Our current pandemic is like the gift that keeps on giving.
Just when you think you’ve finally weathered the worst of it,
some fresh new slice of hell rears its ugly head.
Think about all the supply chain disruptions we’ve all had to work around,
figure a way through, or just completely throw our arms up in the air about.
Well, I think we’re entering a new phase.
The screaming-cursing stage.
After 18 months of disappearing capacity and skyrocketing consumer demand.
With months and months of driver shortages and disappearing truck-production.
The ongoing container ship deluge.
Diesel fuel spottiness.
Load prices shooting higher and higher.
There’s a new problem to contend with.
Something truly wicked this way comes….
I was driving down the highway the other day and hit a particularly nasty traffic jam.
We were totally stopped.
People were getting out of their cars to see what was happening.
The sun was beating down, creating that hazy out-of-focus air across the horizon.
Up ahead, I could just make out an auto hauler on the side of the road.
Inch by inch we lurched ahead.
Fighting for every bit of forward motion.
Finally, I reached the hauler.
It was already hooked up to a semi-tow truck.
But when the tow guy pulled onto the highway, something popped
and we could all hear that familiar hissing sound.
The truck driver was stomping around the median, yelling into his phone.
“Whataya mean, you can’t get me a pump?!
Next year. A stupid water pump. And you can’t get me one til next year?!
Are you outta your mind?!”
Two lanes were blocked by the huge truck towing the full-up auto hauler.
Because these trucks are breaking down at an alarming rate.
After 18 months of making due with parts in stock, and pushing maintenance
as far as we can…
well, now we’re at a point where the trucks we rely on are s#&! outta luck.
And by extension, we are also SOL.
During Covid we’ve been pushing the American supply chain to its inevitable
breaking point. Trucks are hauling round the clock as teams of drivers
make use of every working trailer.
Even then, we’re not keeping up.
Everyone scrambled to build more trucks and get more drivers.
And when the semiconductor chip shortage hit, we all pushed the trucks
we had that much harder.But the lack of water pumps, NOX sensors,
rebuild kits and the like are now putting drivers and carriers out of business.
Nobody can get tires, oil filters, cam roller pins, exhaust gaskets, any of it.
The big carrier companies will make it through fine.
They can sacrifice a few unassigned trucks and wrecks for spare parts.
But smaller operators and independent drivers will pay the price.
They’re sitting idle waiting for parts to become available.
Which in turn makes the shortage of trucks and drivers that much worse.
Trucks need parts. We need trucks to ship the parts.
But there’s no trucks because they need parts.
Almost comical.
We’ve relied on an economy that stocks nothing anymore.
Everything gets shipped from the manufacturer’s warehouse as it’s needed.
But now those shelves are empty.
Third-party service providers, fleet maintenance companies, shippers,
everybody is gonna get hit by this.
It’s a perfect storm –
a measly $300 part is causing $9,000 in carrier downtime which creates
a $100,000 factory shutdown and then millions in lost sales… and so on.
So… what are we going to do about it?
- Jim Pearson is the President & Founder of JTR Logistics.
Transportation professionals who expertly navigate the latest technologies while offering decades of experience & know-how. People who always get ship done.
Comments