Supply Chain Optimization

Trucking Being Hurt

The good news for carriers is… The good news for carriers is: Traffic is not a concern – average speed in cities like LA and Atlanta has more than doubled Fuel costs are down – BUT, with fewer miles being driven by gasoline vehicles, the refineries ...

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Ok, What Do We Do Now?

Things are happening quickly – how do you react to things like… Things are happening quickly – how do you react to things like Ohio raising its load weight limit to 90,000 lbs? How do you keep pickers picking and loaders loading? How do you keep the ...

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Heroic Grocery Supply Chain

Extreme (panic) demand meets with the US grocery supply chain…. and the supply chain is… Extreme (panic) demand meets with the US grocery supply chain…. and the supply chain is keeping up. Store shelves may have been bare yesterday – but through ...

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The World Is NOT Coming To An End

After being rebuffed by Russia, the Saudi’s made it clear that if Mr. Putin didn’t want to cut oil supplies along with OPEC, they would ruin the Russian economy. With oil down nearly 50% over the past weeks, Russia’s principal source of currency has ...

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Green Trucks?

In the US, trucks emit about 7% of greenhouse gases – compared with 17% coming from cars and light trucks. But, just as the government is pushing to reduce the carbon emissions of cars by moving them into electric, higher mileage, etc., there is ...

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Why It Is So Hard To Hire Warehouse Workers

People in the prime age for case picking and truck loading are more expensive and harder to find. Consider this: Wages for 20-24 years old – are increasing at double the speed of other workers Labor participation of 16-24 years old – down 10% (more ...

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Time To Worry Even Without The Coronavirus?

Even before disappointing results from JB Hunt – one of my leading indicators – and well before the Coronavirus, the Cass freight index showed December volume down 7.9% while spending was only down 6.2%. This is not good news. Note the change in ...

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Inflammatory Labeling

Many fires at sea are being caused by… The cargo is causing many fires at sea – not the ship's operations. The Maersk Honam lost 25% of its crew to one such fire. Complex rules mean that labeling containers is both wrong and sometimes dangerous. A ...

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Too Many Rail Cars

There are thousands (some say it is nearly 400,000) of lessor-owned rail cars sitting idly around the country. Why? There are thousands (some say it is nearly 400,000) of lessor-owned rail cars sitting idly around the country. Why? Railroads turning ...

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Department Of Labor Investigates, Prosecutes, Tries, And Punishes

How could it be that the same department that finds and prosecutes labor problems can also be a judge, jury, and executioner? Oracle is challenging the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance legal authority to judge its own cases. ...

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