Low Mississippi, Retail Trailers: Recent Supply Chain Stress

According to National Weather Service office in Memphis, The Mississippi River is forecast to set an all-time record of -10.70 feet either tonight or tonight. The Mississippi River is a vital waterway for trade, and lower water levels have affected the amount of goods that can be imported or exported from New Orleans. Barges cannot be fully loaded. Southbound barge tonnage has fallen by more than 20% on the river, according to the USDA Weekly Transportation Report.

Agricultural shippers of corn, soybeans and wheat are using barges as a cheaper alternative to trucks or rail to transport grain in bulk. Just under half (47%) of all grain is transported by barge, according to the USDA. The Mississippi carries about 5.4 million barrels of crude oil and 35% of thermal coal.

“While the public and the media generally understand that our economy depends on viable international sea, road and rail transportation, the important role of our inland waterways is often overlooked,” said Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agricultural Transportation Coalition. “Our members depend on adequate water levels in the Mississippi River system to reach domestic and international export markets. The supply chain disruption due to low water levels will be felt not only by our American food, agricultural and fiber producers, but also by the United States. as well as international consumers.”

Retailers are moving both large and small items into 53-foot trailers as an alternative to warehouses, logistics experts say.

“We definitely hear from our customers that in the short term, they store larger, bulkier items like furniture in trailers attached to their warehouses,” said Brian Burke, development director at Seko Logistics. “While we don’t store regular inventory in 53ft trailers or containers, we use 53ft containers to store some items like unsorted returns that are less important to focus the warehouse on outbound delivery to customers.”

In addition to furniture and unnecessary things, goods are sent for storage.

“Tires are another big item in stock,” said Joe Monaghan, CEO and president of Worldwide Logistics Group. “We are also receiving orders for 53-foot containers to store products at temporary sites from one to six months.”

Paul Brashear, ITS Logistics vice president of shipping and intermodal, told CNBC that retailers are trying to find creative ways to manage their excess inventory.

“Many distribution centers (DPCs) of our customers are overloaded and they are looking for ways to handle this excess inventory and move all subsequent cargo,” Brashear said. “With such a headwind, those DCs that handle their imports are really under pressure. We identify their high demand SKUs and ship them from their terminals to our pop up transshipment facilities. Then we upload this product to 53-. foot container to move this inventory further inland so it can get to the consumer faster.”

As more trade moves to the east coast, port congestion continues to rise and container volume The direction to warehouses leads to an increase in prices, despite the fact that demand has decreased. Savannah leads the East Coast in terms of the number of ships at anchor. Floating platforms that keep containers out of port are one of the logistical strategies used to move crates out of port to increase productivity.