For the last episode of WHAT THE TRUCK?!? during Global Supply Chain Week, Dooner and The Dude checked up on Texas and the impacts of last month’s winter storm.
They welcomed Patrick Maher, vice president of business development at Gulf Winds International, to talk vessel delays, port congestion and chemical plant shutdowns. Maher said recovery is going well: “We bounced back as an industry, I believe, better this time around than even during [Hurricane] Harvey.”
Even with that recovery, the shutdown of chemical plants is causing shortages in petrochemicals because the plants are not running at full capacity. Maher said the situation at the ports is not as dire; things are delayed but not at a standstill.
The next guest was Juan-Jose Ruiz, head of strategy for TradeLens. He discussed how TradeLens is using blockchain to increase visibility of ocean freight. Ruiz said it was the challenge of leveraging information about ocean shipping that droveTradeLens to develop its ideas and that blockchain can provide information to the correct people securely.
Last up was Jenna Bryant, co-founder and CEO at Embedded Ventures, to talk about her thoughts for investing in FreightTech, like what TradeLens provides. Bryant said there are so many facets to FreightTech she has been diving into lately to decide where capital should be invested; one of those areas is failures in GPS infrastructure.
Bryant also talked about her role as a woman in deep tech and venture capital. She called her “impostor syndrome,” which stems from existing as a minority in the industry, a superpower that lets her focus on the problems that need changing in venture capital.