- The Biden administration created a data partnership with companies including Walmart, Target, Nike, Home Depot and FedEx, Union Pacific and DHL to track the supply chain as a cause of inflation in real time.
- Launched two years ago, the platform called FLOW is now expanding to track inland freight ports, including rail terminal and warehouse end-destination data.
- “We are getting a look at actual demand,” said Andrew Petrisin, advisor for multimodal freight for the Department of Transportation, in an exclusive interview with CNBC.
The Biden administration is expanding a freight data partnership with major U.S. companies to track the movement of goods in real time.
On Wednesday, the Department of Transportation is announcing that its digital platform for supply chain monitoring, Freight Logistics Optimizations Works (FLOW), is being expanded to capture and publish data on inland freight ports, including rail terminal and warehouse end-destination data.
Launched two years ago by the Biden administration, FLOW has partnered with retailers including Home Depot, Nike, Walmart, and Target; railroads Union Pacific and BNSF; and logistics providers CH Robinson, DHL, and FedEx. The platform has enabled participants to have a real-time snapshot of port and inland network congestion and monitor unexpected cargo shifts caused by world events, such as the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
A recent White House economic analysis found that more than 80% of recent progress in lowering inflation (disinflation) in the U.S. economy can be attributed to the supply chain.
“We are getting a look at actual demand,” said Andrew Petrisin, advisor for multimodal freight for the Department of Transportation, in an exclusive interview with CNBC. “By aggregating purchase orders from our shippers 40 days out and importer partners, as well as booking information from our ocean carrier partners 60 days out on a daily basis, the broader membership, can see and understand aggregate future demand.”
Petrisin tells CNBC the additional data will add to the knowledge that major firms gain from the platform, tracking container import volumes and traffic from the point of export origin into a U.S. port and eventually picked up by truck or rail and delivered to a warehouse or another inland port. The inland ports are critical to the flow of trade, from the pickup and drop off of loaded containers to the movement of empty containers so they can be loaded onto vessels to be filled again by foreign manufacturers.
Trailers are moved around at a Walmart Distribution center on May 19, 2022 in St George, Utah.
George Frey | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The FLOW platform connects the various supply chain pipes of partners to create an end-to-end, real-time snapshot of container traffic. Key information shared by the participants includes inbound containerized freight, starting with importer purchase orders, which is a barometer of future demand volumes against current regional capacity to move ocean containers.
The data is helping logistics decision-makers to manage and mitigate trade uncertainties, such as the recent Red Sea diversions and Panama Canal drought.
“It’s a collaboration tool,” Petrisin said.
Petrisin said ocean carriers are among partners that can use the data to plan ahead and make sure they have chassis available to load containers onto ships at the West Coast Ports. “We can get ahead of this and be proactive,” he said.
The overall goal of the data-sharing platform is to create a line of sight across the various trade routes and methods so participants can make the most informed decision, Petrisin said. As an example, “We’re working with an ocean carrier partner to use the purchase order data, to help make a better estimate on future bookings inland,” he added.
The DOT has held regular listening sessions with the freight industry and marine labor groups since the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea began last year. It is working with FLOW participants to leverage data…
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