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December 30, 2021 by Logistics

WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU WANT TO SHIP TO THE EAST COAST?

Strategically located on the East Coast, Riverside Logistics is ready to help you with your supply chain.And if you decide to ship to the east coast here’s why Virginia may be the best destination port to use.

Here are some compelling reasons to consider changing how you route shipments originating in ASIA.

  • Ports in California have been making headlines because of unprecedented delays both on the water, and then thru and beyond the ports. During this same time frame the Port of Virginia has been running smoothly. It has also been performing better than other ports along the East Coast. The Ports in Virginia have different operating structures than others, especially those on the West Coast. Virginia Ports are run by one entity, the Virginia Port Authority. If one terminal starts backing up the VPA will switch traffic and unloading to another terminal to avoid costly delays and congestion. In addition, VPA also has sole authority and control over the trucking aspect. The west coast, by comparison, has 3 different truckers that they need to deal with. This gives Virginia another advantage in managing the flow of goods thru and beyond the port. Last, but not least, the VPA has automated stacking cranes. This means fewer shifts are necessary to unload containers. Adding this all up means that Virginia is clearly winning the port war and should be considered a strong option for freight originating in Asia.
  • So, let’s change gears a bit and talk about LABOR. The ILWU, International Longshore and Warehouse Union, has labor contract negotiations coming up in 2022 for its entire West Coast labor force. The last negotiation 6 years ago, produced severe disruptions. At that time, many shippers were caught flat-footed and had to divert to Gulf Coast and East Coast ports to compensate. This time around you don’t want to get caught off-guard and un-prepared. The ILW Union has already rejected an offer by the terminal operators to delay negotiations until 2023. The head of the union told its workers to “save up” as they prepare for negotiations, meaning that this time around it may be even more painful and take a “long time” to iron out. A really long time with lots of disruptions and down-time.
  • The West Coast is a logjam right now and into the foreseeable future. Ships and containers are stacking up like cordwood. The port has a significant backlog of ships waiting to be unloaded. Once they are finally unloaded then there are backups in getting the containers on trucks or railcars for movement to their final destinations. Overall transit times from ASIA have tripled. What used to take 30 days, now takes 90 days. That represents a lot of idle cash, sitting unused.

Time is money, if for example, your cost of capital is 3-4% and your carrying costs are 25%, then each day, each dollar of inventory sits for longer than it used to or should, then it ends up costing you $35 per $50,000 of in transit inventory value per day, more than it should. This adds up very quickly and turns into big dollars wasted. One container on the water for 60 extra days could cost $2100 more with the longer transit. If you ship 100 containers annually then that’s over $200K in additional cost to you each year. Safety Stock levels would be lower for a 30-day transit than for a 90-day transit pipeline. Safety stock is money sitting too, not being converted back to cash, not generating sales. These costs add up fast and are very un-productive.

  • Since the ultimate customer maybe closer from the east coast than the west coast, domestic transportation costs will be lower and transit times faster. More than 2/3rds of the US’s domestic population is within 2 days of the Virginia Ports. Unit costs (per carton, per lb., etc.) will be lower. Damage and loss risk is lower on the domestic pipeline when using east coast unloading vs west coast unloading. The longer the transit, the more opportunity exists for damage and loss. Damage and loss will create unhappy customers, and unhappy customers will create lower sales and less profits.

Now let’s look at Norfolk and Richmond as destination ports versus other east coast facilities.

  • Virginia serves 2/3rds of the US population within 2 days. Virginia is a crossroads to the west, the south and the northeast either by truck, intermodal or rail modes. Its central location makes it ideal as a distribution point for the entire East coast, Southeast and Midwest.
  • Warehouse rates for inventory are lower and more space is available in Virginia than anywhere on the east coast. Labor costs and insurance costs are extremely competitive.
  • Trucking rates outbound from Virginia are very competitive with other east coast ports. If you ship south from Virginia, vs more northern ports, you costs will be substantially lower. If you ship to the Midwest rates will be competitive.
  • The availability of transportation alternatives is very high in Virginia. The ratio of loads to trucks is balanced better here than at other east coast locations.

