"At this point, grocery stores, logistics experts, warehouse operators, and trucking companies have been prepping for days. Still, the effects on the supply chain-and the retail store shelves that depend on them-are yet to be determined. On one hand, this is winter business as usual. Snowstorms happen every year, and the freight industry has a playbook. "If you're a retailer, this happens all the time," says Chris Caplice, the chief scientist at the transportation management firm DAT Freight & Analytics."
""This one's kinda tough, because you don't have a lot of snow storms hitting the states that this one is hitting," says Chris Long, the executive vice president of operations at Capstone Logistics, a third-party logistics firm. Affected southern states, including Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, are often equipped to handle hurricanes, with networks of distribution centers set up to disburse what's often needed after that sort of storm: generators, water, plywood."
Up to two-thirds of the United States faces a widespread winter storm that could bring heavy snow, cold, and ice, disrupting roads from Texas to New York City. Grocery stores, warehouse operators, trucking companies, and logistics experts have been preparing by staging inventory and positioning vehicles and staff. Southern distribution networks often focus on hurricane-related goods and may be less equipped for prolonged freezes, raising the risk of shortages in perishable items such as food and pharmaceuticals if roads freeze for several days. The freight industry has established contingency playbooks, but the storm’s breadth and affected regions add logistical challenges.
Read at WIRED
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