Why busting port clogs will lead to freight surges
With a record holiday season leading to import surges, America’s ports have seen congestion for months. Container ships have been stuck at anchor and unable to be unloaded, causing delays in delivery of freight across the country.
Zach Strickland and Anthony Smith take a look at the domino effect that will result once those bottlenecks bust open and how it will impact rail services and over-the-road freight during this episode of Freightonomics.
The guys host Colorado State professor Zac Rogers to discuss “the nation’s largest restocking event of the year” and what that means for everything from warehouses to distribution centers as people get ready to receive the freight they have been waiting months for.
Rogers says there is a backlog of inventory slowly trickling into the U.S. market and as that trickle picks up in pace, shippers need to be prepared for challenges that will come with scheduling that freight to be delivered.
Strickland and Rogers say pricing and rates will be a big factor in how shippers decide to move this freight and how quickly the freight moves once it makes it off the ship.
Smith, Strickland and Rogers all agree there needs to be a “normalization period” for the logistics industry to catch up the volume of freight. Rogers thinks that whether the solution is adding capacity through new truck fleets or increasing existing fleets’ capabilities, companies need to figure out what will be most sustainable.
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