Mid-South logistics networks prepare for peak holiday shopping period

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Cyber Monday is an exciting time for shoppers, but current supply chain strains could mean delays to getting your packages.

As one can imagine, shopping through the deals of Black Friday and Cyber Monday means more load to bear for logistics networks.

“We’re just really struggling in order to bring people into the industry at the rate that we need to,” said Shannon Newton, president of Arkansas Trucking Association (ATA), earlier this month.

Newton told us trucking schools are at limited capacity, due to COVID-19, and carriers are showing low retention rates, meaning experienced truck drivers are in short supply in Arkansas.

It’s a problem that’s popping up across the country.

“We are facing an increased demand for transportation services across the board, and we just haven’t seen people entering into the industry at the same pace at which they exited throughout the pandemic,” Newton added.

On the rail, Burlington Northern and Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway saw historic levels of volume in their network when we spoke with railway representatives in September.

At that time, reps told us they were adding 20 percent lifting equipment and personnel to facilities like Memphis.

Monday, the railway told us they have seen a break in the volume.

“Operations at our inland intermodal facilities have improved materially from September. Dwell times are lower, and we do not have trains staging due to inland supply chain congestion. As you mentioned, we increased lift equipment at our facilities by 20% and onboarded additional personnel at our intermodal facilities across our network to increase the lift capacity of our hubs. As we entered the peak shipping season, we also added intermodal flatcar capacity to help handle additional volumes.
“We also addressed increased regional demand in Memphis by temporarily reopening our Harvard Facility for intermodal service located in Marion, Arkansas. Once we leveled demand for that area, we ceased operations at that facility, but we have the equipment stationed and the ability to resume service as needed. In the upper Midwest, we removed two track segments from service from one of our widespan crane modules at Logistics Park Chicago to create an additional stacked container area. The new repository has improved our ability to de-ramp inbound trains by allowing for the immediate staging of units and providing trucking partners immediate access. Ultimately, the new storage area allows us to offload additional containers that previously could not be unloaded due to chassis unavailability.
“Ultimately as a result of our responses to the supply chain congestion, cargo is moving through our system at a much higher velocity. Our rail network is in a great position to handle more volume than is currently being loaded at on-dock West Coast ports. We view using rail more heavily as a solution to help moderate port congestion.”
Ben Wilemon, External Corporate Communications Manager

“Shop in real life as much as possible,” Newton advised. “Buy things you see on the shelf, or choose to buy gift experiences this holiday season. [It] will increase your likelihood of not being disappointed.”

President Joe Biden spoke with company CEOs Monday, including Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, on the supply chain backlog.

Biden was supposed to issue remarks for the press Monday afternoon.

That has now been pushed back to Wednesday.

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