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Overlooking the Francis Scott Key Bridge that collapsed in Baltimore last month, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the Biden administration’s freight initiatives have helped supply chains respond to the crisis.
While Buttigieg did not mention the Department of Transportation’s Freight Logistics Optimization Works (FLOW) program by name, he did refer to it.
During his remarks, he advocated the use of “data partnerships that did not exist prior to 2021 to track changing container volumes along the East Coast and help supply chain operators adapt.”
In addition to being a horrific tragedy and a financial blow to the port and city of Baltimore, the bridge collapse represented one of the first major tests of the digital platform.
FLOW aims to improve supply chain visibility by drawing data from its 75 members and share it with all of them.
Officials from CH Robinson Worldwide, ITS Logistics, Home Depot and IMC Companies, four of the program’s members, shared information about its uses in a time of crisis.
CH Robinson was able to track re-bookings
While FLOW is still in development and the Port of Baltimore is not a member, the program conveyed useful information and pointed to potential pain points amid disruption caused by the Baltimore bridge collapse, members said.
The ports of New York and New Jersey and Georgia are the only East Coast ports involved in FLOW, but “this is a start,” said Jenna Kuehn, director of domestic products and global promotion for CH Robinson.
“Being a part of FLOW allowed us to see that there was a limited impact on containers in Savannah and a small increase in New York/New Jersey,” Kuehn said in an email. “It also showed that frame availability and terminal space were not barriers to rerouting Baltimore freight.”
The bridge collapse required all shipments to and from Baltimore to be rescheduled, and the platform provided members with long-term data on reservations up to 60 days in advance, Kuehn said.
“The hope was that we could collectively see where these repossessions were gravitating,” Kuehn said. “Before we send our customers’ cargo there, this would help ensure that those ports had enough equipment, had enough appointments and were staffed accordingly.”
![A cargo ship struck and collapsed on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26, 2024.](https://www.truckingdive.com/imgproxy/XT8h6_DD_KQstbCkwxhRf51Hl13mDO4_I9uH4PW5VRQ/g:ce/rs:fill:0:860:0/bG9jYWw6Ly8vZGl2ZWltYWdlL0dldHR5SW1hZ2VzLTIxMTUwOTc1NDlfUXN2U3BwcC5qcGc.webp)
![A cargo ship struck and collapsed on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26, 2024.](https://www.truckingdive.com/imgproxy/XT8h6_DD_KQstbCkwxhRf51Hl13mDO4_I9uH4PW5VRQ/g:ce/rs:fill:0:860:0/bG9jYWw6Ly8vZGl2ZWltYWdlL0dldHR5SW1hZ2VzLTIxMTUwOTc1NDlfUXN2U3BwcC5qcGc.webp)
A cargo ship struck and collapsed on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26, 2024. The tragedy was a first major test of the US Department of Transportation’s Freight Logistics Optimization Works (FLOW) program.
Tasos Katopodis via Getty Images
ITS Logistics used data to develop components
The Baltimore bridge collapse provided a use case for how ITS Logistics and other program members can use each other’s data in real time, ITS Logistics SVP Adam Angle said in an interview.
“Once the incident happened we were able to go in and assess where the chassis and other assets and equipment were [were] in various markets,” Angle said.
The third-party logistics company could see where shipment volumes were growing and other data about those markets that helped distribute resources.
“If the market had enough chassis, then maybe we don’t need to reallocate our own assets,” Angle said.
Tracking volume growth at other East Coast ports also provided long-term benefits for ITS Logistics. It allowed the company to “strategically align with our customers,” sharing guidance as they adapted their supply chains, Angle said.
“It gives us end-to-end visibility into supply chains that are larger than the scope of just trucking,” Angle said. “It’s the lines of the steamer. they’re the context providers — all these other contributors in there allow us to perform better.”
Home Depot was not affected “nearly as much” as others
Home Depot operates two distribution centers near the bridge in Baltimore, and truckers and workers who once took the bridge are using alternate routes to get to the facility after the collapse.
Less than 1 percent of the home improvement retailer’s import volume enters the U.S. through the Port of Baltimore, Sarah Galica, Home Depot’s vice president of transportation, said in an interview.
“Compared to some other industries, we weren’t affected nearly as much,” Galica said.
However, the opportunity to quickly join a call with DOT officials to hear what they were doing to help alleviate the situation was a useful resource in an uncertain situation, the Vice President said.
“They coordinated with all the other ports in the area to make sure they had enough capacity,” Galica said. “So you can see the work they did.”
IMC companies do not use FLOW operationally
According to IMC Companies CEO Joel Henry, the marine water provider does not use the FLOW platform for operational purposes.
Instead, FLOW is more of a historical database into which the company feeds usage data, Henry said, adding that the program is used by more than two dozen beneficial freight owners for predictive data on congestion and volumes.
IMC moved its local Baltimore capacity to Norfolk, Virginia. Newark, New Jersey; and Philadelphia in response to customer needs, said Jennifer Shaffer, IMC director of marketing.
“We also shifted capacity from Newark and Philly to help grow Norfolk,” Shaffer said in an April 22 email. “We’re seeing cargo that’s still in the ports of origin being diverted more evenly between Norfolk, Newark and Philly.”