Fergie's Tech Blog

Katrina Applies Supply Chain Stranglehold

Jacqueline Emigh writes in eWeek:

More than a week after Hurricane Katrina whipped through the Gulf region, many roads, production plants and warehouses in New Orleans and surrounding areas remain shut, forcing businesses to reroute product shipments elsewhere, either with or without support from high-tech tools.

As of this Tuesday afternoon, all roads into New Orleans were still closed, according to information posted on a Web site run by the Louisiana State Police.

But even beyond the human suffering and financial losses felt in the city itself, companies and consumers in neighboring communities in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi are already experiencing the impact of major supply chain disruptions.

Central Louisiana, for example, may have escaped hurricane flooding, but gas and diesel fuel are in extremely short supply there, and some food items are completely unobtainable, said Mike Pierce, general manager of 3-J's Trucking Company Inc., a Lecompte, La.-based regional trucking and warehousing firm.

posted by Fergie @ 9/07/2005 08:23:00 AM