Global Client Advisories | Global Forwarding Insights | Trade & Tariff Insights | North American Freight Market
Current as of February 23, 2021, 1:30p.m CT
As the skies have cleared post-storms, customers are beginning to work through their backlog of shipments. We are seeing a tightening in supply as the DAT load to truck ratio reached almost 10 last week. It is difficult to predict how big of a ripple effect this will have, however if history repeats it will take weeks not days. We will watch it closely and near-term customers should expect constrained capacity, elevated costs, and requests for flexibility from both their suppliers and providers.
For national weather updates, click here for a real-time weather impact map.
We will now be moving into a “reopening” phase from the impacts of the storms as businesses start to reopen as power has been restored in most areas. We are already beginning to see a backlog of freight across the U.S. This will likely impact customers supply chains across North America over the next few weeks. Customers should expect increased costs related to displaced freight flows and supply constraints. We are working with our customers and carriers to enact contingency plans for their supply chains. Customers should be communicating priority shipments as they come back online.
Terminal closures have ended with pockets of limited operations being seen scattered across the Central and Eastern United States. These pockets could last through the early part of this week.
Railroads are experiencing road and interstate closures, impacting the ability to transport crews. All the Class 1 Railroads enacted restrictions on certain lanes and/or services.
Customers should anticipate delays of a minimum of 72 hours for shipments in the impacted areas until the severe weather subsides.
Airports and local terminals have returned to normal working conditions as they work through backlogs created from the recent closures. Delays may still occur in transit as these backlogs are cleared out while relief goods make their way into the region which increases demand on already strained capacity.
We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates across transportation services as the storm progresses. Please reach out to your C.H. Robinson account representative with questions.