All in all, the east coast is an attractive alternative to the west coast as a destination port from Asia. Out of Europe it’s a no brainer, transit is substantially shorter and freight rates are much better. Virginia has some key advantages over other east coast ports, that will produce a competitive edge for shippers. Depending on the distribution of your customer base and its density in proximity to Virginia, you may have a real opportunity to advance your competitive position by shipping thru and stocking product In Virginia.

One last point. Although breaking up your inventory into east coast and west coast lots makes for a more difficult management process, it may allow for enhanced supply chain risk as well as increased leverage when dealing with warehouses, carriers, and vendors. Depending on your business model, you may decrease your inventory pipeline, lower your supply chain risk, enhance your competitive position, and provide a higher level of customer service. It’s worth looking into and Riverside Logistics will be happy to help you make a decision. Now is the time to be working on this before it is too late to make changes.

 

About the author

Jim Durfee
Vice President Business Transformation
Headquarters: Riverside Logistics, Inc. , 5160 Commerce Road, Richmond, VA 23234
Riverside Logistics is a full-service third-party logistics company (3PL), delivering world-class supply chain management solutions.

If you would like more information or have questions about this article,  please call Jim at 804- 474-7700 Option #4.

 

Filed Under: Third-Party Logistics (3PL), Transportation News, Virginia Port News Tagged With: 3PL Logistics, Logistics Companies in Richmond, Logistics Companies in Virginia, Riverside Logistics, Why use an East Coast Port?

January 18, 2016 by Logistics

JIM DURFEE RE-JOINS RIVERSIDE LOGISTICS AS VICE PRESIDENT BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION

Jim DurfeeAfter a 9-year hiatus in manufacturing Logistics, Jim Durfee has re-joined Riverside Logistics as Vice President Business Transformation. In his new role, Jim will be instrumental in providing strategic planning guidance and infrastructure improvements that will allow Riverside to meet its long term growth projections.

Mr. Durfee has over 33 years of direct logistics experience in Retail, Manufacturing, 3PL and Carrier environments. He has held numerous positions responsible for managing the logistics operations and spend for these organizations. Most recently he was Director of Global Supply Chain Operations for MeadWestvaco Corporation, in Richmond, VA. Here he managed a centralized operation that controlled over $400 Million in transportation spend spanning 5 continents.

Jim has worked with numerous Transportation Management Software and has managed both in-sourced and out-sourced logistics groups. He is a licensed US Customs Broker, a TIA Certified Transportation Broker, a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt, a Licensed ICC Practitioner and a AST&L Certified Member (now APICS). He holds a BS in Business Logistics from Penn State and an MBA from Loyola University.

Filed Under: News & Events Tagged With: 3PL Logistics, AST&L Cerfified Member (Now APICS), Certified Six Sigma Black Belt, In-sourced Logistics Groups, Jim Durfee, Licensed US Customs Broker, Liscesed ICC Practitioner, Logistics Companies near the Port of Norfolk and Richmond, Loyola University Graduate, New People in Logistics, Out-Sourced Logistics Groups, Penn state Graduate, Richmond Virginia, Riverside Logisitics, TIA Certified Transportation Broker, Transportation Management Software Experts, Warehouse Companies on the East Coast

January 8, 2016 by Logistics

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO HAVE A RAIL-SERVED WAREHOUSE?

