Shippers are becoming more and more cautious, and requiring their logistics, transport and freight suppliers to prove their financial viability. If there is a failure in the supply chain, customers cannot get their product to market, so the financial viability of logisitics suppliers can have a devastating effect. Shippers at a recent supply chain conference said that it was becoming increasingly difficult to find out financial information about eastern European suppliers, and that it was becoming increasingly necessary to examine the risks of sourcing from distant, low-cost production centres such as China. Importers needed to balance low costs against the risk of sourcing from the Far East.