The possibility of a major disruptive event, such as the Yellow Freight bankruptcy and a potential UPS strike, brought to light the vulnerability of the nation’s supply chain. From COVID-19 to ongoing issues with transportation and labor shortages, the supply chain had been on thin ice. Such scenarios emphasizes the importance of moving beyond a risky, overexposed single carrier approach.
Mexico and Canada are seeing an increase in manufacturing and shipping to the U.S. as nearshoring takes hold in the face of uncertainty over trade with China and more businesses adopt a “plus one” strategy regarding the country’s largest trading partner, maintaining their base while diversifying their sourcing strategy. Inbound freight from Mexico outstripped China by 15%, while Canada was 5% higher.
A Department of Transportation program that aggregates forward-looking supply chain data from various stakeholders to help identify volume and capacity issues, including shippers, carriers, chassis and drayage and port operators, will begin providing insights to participants this summer. The FLOW program uses booking information 60-90 days out, helping improve planning and forecasting.
Import volume, measured in container TEUs, was up 6.9% from February to March, according to data from Descartes. Last month’s volume was down 27.5% from the prior year but ahead of pre-pandemic 2019 by 4.2%, an encouraging sign even as the 2023 outlook is cloudy due to labor and economic issues.
A freight consortium made up of J.B. Hunt, Uber Freight and Convoy is looking to create an industry standard for using application programming interface (API) connections to share data among partners in order to solve freight scheduling challenges, initially addressing full truckload (TL).
Paris-based major 3PL Geodis is acquiring Need It Now Delivers, adding last-mile delivery principally on the east coast, a capability that was lacking for the contract logistics, freight and fulfillment provider as it looks to ramp up its penetration into ecommerce and omnichannel companies.
Building operational resilience and developing problem/solution scenarios for your ecommerce fulfillment center prior to a recession will allow you to be nimbler. Have a plan vs. just hoping it doesn’t occur; hope is not a strategy. Include department heads early, identify areas to review and develop a course of action.
FedEx is expanding its pilot program with Aurora Innovation, creating a new autonomous linehaul route between Aurora’s terminals in Fort Worth and El Paso, TX, making the 1,200-mile round trips weekly with a monitoring driver on board. The two companies began the runs in March, adding to another between Houston and Dallas.
Peel-off stacks, dedicated piles of 50 containers or more, are a great port congestion solution if you’re a mega shipper like Walmart, but less so if you’re an SMB. But now smaller players can have freight consolidated to create peel-off stacks. Bryn Heimbeck of Trade Tech talks about a pilot project at the port of Los Angeles/Long Beach.
Due to the complexity of freight shipping operations, many businesses that move large quantities of goods may have preconceived notions about LTL or believe common myths about why LTL isn’t right for them. By and large, these myths may be exactly the opposite of the how a well-organized and prepared 3PL handles LTL shipments.