what changed, whether it matters for your exposure, and what to watch next.

What triggers an urgent alert, and how often will we hear from you?

Escalations are issued only when material changes are likely to imminently affect cost, timing, or execution for your lanes. If nothing crosses that threshold, it is captured in the monthly update.

How do you translate risk into operational impact?

I translate developments into practical scenarios. What could change at the port or in policy, what it could do to lead times, inspections, capacity, or routing, and where costs can show up. I state confidence, what would confirm it, and what I am watching next.

What are your sources and how do you validate them?

I do not just forward links. I cross check across multiple credible sources, favor primary or near primary reporting, and look for confirmation in operational indicators. If something is unconfirmed, I label it clearly and explain what would confirm or invalidate it.

What's out of scope?

IRI focuses on external risk drivers. Internal supply chain assessment of inventory, production, or supplier systems falls outside that scope, as does real time crisis management. The focus is on external developments that change import outcomes and translating those into decision relevant impact.

How fast can you respond to a direct question?

I am email based, but responsive. If you email a question, I typically reply the same business day or next business day, depending on complexity. If something is clearly time sensitive, I will move faster when I can.

What happens if nothing changes?

No news is good news. A quiet month means I have monitored the landscape daily and nothing crossed the threshold worth escalating. You will still receive a monthly update confirming what remains stable and what I am watching next.

What do you need from us to get started?

A short intake to understand your exposure profile, decision priorities, and what would actually matter to your operation.

See engagement options