Hurricanes surprise very few people. In most cases, landfall (timeframe and location) and severity are known hours – if not days – in advance, but they consistently create logistical logjams for inbound and outbound freight.
"Because freight flows in a pretty consistent and general direction, when you have these natural disasters it disrupts the freight flows that are in place. What happens is you're going to have a lot of inbound freight to those natural disaster areas – or those FEMA embargoed areas or those FEMA hotspot areas – and those inbound materials that are going in there, they're going to be the commodities needed to service the disaster – the water, the ice, the food, the lumber," said Mark Derks, chief marketing officer for 3PL BlueGrace Logistics, "but what people also don't understand is the freight that was flowing out of those areas still needs to flow out. The freight out of those natural disaster areas is also part of the demand."
Hurricane Ida affected freight in and out of New Orleans a week before making landfall Aug. 29. Inbound van volume increased 5% during August 22-28, according to DAT, while outbound volume jumped 19% compared to the previous week. Temperature-controlled shippers were also busy moving freight away from the storm, with outbound volume up 25% week-over-week.
How can a 3PL help carriers find and haul good-paying relief loads? Find out in this week's 10-44 webisode in the video above.
New Orleans is typically not a large flatbed market, but during hurricane season inbound loads of building materials, machinery and lumber surge in anticipation of high demand during rebuilding. Three weeks ago, inbound flatbed volumes jumped by 47% week-over-week before dropping to more typical levels, according to DAT.
Data from Truckstop.com and FTR Transportation Intelligence for the week ending Sept. 3 shows that both the dry van and refrigerated segments posted their highest weekly total (including fuel) spot rates ever, riding what the firms called the "Weather and Holiday Effect." Refrigerated volume also was at an all-time high, surpassing the prior week's record.
