Despite a temporary lull, this hurricane season is shaping up to be one of the worst on record, as storm after storm pummels large swaths of the country. In the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean, Beryl reached Category 5 — meaning a windspeed of 157 miles per hour or higher — while Debby, a “mere” Category 1, brought heavy rains to Florida and placed some 17,000 manufacturing and distribution sites at risk, according to risk-management service Resilinc. The latest parade of storms threatens to cause additional disruptions at the advent of the year’s peak shipping season.
All of which should come as no special surprise to supply chain managers, who scramble to minimize the impacts of storm season from year to year. Recall the “three I’s” of recent years: Ida in 2021, resulting in a 20% drop in service levels in the truckload market; Ian in 2022, with a 200% increase in export dwell time, and Idalia in 2023, causing a 43% rise in import dwell time, all according to project44, provider of a software platform for global supply chain management.
