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.
To no one's surprise, truckload spot, or non-contract, rates spiked during the week Hurricane Harvey unleashed its fury on Houston and the Texas and Louisiana Gulf coasts.
Also to one's surprise, diesel fuel prices jumped over the past week as Harvey blitzed the heart of the U.S. petroleum-refining industry and disrupted the flow of supply. According to weekly data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released this evening, average nationwide diesel prices effective today climbed to $2.75 a gallon, a 15-cent-a-gallon increase from Aug. 28 figures. The biggest increase occurred in the Gulf Coast region, which posted a near 19-cent-a-gallon jump from the prior week. EIA, a unit of the Department of Energy, breaks down its fuel reporting data by regions.
According to DAT Solutions, a spot-market load-board provider, rates soared on loads being moved into several emergency-supply staging locations in the vicinity of the affected areas. For example, the seven-day average spot dry van rate from Dallas to Seguin, Texas, a staging area about 30 miles from San Antonio, climbed to $858 for the 248-mile haul, according to DAT data released today. By contrast, that same haul in July averaged $577, according to DAT. In some cases, loads were being booked at $1,350. Only two business days of post-Harvey data were included in most recent data sets, DAT said.
Though loads from Houston fell 72 percent week over week, rates rose 20 percent, to $2.03 a mile, DAT said. The company didn't immediately comment on the reasons why, but higher fuel surcharges, as well as a dearth of trucks, appear to be the culprits. The prior-week data included available loads on Aug. 25 and 26, when Harvey came ashore along the Texas Gulf Coast, before the flooding in Houston had peaked.
Trucks have been heading into the affected regions to move loads of emergency supplies being arranged by freight brokers and third-party logistics providers (3PLs). Known in the trade as "FEMA Freight," after the Federal Emergency Management Agency tendering out the loads, the shipments can fetch hefty rates of $5 a mile or more. However, drivers hauling FEMA freight may have to park their trucks waiting for clearance to bring a load into the staging area. That cuts into their revenue-producing time. In addition, drivers may have difficulty securing outbound loads once they deliver the supplies, due to the drop-off in commercial activity in the stricken region.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) said late last week it had waived its normal driver hours-of-service restrictions to facilitate the movement of emergency supplies to the affected areas.
Jeff Tucker, CEO of Tucker Company Worldwide Inc., a Haddonfield, N.J.-based broker and non–asset-based carrier, said some carriers are reluctant to go into south Texas because, at this point, there's nothing coming out. While some carriers will take loads into the region at a premium, others will not venture in at all, Tiucker said.
While the supply-demand picture is more challenging, Tucker said his company has been able to book its customers' loads with little or no disruption. "Generally ... we're making it work," he said in an e-mail.
The dislocations triggered by Harvey have been felt as far away as Grand Rapids, Mich., which is experiencing the worst truck shortage—relative to available loads—of anywhere in the country, according to DAT's map of load-to-truck availability. That's because an abundance of seasonal freight, such as apples and potatoes, as well as the typical consumer merchandise, is ready to move, but there are relatively few trucks to haul them. Much of the capacity that would normally serve the region has been re-routed to south-central Texas to work on the relief effort, DAT said.
Another factor impacting truck flows are the "on-the-fly" adjustments being made by shippers to re-supply DCs in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and other states that would have normally been served out of Houston, Peggy Dorf, a DAT senior analyst, wrote in a blog post last week.
As the Texas and Louisiana gulf regions recover from Harvey, Florida is bracing for Hurricane Irma, which is gathering strength and is projected to hit south Florida early Sunday morning with winds of about 145 mph. Fort Lauderdale's Port Everglades today issued "Port Condition WHISKEY" to take effect tomorrow morning. As part of the preparation, all vessels moored or at anchor should be ready to get underway; in addition, containers of regular cargo should be stacked to no more than four high and hazardous cargo to a maximum of two high, the port said in a directive late today.
The American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN), a non-profit group that connects logistics resources with organizations involved in disaster recovery efforts, is now focusing attention on Irma as well as supporting recovery efforts for Harvey, the worst U.S. natural disaster since Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. Harvey may end up being the most expensive disaster in the nation's history, surpassing the $108 billion cost of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Kathy Fulton, ALAN's executive director, said the group is capable of simultaneously handling two major crises. "The capacity exists within the supply chain community, as we've seen from the generous outpouring of support in response to Harvey," Fulton said in an e-mail. "The challenge is one of coordinating and directing the good will, a challenge which logistics and supply chain professionals are uniquely suited to address."
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story said that Tucker Company Worldwide Inc. was an asset-based carrier. Tucker is a broker and non–asset-based carrier. DC Velocity regrets the error.
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The U.S. manufacturing sector has become an engine of new job creation over the past four years, thanks to a combination of federal incentives and mega-trends like nearshoring and the clean energy boom, according to the industrial real estate firm Savills.
While those manufacturing announcements have softened slightly from their 2022 high point, they remain historically elevated. And the sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of the November U.S. presidential election, the company said in its September “Savills Manufacturing Report.”
From 2021 to 2024, over 995,000 new U.S. manufacturing jobs were announced, with two thirds in advanced sectors like electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries, semiconductors, clean energy, and biomanufacturing. After peaking at 350,000 news jobs in 2022, the growth pace has slowed, with 2024 expected to see just over half that number.
But the ingredients are in place to sustain the hot temperature of American manufacturing expansion in 2025 and beyond, the company said. According to Savills, that’s because the U.S. manufacturing revival is fueled by $910 billion in federal incentives—including the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—much of which has not yet been spent. Domestic production is also expected to be boosted by new tariffs, including a planned rise in semiconductor tariffs to 50% in 2025 and an increase in tariffs on Chinese EVs from 25% to 100%.
Certain geographical regions will see greater manufacturing growth than others, since just eight states account for 47% of new manufacturing jobs and over 6.3 billion square feet of industrial space, with 197 million more square feet under development. They are: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee.
Across the border, Mexico’s manufacturing sector has also seen “revolutionary” growth driven by nearshoring strategies targeting U.S. markets and offering lower-cost labor, with a workforce that is now even cheaper than in China. Over the past four years, that country has launched 27 new plants, each creating over 500 jobs. Unlike the U.S. focus on tech manufacturing, Mexico focuses on traditional sectors such as automative parts, appliances, and consumer goods.
Looking at the future, the U.S. manufacturing sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of November’s presidential election, Savills said. That’s because both candidates favor protectionist trade policies, and since significant change to federal incentives would require a single party to control both the legislative and executive branches. Rather than relying on changes in political leadership, future growth of U.S. manufacturing now hinges on finding affordable, reliable power amid increasing competition between manufacturing sites and data centers, Savills 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.