Yesterday there were dozens of semis pulled over on the side of the highway, in rest stops, and filling out truck lots. They've been sitting for days, waiting to finally go about their daily routine of picking up and dropping off supplies, now they finally can and are clearing out. However, the CEO of Nevada Trucking Association says that it's going to take some time to fully catch up.
Paul Enos, CEO of Nevada Trucking Association, says, "But it does have an impact on the economy on our ability to serve as customers. I was talking to one of my members earlier in the week, he said his trucks weren't able to go and because they weren't able to go, he missed the ship going out of the port of Oakland so you know you have to wait another week for a new ship to come and to be able to get that freight over there so it does tend to have downstream impacts."
Enos says that even though the pass is open now, there is still some concern in the industry of another possible shut down due to this weekend's expected storm.
He says, "There was a little frustration this morning not being able to get that freight there but there is a collective sigh of relief in the industry now that the pass has opened and of course everybody is anticipating the storms this weekend. We're hearing maybe up to three feet of snow, an additional three feet which of course will cause some more consternation and more of our folks waiting to get that freight over the hill both ways."
Enos says that even trucks carrying medications are turned away when I-80 is closed down due to weather conditions. However, Renown's Chief Resource Officer says that they are strategizing to better prepare themselves for the possibility of I-80 being shut down again and causing another wave of supply shortage, specifically with medication.
Sean Poellnitz, Renown Chief Resource Officer, says, "We are communicating consistently with our departments so that they know what's going on and how things impact them. We are taking action meaning that we have short term strategies that execute to make sure that from an inventory standpoint we are being extremely smart."
Poellnitz says that they also keep an eye on the future forecast and being able to execute an inventory strategy to ensure they have everything when it's needed.
Enos says, "I think everybody needs to be patient, the supply chain is a very complex thing, it's not just one thing but it's a multitude of things, so whenever you have an impact, it's not just an impact on that one thing, you tend to have these downstream impacts that ripple throughout that economy and ripple throughout the supply chain."
Enos says that their truckers are working hard to catch up on the supply chain, however, safety is one of their main values. They want to make sure that their drivers are safe as well as the people they share the road with.
