inbound

Here’s our monthly roundup of some of the charitable works and donations by companies in the material handling and logistics space.

; Less-than-truckload carrier Old Dominion Freight Line, the official freight carrier of Major League Baseball (MLB), has donated more than 12,000 baseballs to Pitch In For Baseball & Softball, an organization founded in 2005 to provide children with recreational and positive youth development opportunities.

; The Canaveral Port Authority in Brevard County, Florida, has joined forces with Crossroads Alliance & Ministries to provide humanitarian relief for the hur-ricane-ravaged Bahamas. After learning that Crossroads had run out of space for collecting and staging relief supplies, the port authority stepped in to provide nearly 60,000 square feet of warehouse and storage space at no charge to the nonprofit.

; Maryland-based third-party logistics service provider Choptank Transport has established the Choptank Transport Community Foundation, which will serve as the charitable arm of the organization. Choptank’s first event, the “ 10 Better Than Par” golf tournament, was held in September, with the proceeds benefiting 10 local charities.

; New Jersey-based supply chain solutions provider NFI has participated in the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s “Bike MS: City to Shore” fundraiser in South Jersey for the ninth consecutive year. As the event’s local presenting sponsor, NFI provided logistics services for the two-day ride and organized a team of 90 riders and volunteers who raised over $135,000 in donations.

Logistics gives back
Return to sender

The next time you go to drop something off in one of those blue U.S. Postal Service collection boxes, take an extra moment or two to check the box’s label. The USPS recently tightened its restrictions on the items it will accept through the boxes, and if your envelope or package doesn’t meet the new standards, it will be sent back.

In an announcement issued last month, the USPS said it was tightening up its collection-box procedures in a bid to protect the public, postal employees, and postal contractors who transport the U.S. mail. The rules, which took effect Oct. 1, impose stricter weight limits on the packages and other mail pieces that can be “anonymously” entered into the mail stream via collection boxes or post office mail slots.

As for what all this means for the average postal customer, probably a few more trips to the counter. In the past, customers could deposit items in the collection boxes so long as they weighed less than 13 ounces. But under the updated rules, the weight cutoff is 10 ounces, meaning that customers can no longer use collection boxes to mail items weighing 10 ounces or more and/or measuring more than one-half inch thick. Instead, they will have to take these articles to a retail counter. As an alternative, they can use the Postal Service’s self-service kiosks to purchase postage labels and drop those packages into their local post office’s package slots, but not mail slots.

Apparently, there’s no grace period to allow customers to adjust to the new policy. If a restricted package or mail piece is found in a collection box or lobby mail slot, the Postal Service says it will be returned to the sender with a label attached explaining the restrictions and reason for return.

Port operators throughout the U.S. face an array of challenges going into 2020, from increasing demands for cargo visibility to volatile markets whipsawed by global trade wars.

One more challenge may be rising up right under their noses, however, as warming ocean temperatures lead to melting polar ice caps and a gradual rise in sea levels. With their location right on the waterfront, cargo ports are uniquely vulnerable to flooding, especially during hurricane season.

A new study by The Florida Ports Council says the state’s 15 publicly owned seaports are well underway in their preparations for future environmental changes and disruptive events. The publication, “Seaports Resiliency Report,” also outlines some of the ports’ best practices for dealing with disruptions.

For example, Port Everglades is working to identify the infrastructure that could be most easily disrupted due to water intrusion and is surveying the elevations of its electrical connection boxes—those connections will then be waterproofed to prevent disruption due to encroaching water. Florida ports are also laying plans to ensure broader access to fuel by collaborating with the U.S. Coast Guard and industry partners to invest in infrastructure that assists in fuel supply and distribution for faster port recovery.