Four Upbeat Indicators for Next Year’s Supply Chain

The month of November brought some good news for supply chain professionals, noted an industry analyst.

According to Page Siplon, executive director, Center of Innovation for Logistics, there are four “encouraging statistics” surfacing now.

In the November Edition of the Logistics Market Snapshot – a monthly newsletter – Siplon noted that Transportation employment increased more than 2 percent year-over-year in October, with rail employment up 3.8 percent and trucking up 2.9 percent.

Transportation industries added about 16,500 employees in October, accounting for nearly 21 percent of the U.S. net employment gains added last month,” said Siplon.

The second positive indicator, said Siplon, came in September, when the U.S. exported more than $180.4 billion of cargo - the highest ever on record. September U.S. exports have increased 1.4 percent in terms of value over the previous month and grew 15.9 percent year-over-year.

Meanwhile, Domestic intermodal traffic grew 6.3 percent in the 3Q 2011, and combined international and domestic rail volume topped 3.65 million intermodal units in the 3Q, the 7th straight quarter of year-over-year increases.

Finally, the fourth indicator comes from The commercial real estate firm of Grubb & Ellis, which expects the U.S. industrial real estate market to return to prerecession levels by the end of the year.

These observations will be updated and shared On February 8th, 2012 when the State of Georgia stages its Fourth Annual Georgia Logistics Summit hosted by the Center of Innovation for Logistics.

“The Summit is the only state-led collaborative event of its kind and size in the nation, and grows in attendance every year,” said Siplon.

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