The impact of Hurricane Ida battering the Louisiana coast ripples across the American supply chain, and truck drivers will not be immune.
Companies such as ExxonMobil, Shell, and Dow reportedly closed down portions of plants and refineries before the 150 mph winds struck. The oil and petrochemical plants had already experienced winter disruption when an Arctic blast caused rolling blackouts across Texas. New Orleans now faces massive power outages, flooded roads, and damage, making it impossible for trucks to navigate in some areas. The Port of New Orleans has been significantly impacted, and so will the ability to deliver agricultural loads that comprise 65 percent of the export traffic. Truckers who routinely hauled coffee and other popular out of the Port can anticipate at least weeks of delays.
“Any stress on the system has an impact at this point. Adding days adds a lot of extra congestion and inefficiency downstream, especially when you add two, three, or four days. We’re already pressed for warehouse and cross-dock capacity.” Ken Adamo of DAT Freight & Analytics reportedly said. “This is the time of the year when all of the shelf stock needed to support the holiday peak sale season is either on a boat or landing. It’s only going to get busier, and we already see the congestion.”
From California to Illinois, DAT reportedly anticipates spot market volumes to promptly uptick by 20 percent and surge to 60 percent in the coming weeks. The freight hauling chessboard is expected to experience a substantial reshuffling as portions of the Port of New Orleans could be sidelined for an extended period. Truckers will have an opportunity to run down FEMA relief loads. The FMCSA emergency declaration exempted hours of service restrictions may help buoy truck drivers’ ability to earn and provide for families. But given an already strained supply chain is still recovering from the pandemic, relief cargo could prove scarce.
“It’s worth it from a monetary perspective but makes it very difficult to drop and chase relief freight. In past cycles, these big events have occurred in the early part of an upcycle or even in a weak market when customer rates were not sufficient,” a trucking industry insider reportedly said. “This is a much different scenario. FEMA will seriously struggle to find capacity.”
Container shipments in and out of New Orleans were at least temporarily discontinued, and the restoration of truck pulls will largely be driven by the region’s ability to recover from damage. Crews immediately tended to downed power lines, trees, and impassable roads. However, the full brunt of destruction cannot be determined until floodwaters subsided.
Trucking industry professionals will also be tasked with establishing temporary routes as 91 percent of oil and 85 percent of natural gas production reportedly shut down. Diesel prices are expected to rise in the coming weeks, and Hurricane Ida appears to have added to the backlog of goods and materials truck drivers were diligently trying to keep moving to meet consumer demand.
Sources: ttnews.com, freightwaves.com
It wasn’t nearly as bad as Hurricane Laura in Lake Charles this year and nobody has heard of it. Refineries clocked winds far higher than officially reported. All commercial signs were blown out for miles. Trees were twisted into spiral candy canes in one picture, all foliage on the few trees in forests left standing was blown off but has since grown back. Forests and signs weren’t nearly as damaged when I drove I10 and I12 North of New Orleans. All homes in Lake Charles sustained damage, not half as reported. You can look at aerial views of 95% tarped roofs, the other 5% either hadn’t found tarps or their home would never be lived in again. About almost ten percent of homes will be permanently uninhabitable. We still haven’t received all federal funding we are supposed to get and the government downplayed the severity for some reason.