Mark Solomon joined DC VELOCITY as senior editor in August 2008, and was promoted to his current position on January 1, 2015. He has spent more than 30 years in the transportation, logistics and supply chain management fields as a journalist and public relations professional. From 1989 to 1994, he worked in Washington as a reporter for the Journal of Commerce, covering the aviation and trucking industries, the Department of Transportation, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that, he worked for Traffic World for seven years in a similar role. From 1994 to 2008, Mr. Solomon ran Media-Based Solutions, a public relations firm based in Atlanta. He graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in journalism from The American University in Washington, D.C.
As the Northeast U.S. reels from the mega-storm called Sandy and faces possible additional difficulties from follow-on storm Athena, some carriers serving the region find their recovery efforts are ahead of those of their customers.
Con-way Freight, one of the country's largest less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers, reports that about 10 percent of its customers in the affected regions remain closed, even though the carrier is operational. For the LTL division of Con-way Inc., the issue now "is getting freight flows current and balanced in the system, and completing the delivery of freight into the affected areas," said Gary N. Frantz, a Con-way spokesman, in an e-mail.
Jeff Rogers, head of YRC Freight, the long-haul unit of YRC Worldwide, said through a spokeswoman that the company was experiencing similar issues with its customer base. Rogers was unable to quantify at press time how many customers remain closed.
Susan L. Rosenberg, a spokeswoman for UPS Inc., said some UPS customers are closed but more are reopening each day. Shipment backlogs have been cleared, Rosenberg said. Some customers that are either closed or at minimal operating levels have executed "return-to-shipper" requests or have redirected shipments to other locations so impacted facilities can recover, she said.
UPS is still not operating in 19 ZIP codes in the New York metropolitan area and seven in neighboring New Jersey. It has added three ZIP codes in Massachusetts to that list. Athena has hit the Northeast and New England with rain, snow, high winds, and coastal flooding.
FedEx Corp. said its FedEx Express air unit, the operations most affected by Sandy, will hold shipments at FedEx locations for customers that have yet to reopen, according to Chris Stanley, a FedEx spokesman. Stanley said he wasn't aware of any specific customer that was still shuttered.
Stanley said FedEx's operations "are moving near normal," though it continues to have difficulty serving the region's hardest hit areas. Athena is "not anything we can't work around," he said.
Meanwhile, the Port of Virginia said it is in the process of returning to the Northeast between 5,800 and 6,500 loaded containers that were scheduled to call at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey but were diverted to Virginia after Sandy forced the bi-state agency to shut its marine terminals for a week. In addition, 3,500 automobiles diverted to Virginia are being shipped back, port officials said.
Most of the returned goods will move by rail because truckers face multiple challenges heading into the affected region, port officials said. About 1,200 containers will move to New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia via barge. Virginia is no longer receiving diverted vessels or cargo.
"We're extremely busy dealing with the backlog of cargo, and it is going to take some time to get completely back to normal," said Rodney W. Oliver, interim executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, which runs the state's ports. "We are working to move the cargo to its destination by any means available: truck, rail, and barge."
ALAN Chief: Recovery to Take Years
The American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN), which connects the supply chain community with governments and organizations involved in disaster aid, said Thursday its efforts have shifted from relief to a recovery process that Jock Menzies, ALAN's president, said will likely take years to complete.
"We have seen an outpouring of support from the supply chain community," Menzies said. "To date, donation offers have included warehouse space, office space, material handling equipment, and engineering expertise."
Menzies cautioned that the supply chain is working through the "early stages" of this disaster and that it "will be critical to sustain this momentum to ensure that all needs are met."
According to Menzies, the best way to help is to offer monetary donations to reputable disaster relief organizations or make contributions of bulk commodities. Menzies urged individuals and organizations to "donate responsibly by knowing what is needed and [by] responding to posted requests for support."
The number of container ships waiting outside U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports has swelled from just three vessels on Sunday to 54 on Thursday as a dockworker strike has swiftly halted bustling container traffic at some of the nation’s business facilities, according to analysis by Everstream Analytics.
As of Thursday morning, the two ports with the biggest traffic jams are Savannah (15 ships) and New York (14), followed by single-digit numbers at Mobile, Charleston, Houston, Philadelphia, Norfolk, Baltimore, and Miami, Everstream said.
The impact of that clogged flow of goods will depend on how long the strike lasts, analysts with Moody’s said. The firm’s Moody’s Analytics division estimates the strike will cause a daily hit to the U.S. economy of at least $500 million in the coming days. But that impact will jump to $2 billion per day if the strike persists for several weeks.
The immediate cost of the strike can be seen in rising surcharges and rerouting delays, which can be absorbed by most enterprise-scale companies but hit small and medium-sized businesses particularly hard, a report from Container xChange says.
“The timing of this strike is especially challenging as we are in our traditional peak season. While many pulled forward shipments earlier this year to mitigate risks, stockpiled inventories will only cushion businesses for so long. If the strike continues for an extended period, we could see significant strain on container availability and shipping schedules,” Christian Roeloffs, cofounder and CEO of Container xChange, said in a release.
“For small and medium-sized container traders, this could result in skyrocketing logistics costs and delays, making it harder to secure containers. The longer the disruption lasts, the more difficult it will be for these businesses to keep pace with market demands,” Roeloffs said.
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
As the hours tick down toward a “seemingly imminent” strike by East Coast and Gulf Coast dockworkers, experts are warning that the impacts of that move would mushroom well-beyond the actual strike locations, causing prevalent shipping delays, container ship congestion, port congestion on West coast ports, and stranded freight.
However, a strike now seems “nearly unavoidable,” as no bargaining sessions are scheduled prior to the September 30 contract expiration between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) in their negotiations over wages and automation, according to the transportation law firm Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hanson & Feary.
The facilities affected would include some 45,000 port workers at 36 locations, including high-volume U.S. ports from Boston, New York / New Jersey, and Norfolk, to Savannah and Charleston, and down to New Orleans and Houston. With such widespread geography, a strike would likely lead to congestion from diverted traffic, as well as knock-on effects include the potential risk of increased freight rates and costly charges such as demurrage, detention, per diem, and dwell time fees on containers that may be slowed due to the congestion, according to an analysis by another transportation and logistics sector law firm, Benesch.
The weight of those combined blows means that many companies are already planning ways to minimize damage and recover quickly from the event. According to Scopelitis’ advice, mitigation measures could include: preparing for congestion on West coast ports, taking advantage of intermodal ground transportation where possible, looking for alternatives including air transport when necessary for urgent delivery, delaying shipping from East and Gulf coast ports until after the strike, and budgeting for increased freight and container fees.
Additional advice on softening the blow of a potential coastwide strike came from John Donigian, senior director of supply chain strategy at Moody’s. In a statement, he named six supply chain strategies for companies to consider: expedite certain shipments, reallocate existing inventory strategically, lock in alternative capacity with trucking and rail providers , communicate transparently with stakeholders to set realistic expectations for delivery timelines, shift sourcing to regional suppliers if possible, and utilize drop shipping to maintain sales.