FreightWeekStl Returns May 13-17

The St. Louis Regional Freightway announced registration is now open for its 7th annual FreightWeekSTL event, set for May 13-17, 2024. The week-long freight and logistics expo features an engaging lineup of virtual and in-person events, a riverboat tour through the Ag Coast of America and more. The event highlights the latest innovations and trends impacting freight movement and the unique role the St. Louis region plays in advancing major infrastructure projects and supporting the global supply chain.

While the majority of the conference offerings are in a virtual format, there are three opportunities for in-person connections. May 14 will feature a riverboat tour on the Mississippi River, showcasing critical elements of the region’s multimodal freight network that have made this section of the Mississippi River the Ag Coast of America. The Freight Summit Luncheon May 15 will feature a keynote discussion on Infrastructure Investment as an Economic Driver. Shayne Gill, Program Director for Multimodal Transportation at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, is the featured speaker. The 2025 Priority Projects List will be released during the Freight Summit. The list, which is updated annually, is a valuable tool used to advocate for support and funding for critical infrastructure improvements needed to solidify the St. Louis’ position as a world-class freight and logistics hub for national and global supply chains. May 15 at FreightWeekSTL will wrap up with a Tailgate Happy Hour prior to St. Louis City SC’s MLS soccer game against the Los Angeles Football Club. A limited number of tickets to the game are available for purchase.

The main content for FreightWeekSTL is generated through a full lineup of virtual panel sessions:

• Innovations Gain Momentum spotlights the latest advances with some of the new technology featured during FreightWeek STL 2023. Representatives from St. Louis-based UNCOMN and the Port of Long Beach will provide updates on their collaborative effort to create a supply chain information highway that has the ability to access, analyze and integrate data from freight moving through the nation’s largest ports in a way that helps improve in-transit visibility. St. Louis startup Intramotev will highlight the tremendous progress the company has made over the past year in deploying the first of its battery electric, self-propelled rail cars at a customer site. Israeli-based DockTech will also be on hand to discuss advances made in the deployment of the company’s “Digital Twin” technology, which creates a virtual representation of the seabed of ports and waterways, providing valuable insight to help improve freight movement through the global port system.
• Elevating Supply Chain Visibility features Rob Cook, Chief Technology Officer at St. Louis-based Sheer Logistics. Cook will talk about technology the company has developed to enhance supply chain visibility and efficiency nationwide. He will also discuss Sheer Logistics’ 4PL/managed transportation services and how mid-market shippers are using the company’s award-winning tech-enabled logistics solutions to analyze CO2 emissions, manage freight costs and track freight all in one place.
• Collaboration and Investment Produce Cargo Growth offers a panel with representatives from America’s Central Port, Port of New Orleans and PortKC, highlighting investments made in each port and how these investments and the connectivity and collaboration between the three regions will help support continued growth in both traditional barge traffic and container-on-barge services and intermodal operations in the Ag Coast of America.
• Trends Impacting Agriculture and the Barge Industry features Ken Eriksen, Managing Member and Strategic Advisor at Polaris Analytics & Consulting. Eriksen takes a look at agriculture and barge industry trends and how crop production, water levels, global supply chain challenges and infrastructure investment could impact ag freight movement in the region.
• Securing Global Supply Chains gathers special insight from Panos Kouvelis, Emerson Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain, Operations, and Technology at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis and Director of the Boeing Center for Supply Chain Innovation. He will address how recent ongoing conflict in the Red Sea area, Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean, cyberattacks in supply chains, low water levels in the Panama Canal, rising trade tensions with China, and other geopolitical incidents of the last two years are resulting in global supply chains facing unprecedented challenges. Attendees will learn about the greatest risks impacting American companies' ability to access suppliers and manage the logistics of matching supply with demand.
• Charting the Course for Logistics features a panel discussion with representatives from the St. Louis region's world-class, multimodal freight network and the barge industry. They will discuss the current trends in freight movement by air, river, rail and roads and highlight the tremendous optionality for shippers that exists in the bi-state area.
• Careers from the Shop Floor to the C-Suite focuses on the workforce opportunities within the logistics and manufacturing sectors in the St. Louis region and the ongoing collaborations underway between the private sector and educational outlets to grow the region’s workforce.

The latest Industrial Real Estate Market Report for the region also will be released during FreightWeekSTL. It will underscore the strength of the industrial sector and the many factors that support the St. Louis region’s position as one location delivering global access.

To learn more about FreightWeekSTL and to register for any of this year’s sessions, visit https://freightweekstl.thefreightway.com.