Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Texas deals with impact of Hurricane Beryl

Logistics groups are prepped and ready to support recovery efforts as the remnants of this season’s first major storm move northeast.

hurricane-67581_1280.jpg

Port Houston resumed operations Wednesday following the deadly impact of Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall in the region as a Category 1 hurricane Monday, July 8, before weakening to a tropical storm. The storm is being blamed for at least eight deaths in the region—seven in Texas and one in Louisiana, according to local reports.

Beryl's remnants continued to move northward Wednesday, bringing high winds, threats of flooding, and tornado warnings through the Midwest and to the interior Northeast, according to the National Weather Service.


Although ports and roads are reopening in hard-hit Texas, fallout from the storm continues to hamper commerce. As of Wednesday, millions of homes and businesses remained without power, and volunteer organizations—including supply chain and logistics companies—were aiding those in need.

The American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN) started prepping for the disaster last week by reaching out to its business, government, and non-profit partners in the Caribbean, Mexico, and along the U.S. Gulf Coast to assess readiness and potential needs. The group hosted a conference call this week to further assess need and coordinate assistance. As of Wednesday, those efforts were ongoing.

ALAN is a non-profit organization that provides supply chain assistance to humanitarian organizations before, during, and after disasters. Founded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the group matches aid groups in need of logistics services with companies willing to provide support.

“Most of our requests for assistance arrive after a hurricane or tropical storm has hit, sometimes weeks, months or even years into recovery” Alexia Nobles, ALAN’s operations coordinator, said in a press release Wednesday. “That’s because each storm winds up having very different outcomes and pain points. And you really can’t predict what those will be–and where relief organizations will require supply chain assistance the most–until after the storm has moved through.”

Separately, ALAN's Executive Director Kathy Fulton said immediate relief efforts were heavily focused on Southern Texas and Houston as well as the Caribbean Windward islands.

    Hurricane Beryl pounded the Caribbean last week, destroying buildings and power lines and killing at least 11 people, before hitting the Texas Coast. The storm is the earliest category 5 Atlantic hurricane on record and set the stage for what many experts say could be an especially intense hurricane season this year. Earlier this year, researchers from the University of Arizona predicted that 2024 could see more storms than last year’s above-average hurricane season, for example.

    Meteorologists from Colorado State University have predicted an “extremely active” hurricane season this year as well, calling for 25 named storms and six major hurricanes, surpassing the 20 named storms and three major hurricanes in 2023.

    This story was updated on July 10 to include comments from ALAN.

    Recent

    More Stories

    logo images ILA dockworkers union USMX ports

    Strike ends: East Coast dockworkers return to work

    Dockworkers at dozens of U.S. East and Gulf coast ports are returning to work tonight, ending a three-day strike that had paralyzed the flow of around 50% of all imports and exports in the United States during ocean peak season.

    In identical statements posted to their websites, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA)—the union representing some 45,000 workers—and the United States Maritime Alliance Ltd. (USMX) said they had struck a deal.

    Keep ReadingShow less

    Featured

    team collaborating on data with laptops

    Gartner: data governance strategy is key to making AI pay off

    Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.

    "SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”

    Keep ReadingShow less
    manufacturing job growth in US factories

    Savills “cautiously optimistic” on future of U.S. manufacturing boom

    The U.S. manufacturing sector has become an engine of new job creation over the past four years, thanks to a combination of federal incentives and mega-trends like nearshoring and the clean energy boom, according to the industrial real estate firm Savills.

    While those manufacturing announcements have softened slightly from their 2022 high point, they remain historically elevated. And the sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of the November U.S. presidential election, the company said in its September “Savills Manufacturing Report.”

    Keep ReadingShow less
    EDGE 2024 diversity educational session

    Diversifying your supply chain beyond China to minimize risk

    Jason Kra kicked off his presentation at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) EDGE Conference on Tuesday morning with a question: “How do we use data in assessing what countries we should be investing in for future supply chain decisions?” As president of Li & Fung where he oversees the supply chain solutions company’s wholesale and distribution business in the U.S., Kra understands that many companies are looking for ways to assess risk in their supply chains and diversify their operations beyond China. To properly assess risk, however, you need quality data and a decision model, he said.

    In January 2024, in addition to his full-time job, Kra joined American University’s Kogod School of Business as an adjunct professor of the school’s master’s program where he decided to find some answers to his above question about data.

    Keep ReadingShow less
    A woman in a purple pant suit gesticulates while sitting in a low white swivel chair while a bald man in a suit looks on.

    J.B. Hunt President and CEO Shelley Simpson answers a question from the audience at the Tuesday afternoon keynote session at CSCMP's EDGE Conference. CSCMP President and CEO Mark Baxa listens attentively to her response.

    Susan Lacefield

    J.B. Hunt CEO outlines five steps for "chasing excellence"

    Most of the time when CEOs present at an industry conference, they like to talk about their companies’ success stories. Not J.B. Hunt’s Shelley Simpson. Speaking today at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals’ (CSCMP) annual EDGE Conference, the trucking company’s president and CEO led with a story about a time that the company lost a major customer.

    According to Simpson, the company had a customer of their dedicated contract business in 2001 that was consistently making late shipments with no lead time. “We were working like crazy to try to satisfy them, and lost their business,” Simpson said.

    Keep ReadingShow less