In times of chaos, the American logistics industry steps up.
The logistics professionals, shippers, warehouse operators, dispatchers, brokers, and most importantly, truck drivers have stepped up to provide an orchestrated effort to ensure the safety and well being of our country.
This week, the heroic efforts of the American trucking and logistics industry should be obvious to anyone that walks into a store one day and sees empty shelves, only to come back the next day and find them filled again. This happened to me a few times this week. From my family, thank you.
Here at FreightWaves, we have been taking the COVID-19 story very seriously for months now, mostly because we have been monitoring how it has impacted cargo flows and economic data throughout Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. We did a TV special on it a few weeks ago (you can also listen to the podcast), but even still, it seemed like a far-away reality until this past week.
Whether it was the NBA suspending its season, Tom Hanks being diagnosed with COVID-19, or Donald Trump’s March 11, primetime address to the nation, reality seemed to set in for everyone on Thursday.
We have been taking precautions for weeks at FreightWaves by stocking up on cleaning supplies and instituting more aggressive cleaning measures, even eliminating all travel. Even still, it didn’t feel like enough.
On Thursday, we sent the majority of our staff home and have plans to do more over the next week. Over time, I suspect the folks will only come in for TV or radio production purposes. Our goal is to stay true to our mission of providing information and context about the market. We also recognize that with the new work-from-home environments taking hold across the industry, logistics professionals are going to want to be engaged and informed. We hope you will consider us a resource during this period.
FreightWaves TV is broadcasting live coverage of the freight market from our studios in Chattanooga and the talented crew is always excited to receive comments from fans during live shows. You can watch the show on TV.FreightWaves.com, Apple TV, or Roku. You can also listen to audio podcasts on FreightCasts, which can be downloaded on any podcast platform, including Apple. We want to know what you are seeing or concerned about and you can comment while watching the shows or send messages to the hosts. They love that.
Of course, our editorial team, many of which work in their homes, are always looking for interesting stories to tell and love when they get your perspective. Feel free to reach out to them and share stories of things that are happening on the ground, good or bad. Hopefully, over the next few months, we will get to write many stories of the triumph of the American logistics and supply-chain industry in keeping America, and the world, moving.
We are all in this together. This is a scary time and no one really knows what is going to happen.
For us, this is a labor of love. We are logistics professionals and all have great pride in the efforts of our industry right now. The freight industry is the always-responder, involved in relief, recovery, and replenishment efforts throughout natural disasters, weather emergencies and now the coronavirus pandemic.
We want to tell your stories and hopefully share our thoughts with you. So whether you are driving around or bored sitting at home, consider us your partner and biggest fans.
