Plenty of Supply Chain Management Activity This Summer

As July comes to end, here’s a roundup of some of the month’s more significant supply chain management developments.

Procurement pay. The annual CIPS/Hays North America Salary Survey Report found procurement professionals earned an average raise of 4.6% last year, while the national average for pay increases was only 3.3%. The average salary for all procurement and supply professionals with job roles such as supply chain manager or senior category manager was $118,333 in the U.S. Across all the roles and levels of responsibility, it was an average of $96,361 for procurement professionals who responded to the January 2021 survey. While salaries went up in 2020, talent also was hard to find, as 64% of recruiters reported they struggled to find staff. The survey also reported that 71% of respondents said perception of procurement had improved in the last year. And while the survey had good news for working professionals it did reveal a persistent gender gap in salaries, with pay for men running 15% higher than pay for women in procurement.

Cargo surge. U.S. Great Lakes ports and the St. Lawrence Seaway are reporting a surge in cargo shipments to feed domestic construction and manufacturing activity and global export demand, according to the latest figures. Through June 30, total cargo shipped via the binational St. Lawrence Seaway was up 8.37% compared to the same period in 2020; a welcome 12.9 million metric tons. The dry bulk category, up 16% through June, is experiencing a strong bounce back and is expected to perform well for the balance of the season due to high demand across the binational Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region for construction materials including cement (up 36%) and gypsum (up 79%). Coke, used in steel and cement production, is up over 125% compared to last year as global commodity price increases have also led to a big increase of coke exports from Superior and Toledo to France, the Netherlands and other European countries.

Predictive analytics. Adding to its growing digital technology platform, the Port of Los Angeles has launched “Horizon,” a long-term cargo volume predictive feature of its Port Optimizer Control Tower data tool. The new module offers cargo owners, terminal operators, truckers and other supply chain stakeholders the capability to gauge movement of containers — imports, exports and empties — at the Port up to six months in advance. Developed in partnership with Wabtec, the Horizon predictive technology uses an algorithm based on historical and trending volume data collected by the Port Optimizer, the cloud-based secure digital portal of maritime shipping data created by the port in 2017 to facilitate more efficient cargo flow through its terminals. Continually taking into account changing conditions at the port, the algorithm constantly updates cargo volumes, allowing the Horizon to improve forecasting over time and issue six-month-ahead volume updates every month.

Dwell time. For the month of June, the average container dwell time at the San Pedro Bay ports, the amount of time a container stays at a marine terminal after it is unloaded from an ocean carrier, rose to 4.76 days, up from 3.96 the month before. The heightened dwell time is a result of an ongoing record cargo volume surge impacting the entire supply chain resulting in the lack of warehouse space, unused terminal appointments, lack of railcar availability, lack of truck capacity and equipment shortages. As such, 23.6% of containers remained at their respective terminals for more than five days before getting picked up for departure. Dwell time for containers leaving the terminal by on-dock rail increased by more than a day. Through June, the average dwell time was 11.8 days, up from the already high 10.5 days the month before.

Charging ahead. The Port of Oakland and its logistics partners launched a battery electric truck demonstration project this month on its path to zero emissions at the Oakland Seaport. The port debuted ten new battery electric trucks at Shippers Transport Express (STE), a port-based trucking operation. The Peterbilt trucks cost a total of $5.1 million and are used to haul cargo within the port’s maritime area. Funding for the trucks comes from a ZANZEFF grant (Zero And Near-Zero-Emission Freight Facility program). The Port of Oakland invested $1.7 million to construct 10 electric charging stations at STE. The port also built a new electrical substation and power line extension to connect to the charging stations. These construction projects took about two years to complete and advance the port’s plan for reducing emissions from Oakland Seaport sources.

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