Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Louisiana braces for third Gulf Coast hurricane in six weeks

Hurricane Delta could close ports, highways, and intermodal hubs throughout the region, Riskpulse warns.

hurricane delta map

Maritime ports, intermodal hubs, and trucking fleets along Louisiana’s southern coast are preparing for the impact of yet another hurricane this week, coming just weeks after hurricanes Sally and Laura ravaged the region and as businesses throughout the area are hustling to rebound from Covid pandemic lockdown orders in time to stock up for the winter holiday peak season.

The latest threat to Gulf Coast residents and logistics operations comes from Hurricane Delta, which clipped the northern tip of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula just south of the resort city of Cancun this morning, and is expected to reach the mainland U.S. by Thursday or Friday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.


The storm had reached enormous, Category 4 scale on Tuesday before weakening to Category 2 as it passed over land, but it is now expected to regain its strength as it cruises over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, according to a webinar briefing by Riskpulse, a Texas-based supply chain risk analytics company.

If it follows that forecast, Hurricane Delta could hit land near Lafayette, Louisiana, bringing storm surge waters, heavy rainfall, high winds, and inland flooding. Those forces could pose risks to the cities of New Orleans and Baton Rouge, possibly causing the Port of New Orleans to close its container operations from Thursday to Saturday, Riskpulse said. 

Other logistics infrastructure at risk of disruption includes six intermodal hubs in the New Orleans area—featuring BNSF, CSC, NS, and KCS—as well as 11 oil refineries and the interstate highways 10, 12, 55, 49, and 59, according to Riskpulse’s analysis.

Despite the threat, a saving grace of the storm is that it appears to be moving fast enough that it will not linger over vulnerable land areas with prolonged rainfall. “The one good thing about Hurricane Delta is that the storm will be moving rather than stalling out over one specific area, so we not expecting any kind of large scale flooding issue or any kind of major inland flooding event with Delta due to the storm being a mover rather than a staller over the region,” Mark Russo, Riskpulse’s chief science officer, said in the briefing.

The storm is set to strike an area that is still recovering from several recent hurricanes in a year that has already seen historic levels of natural disasters, from the pandemic to heat waves and wildfires. If Delta hits the U.S. coastline as predicted, it would be the 10th named storm to strike the nation this year, breaking a 1916 record for hurricane activity, according to published reports. 

Recent

More Stories

An image of planes circling a globe with lit up nodes. The globe is encircled by stacks of containers and buildings.

Navigating global turbulence

If you feel like your supply chain has been continuously buffeted by external forces over the last few years and that you are constantly having to adjust your operations to tact through the winds of change, you are not alone.

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals’ (CSCMP’s) “35th Annual State of Logistics Report” and the subsequent follow-up presentation at the CSCMP EDGE Annual Conference depict a logistics industry facing intense external stresses, such as geopolitical conflict, severe weather events and climate change, labor action, and inflation. The past 18 months have seen all these factors have an impact on demand for transportation and logistics services as well as capacity, freight rates, and overall costs.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

image of laptops and cables to suggest computer hackers

TSA rule would require cyber risk management for railroads

The federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) yesterday proposed to mandate cyber risk management and reporting requirements for certain surface transportation owners and operators, including those running pipelines and railroads.

The notice of proposed rulemaking suggests a new standard that would require that:

Keep ReadingShow less
DHL online shopper report

DHL report shows seven factors about American online shoppers

Online merchants should consider seven key factors about American consumers in order to optimize their sales and operations this holiday season, according to a report from DHL eCommerce.

First, many of the most powerful sales platforms are marketplaces. With nearly universal appeal, 99% of U.S. shoppers buy from marketplaces, ranked in popularity from Amazon (92%) to Walmart (68%), eBay (47%), Temu (32%), Etsy (28%), and Shein (21%).

Keep ReadingShow less
white house

Business groups push back on Trump tariff plan

In the face of campaign pledges by Donald Trump to boost tariffs on imports, many U.S. business interests are pushing back on that policy plan following Trump’s election yesterday as president-elect.

U.S. firms are already rushing to import goods before the promised tariff increases take effect, to avoid potential cost increases. That’s because tariffs are paid by the domestic companies that order the goods, not by the foreign nation that makes them.

Keep ReadingShow less
clorox brands

Clorox partnership helps suppliers meet carbon reduction targets

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) provider The Clorox Co. has partnered with Manufacture 2030 (M2030) to help Clorox's suppliers meet their carbon reduction targets and advance the company's long-term goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.

In addition to its flagship Clorox bleach product, Oakland, California-based Clorox manages a diverse catalog of brands including Hidden Valley Ranch, Glad, Pine-Sol, Burt’s Bees, Kingsford, Scoop Away, Fresh Step, 409, Brita, Liquid Plumr, and Tilex.

Keep ReadingShow less