Warehouse Wisdom. Weekly. 10/04/2024

Happy Friday!

Container and ports have been dominating the news, and we will get you updated on the latest developments. But before we jump in, there seems to be an off-the-radar problem cropping up below the surface. Thousands of shipping containers have been lost at sea over time, with potential to do some damage over time. And various contents keep showing up on beaches throughout the global. So, if you find yourself strolling down the beach and stumble upon a few pairs of Crocs – now you know where they came from.

As for the week’s news, we have significant freight updates – from multiple port strikes ending to Hurricane Helene and Red Sea updates. But that’s not all. Amazon is dodging some FTC monopoly bullets, and tech continues to transform delivery and warehouse operations. Let’s dive in…

Freight and Shipping

Port strikes come to an end

Thank goodness…the Port strike is over! The first ILA strike in five decades which had 45,000 union employees walk off the job and halt work at 36 ports, officially ended yesterday. Dockworkers will return to work today. The negotiated deal saw a $4 per hour wage increase for dockworkers (a 61% increase). The master contract has until January 15, 2025 to finalize other terms.

But, currently, there are over 400,000 twenty foot-equivalent units (TEUs) being carried on the queued vessels outside the affected East and Gulf Coast ports. This amounts to a total of 59 waiting vessels. So, there is still some work to be done.

And help to catch up is arriving from unexpected places – Florida governor Ron DeSantis announced plans to deploy the Florida National Guard and Florida State Guard to ports affected, in an attempt to maintain port operations and ensure the flow of essential goods.

The Montreal port strike by 320 dockworkers has ended after 3 days as well. The port is the second largest in Canada, and the strike resulted in a decrease of container handling capacity by 40%. Both sides have been summoned to mediation, so there are still details to hash out, as well as containers to catch up on…

Freight Disruptions

Massive damage from Hurricane Helene seen from space

In other disastrous news, Hurricane Helene did unthinkable damage as well. In fact, the devastation was so great that it could be seen from space – and can be seen in before and after images. Roads are down for the foreseeable future, causing truckers to grapple with the aftermath. Our thoughts go out to all affected.

Meanwhile, over 100 attacks on ships crossing the Red Sea have been carried out by Houthis, and now Red Sea ships are getting emails warning them to prepare for attacks. And this past week, even an explosive-packed drone boat slammed into an oil tanker in the Red Sea.

Logistics Vitals

Economic pain felt throughout the globe

The global economy appears to be in a state of panic. Canada GDP remained flat after some mild previous growth, Japan output has fallen, and US workers are quitting at the lowest rate since the pandemic.

• 0% - the percentage growth in GDP in Canada after a very mild previous month .2% gain.

• 3.3% - the percentage fall in industrial output in Japan.

• 1.9% - the percentage of U.S. workers quitting their jobs.

Of course, U.S. jobs report data showed a jump this morning, giving some conflicting information to decipher.

Warehouse Tech

Drones are joining forces with self-driving sidewalk delivery robots

And self-flying drones are now combining with self-driving sidewalk delivery robots to make deliveries. Wing, the drone delivery arm of Alphabet and Serve Robotics announced a partnership in Dallas to roll out this new double tech stack of delivery goodness.

Dexory raised $80 million for inventory-counting robots. Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.

AI and change management are helping e-commerce supply chains. 40% of shippers and 37% of 3PLs (37%) expect a strong ROI from AI through service level improvements.

Online Marketplaces

Google is dodging some illegal monopoly bullets

For product-based businesses, image search is being extremely important. And the “big dogs” are amping up visual search tools to aid shoppers. Google and Amazon both are showing even more information on visual searches, offering suggestions, combining text and image to narrow down more specific results, offering “more like this” searches, and more.

And speaking of Amazon, Amazon has won a partial dismissal of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s lawsuit claiming it maintains illegal monopolies - something to keep a close eye on to determine any ramifications for digital marketing.

Warehouse Quick Deliveries

Rage applying for jobs, flat holiday season hiring, and more…

• Top supply chain conferences to watch in 2025

• Angry Amazon employees are “rage applying” for jobs after return to office mandate

• Amazon, Target, and other retailers are keeping hiring for the holiday season flat

• The Institute for Supply Management’s September Purchasing Manager’s Index remained flat at 47.2%