According to PMSA (Pacific Merchant Shipping Association), the five big West Coast ports have lost volume - 702,083 fewer loads and empties were handled in January and February 2023 than in the same period pre-pandemic in 2019. This equates to close to a 16% reduction. Specifically, the Port of Long Beach was off by 18.7% from January 2019 [...]
The Wall Street Journal recently issued an article about how supply chains upended by COVID are back to normal. “There is no such thing as normal, despite the fact that supply chains are looking at COVID in the rearview mirror. While suppliers may be more consistent at the moment, customer expectations have changed.
According to the The Journal of Commerce, the West Coast ports are losing volume. The West Coast share of imports coming from Asia is down from 61.1% in 2021 to 58.8% in 2022 while the East Coast and Gulf Coast ports rose. According to the JOC, the ILWU contract negotiations are causing this change although there are concerns about drayage and rail as well.
There has been a lot of conversation about railroads lately. Why should we be concerned about keeping the railroads moving?
I am co-Executive Director of the Society for the Advancement of Consulting, and during our Annual Meeting, I facilitated a panel about the state of supply chain.
Logistics costs have been staggering. According to the 33rd Annual State of Logistics report produced by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals by the global consulting firm Kearney and presented by Penske Logistics, U.S. business logistics costs rose by 22.4% last year.
To prepare for a segment on Bloomberg to talk about the state of logistics that will air with their interview of Deutsche Post DHL Group CFO Melanie Kreis (which will air on Chief Future Officer on Oct 5th), I did a deep dive on package shipping and related logistics systems.
"Unfortunately, I just don't see anything in the next year or two that's going to lessen the number of disruptions," says Lisa Anderson, a supply chain expert and president of California-based LMA Consulting Group.
NewsNation WGN interviewed Lisa Anderson about the supply chain issues that have plagued the west coast ports and that are now showing up as backups on the east and gulf coasts as well. We discussed why this is happening and what can be done.
We live in a supply chain disrupted world, and there is no end in sight. It started with the pandemic as the global supply chain got out of alignment. The 'right' inventory wasn't in the 'right' place at the 'right' time to support basic needs let alone nice-to-have items. [...]
