Coronavirus

Commenting on the news of a potential vaccine for Covid-19, Professor Richard Wilding OBE, Professor of Supply Chain Strategy at Cranfield University notes that this is likely to be one of the biggest supply chain management challenges we have faced this century.

The latest report from Resilience360 and Business Continuity Institute (BCI), entitled “COVID19: The Future of Supply Chains” shows the devastating impact the pandemic has had on supply chains, with 73% of organizations encountering “some” or “significant” detrimental effect on the supply side.

Already in full force before Covid-19 came about, the push to automate warehouses and distribution centers is expected to pick up as more companies look for ways to manage social distancing rules, remote workforces and other new challenges.

The COVID-19 crisis is a human tragedy with almost 50% of the world’s population locked down and many lives at risk. It’s also an unprecedented real-life stress test for operations and supply chains.

Company officials explained the plans for Express Delivery, which offers delivery options for more than 160,000 items from the company’s food, consumables, and general merchandise offerings, were “accelerated in the wake of the coronavirus,” with the service going through a pilot program in 100 Walmart stores going back to mid-April, with plans for it to expand to almost 1,000 stores early this month and then in almost 2,000 stores in the weeks following.

Logistics Management Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently caught up with Mark Yeager, Redwood Logistics CEO and Senior Advisor with CI Capital Partners. Yeager provided insight into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on logistics and supply chain operations on myriad fronts.

Data released this week by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), the trucking industry’s not for profit research organization, focused on the continued impacts of COVID-19 business disruptions on the trucking industry. This follows an ATRI release issued last month.

The report’s first quarter National Shipment Index—at 124.3 (2011=110.1) dropped 1.8% compared to the fourth quarter and was up 3.8% annually. First quarter spend—at 188.1 (2011=110.1)—fell 3.7% compared to the fourth quarter, following a 4% sequential decline from the third quarter to the fourth quarter of 2019, and it was down 2.5% annually.

Tom Derry, CEO of the Institute for Supply Management, talks about how nearly all ISM members are dealing with disruptions stemming from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

With a 2.7-cent decline, this week’s national diesel average came in at $2.480. This is a lower sequential decline compared to the four previous weeks, which saw declines of 4.1 cents, 3.8-cent, 7.3-cents, and 8.1-cents, respectively.

A little more than one month after the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) conducted a member survey focused on how their businesses and supply chains are dealing with coronavirus, or COVID-19, as it continues to wreak havoc on their supply chain operations, the organization a new survey this week.

The Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) said yesterday that its national emergency declaration to provide hours-of-service regulatory relief to commercial vehicle drivers transporting emergency relief in response to the nationwide coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has been extended through May 15, 2020 or until the revocation of the Presidentially-declared COVID-19 national emergency.

Total March POLA volume—at 449,568 TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units)—saw a 30.9% annual decline, and total March POLB volume—at 517,663—slipped 6.4% annually.

One safe assessment we can make in the midst of the pandemic: There’s now an extra layer of complexity around areas of logistics that were already complicated.

Data recently issued by Chicago-based FourKites, a provider of real-time tracking and visibility solutions across transportation modes and digital platforms, highlights the difficulties being encountered at facilities—located in the United States and Europe—in dealing with increased shipment volumes resultant of meeting coronavirus- (or COVID-19) related demand.