RIVERSIDE LOGISTICS CSX-SERVED WAREHOUSING HELPS A NATIONAL PAPER MANUFACTURER MEET ITS OVERFLOW ROLL-STOCKING NEEDS

by James F Durfee, Vice President Business Transformation

Paper companies are typically in business to make paper, lots of paper! They then usually need a place, a big place, to store this paper before it is consumed. Logistics can sometimes become somewhat of an after- thought to the manufacturing process. When a major Paper Company in the Richmond area needed a rail-served location in Central Virginia to handle overflow Roll Stock, Riverside Logistics was there to help. With 100,000 square feet of warehouse space, served by the CSX railroad, and a staff trained and equipped to handle paper roll stock, Riverside flew into action and began receiving spill-over roll stock from the manufacturer via the CSX railroad. The boxcars kept coming and coming until over 75 thousand square feet of product was housed in Riverside’s warehouse. Riverside inventoried this product using its state-of-the-art WMS system. When it came time to ship the product out, Riverside arranged for all the local transportation necessary and utilized its dedicated fleet of carriers to move the product across the Richmond area.

Being rail-served and having the know-how and equipment to handle large rolls is just one of the many logistics capabilities of Riverside. Our combined total of almost 500,000 square feet of warehousing space in Central Virginia, with immediate access to the Port of Richmond and Norfolk, Interstate 95 and 64 for both East-West and North-South access and shipping uniquely positions us to competitively support all of our customers’ needs both long term and short term.

Legitimate Rail-served warehouses are becoming harder to find, especially in markets like Richmond. When you couple rail sidings with roll handling capability you end up with a fairly unique set of Logistics capabilities for customers needing these types of services.

Next time you need rail-served warehousing in Central Virginia, call us.

Filed Under: Case Studies Tagged With: 3PL Logistics, and Norfolk, Central VIrginia, CSX Railroad, East West, Interstate 95 & 64, Logistics, National Paper Manufacturer, North South, Paper Industry News, Rail-Served Warehouse, Riverside Logistics, Roll-Stocking Overflow warehouse, Shipping, Shipping Large Rolls of Paper Stock, Spill-Over roll stock, Transportation, Trucking, Warehouse, Warehouse Near Norfolk Port, Warehouse Near Port of Richmond, Warehouse Space in Richmond Virginia

March 11, 2015 by Logistics

Riverside Logistics recently contracted with SyCom Technologies to provide Information Technology Systems Support and Networking Infrastructure Integration Enhancements.

Riverside Logistics recently contracted with SyCom Technologies to provide Information Technology Systems Support and Networking Infrastructure Integration Enhancements. Keith Hamlett, Executive Vice President stated “SyCom was a natural choice as we prepare for growth by enhancing our network infrastructure at all of our facilities”.   This continued investment in infrastructure will help Riverside achieve its goal of being a leader in the 3PL logistics category.

Riverside Logistics provides a full compliment of third party logistic services and total solutions. Whether you’re moving product within the states or around the world, we can help by combining our warehouse and transportation solutions to offer the best value in the industry. Riverside’s experience is both broad and deep, including work in a variety of industries such as medical products (including sterile surgical products), food and beverages (including dry and refrigerated), building materials, retail and industrial packaging, metals, chemicals, fertilizers and minerals, automotive supply, timber and paper and products and a wide variety of consumer products including, non- durables and durables.

About SyCom Technologies

Founded in 1996, SyCom is an award-winning IT Systems Integrator headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. With offices throughout Virginia and West Virginia, their focus is on mid-Atlantic companies, healthcare organizations, educational institutions and governments looking to improve their technology return on investment. SyCom is a trusted partner for some of the region’s most prominent Fortune 1000 organizations by providing a range of trustworthy IT solutions and services that keep companies connected. Named as one of the “Top Workplaces 2014” in Richmond, SyCom is also the employer of choice for the best IT talent in the region and their engineers are committed to providing outstanding and memorable service. For more information, please visit https://www.sycomtech.com/.

Filed Under: News & Events Tagged With: 3PL Logistics, Information Technology Systems Support, Networking Infrastructure Integration Enhanscements, Richmond, Riverside Logistics, SYCOM, Transportation Companies In Richmond VIrginia, VA, Virgiinia, Warehouses in Richmond Virginia

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