I don't think shipping has ever really been the problem. If one can recall the amount of times that EC has made announcements espousing improvements to the supply system one may be able to recall the amount of times solutions to shipping problems were included in the announcements. But here we go comparing notes and having the same conversations again.
It seems from the comments of other contributors to this forum that some operators have not suffered the same degree of delay/s. We have suffered inexplicable delays for parts and tech support. These issues were taken up with EC and their response was that being a small fleet operator in Oceania, we didn't have the same priority as some of the 'local' large fleet operators such as the military. While this may make some sense to some readers, it's difficult to lend one's support to the excellent product when the product support is so poor.
Just-in-time supply of parts is a function of good production management but it does not provide good field support. While an operator can invest in a stock holding, it would be almost financial suicide to hold every component, nut & bolt in stock, especially at the prices EC charge for spares. A mutual benefit relationship between the operator and the manufacturer has to exist whereby good product support will promote the product itself. However, in this case it seems that the two will never meet.