DC Velocity - October 2016

inbound

Consumers love e-commerce for the ability to order everything from ski poles to suntan lotion with a few taps on a digital device and then have the order show up on their doorstep within two days. Fulfilling those expectations has put pressure on everyone from retailers to parcel carriers, but one part of the supply chain in particular is scrambling to meet demand—inland ports.

The rapid growth of e-commerce has fueled development of warehouses and distribution centers in the 12 primary U.S. inland-port markets at nearly twice the national rate, according to a new report from commercial real estate company CBRE Group Inc. Collectively, the 12 inland ports saw their base of industrial properties expand by 2. 7 percent in this year’s first quarter, far outpacing the national average growth rate of 1.6 percent, according to CBRE’s “2016 North America Inland Port Logistics Report.” (For purposes of the report, the company defines inland ports as those having “a Class I rail connection to a major seaport and also having access to significant transportation infrastructure, be it rail, highway, waterway, or a combination of the three.”)

According to CBRE, the explosive growth can be traced to e-commerce, which has “flooded U.S. seaports with an unprecedented volume of foreign cargo destined for markets across the U.S.” The seaports, in turn, route the incoming cargo to nearby inland ports, where it can be handled, warehoused, and broken into smaller batches for distribution to regional consumers.

The fastest-growing inland ports in the study included Southern California’s Inland Empire (which reported growth of 4. 3 percent), Greenville, S.C. ( 4. 2 percent), and Atlanta and Dallas/Fort Worth (both at 3. 6 percent). Rounding out the top 12 were Phoenix; Kansas City; Houston; St. Louis; Chicago; Memphis, Tenn.; Columbus, Ohio; and East and Central Pennsylvania.

E-commerce fuels
growth of inland ports

Supply chain pros often debate the merits of shipping cargo by truck, ship, train, or plane. This month, however, a group of logistics leaders will avail themselves of another mode of transport: the bicycle. On Oct. 15, a team of six experienced riders who are all employed by logistics companies plan to pedal 102.7 grueling miles through Death Valley, Calif., to raise money to find a cure for type 1 diabetes.

The fundraising tour was organized by Adrian Gonzalez, president of the consulting firm Adelante SCM and a well-known industry speaker and blogger. In 2011, Gonzalez’s eldest daughter, Hannah, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D), a chronic autoimmune disease that requires patients to closely monitor their blood sugar levels and use insulin to keep those levels in a healthy range, Gonzalez wrote in his “Talking Logistics” blog.

In response, Gonzalez organized a peloton of philanthropy-minded industry professionals to join “Logistics Leaders for T1D Cure,” with the goal of raising $50,000 to benefit JDRF, a nonprofit organization focused on T1D research. Riders include employees from Descartes Systems Group, Elemica, LeanLogistics, and MercuryGate. If you’d like to support the cause, you can donate online at www.jdrf.org.

Logistics pros pedal for a cause

One of the biggest challenges in last-mile delivery is calculating the shortest path for a truck to reach all of its destinations, shaving off any unnecessary miles in order to save time and fuel, and reduce pollution. Despite the big stakes, a Vancouver, B.C., startup says its inspiration for creating a highly efficient new route optimization program came from a small source—the honeybee.

Routific Inc. has designed a routing application inspired by the “Bees Algorithm,” an algorithm developed in 2005 that uses the food-foraging behavior of honeybee swarms as a model for performing complex mathematical optimization calculations.

Bee colonies cover long distances in every direction to harvest nectar and pollen from multiple flower patches, then find the quickest route from flower to flower, the company says. Applied to last-mile parcel delivery, that approach can help carriers cut operating costs and reduce their carbon footprint.

“We’re leveraging the age-old wisdom of honeybees in order to help delivery businesses work smarter and more efficiently,” said Routific founder and CEO Marc Kuo in a press release. “Bees are some of the hardest-working creatures on the planet, and they’re amazing team players.”