John Johnson joined the DC Velocity team in March 2004. A veteran business journalist, John has over a dozen years of experience covering the supply chain field, including time as chief editor of Warehousing Management. In addition, he has covered the venture capital community and previously was a sports reporter covering professional and collegiate sports in the Boston area. John served as senior editor and chief editor of DC Velocity until April 2008.
Is your company prepared for a flu pandemic? If you work in the food industry, you probably answered yes to that question. But if you work for an energy company, industrial manufacturer or retailer, chances are you said no. A recent study by AMR Research found wide variations among industries when it comes to disaster preparedness.
If your company hasn't made much headway in crisis planning, you're not alone. The AMR study found that nearly 60 percent of enterprises surveyed had yet to adopt supply chain risk management policies. And even among those who had begun drafting policies, many appear to be still in the evaluation stage.
A study conducted by DC VELOCITY earlier this year also found a distinct lack of preparedness among survey respondents. Some 43 percent said they did not have general business continuity plans. Of those who had continuity plans, a staggering 83 percent had not yet addressed the possibility of a flu pandemic. Nor did they intend to. Nearly 75 percent of those who hadn't yet considered the impact of a flu outbreak admitted they had no immediate plans to do so. (See accompanying graphs.)
Not surprisingly, the companies most likely to find themselves on the frontlines in an emergency had made the greatest progress with their planning. "Certain sectors are more in tune to this than others," says AMR Research analyst Mark Hillman. Transportation businesses and chemical manufacturers tend to be ahead of the pack, he says. Food suppliers are at the top of the list as well. Take Hickory, N.C.-based food distributor Alex Lee Inc., for example. Alex Lee, which believes it has a responsibility to prevent disruption to the nation's food supply, has not only drafted a comprehensive pandemic plan, but is also well along in its efforts to implement that plan.
As for which businesses lag behind, the AMR report singles out automotive manufacturers, retailers and even some pharmaceutical concerns. The aerospace and defense industries are also at risk, AMR says, because of their tendency to forge sole-source agreements with specialized suppliers. "They are sensitive to the issue," says Hillman, "but the average company doesn't understand how much risk there is in their supply chain. The supply networks that will survive in the event of a pandemic or other major event are the ones that are the most prepared."
There are companies you'd expect to find on the forefront of disaster planning—food suppliers, say, or power and pharmaceutical companies.But chances are, semiconductor manufacturers wouldn't be high on your list.
Yet chipmaker Intel has emerged in recent years as one of the front runners in disaster preparedness. Over the past decade or so, the technology giant has devoted untold resources to business continuity planning, meticulously drafting provisions for dealing with everything from civil unrest, labor strikes and hurricanes to terrorist attacks and malicious computer viruses.
But for all the threats of earthquakes and tsunamis, the buzz at the company's Santa Clara, Calif., headquarters during the past 12 months has centered on a microscopic virus—the H5N1 virus, to be precise. H5N1, a particularly virulent strain of avian flu, has spread through Asia, Africa and Europe in the past decade. Public health officials fear that the virus will someday mutate to a form transmissible by humans, triggering a global flu pandemic.
In response to mounting warnings of a flu pandemic, Intel has formed an executive management team to study the potential impact of an avian flu outbreak on its business. Over the past year, it has pulled thousands of staffers into pandemic meetings and drills. It has enhanced its information technology infrastructure so that nearly half of its 105,000 employees will be able to work from home if necessary. It has arranged to stock enough food at each of its major facilities to feed one-third of its employees for three days. It has even stockpiled hand sanitizer, face masks and respirators.
Why would Intel go to such lengths to prepare for what many consider an unlikely event? A pandemic may represent a low-probability risk, but its potential consequences are staggering, answers Jim Wick, Intel's environmental health and safety manager for the Americas. By putting measures in place now, he says, the company boosts its chances of bouncing back if a pandemic does erupt. "If indeed a phase six pandemic [the worst possible scenario] occurs, the companies that have protected their people and their assets best will be in a position to recover quickest and become a contributing part of their community again."
Intel's interest in pandemic planning is more than a matter of protecting its profits, says Wick. "There is a business component to this," he concedes, "but there is also a moral and ethical component that outweighs that." Unlike many corporations, he notes, Intel is not stockpiling Tamiflu, the only medication available for treating avian flu (if administered early enough). Many Fortune 500 companies have stockpiled the drug to use for key employees, a controversial move that has depleted supplies of the drug. Intel has instead chosen to forge close relationships with public health agencies in hopes of getting a fast response to its requests should the need arise.
"We will not undermine a national strategy for the allocation
of a scarce resource," says Wick. "We think we have [executives] who ought to have access to [Tamiflu], but we
are not going to horde it at the expense of hospital emergency rooms."
Test drive
Intel's exhaustive disaster planning efforts might strike some as overkill, but it's hard to argue with the results. In the past four years alone, Intel has successfully implemented various provisions of its business continuity plan more than 200 times, as it responded to crises ranging from civil unrest to union strikes and storms like Katrina worldwide.
"A lot of those incidents occurred at the local site level and were not a big deal. But think about events like Katrina that have occurred over the last year or so and you can see the kind of impact it might have in your logistics transportation activities," says Tony Sundermeier, Intel's customer logistics manager for the Americas. "The good news is we are not sole-source suppliers for our transportation services, so if something happens to one supplier, we can react."
Intel will not discuss its distribution network or its specific plans for ensuring product availability during a flu pandemic. However, it's clear from executives' statements that Intel plans to pull its suppliers into the effort. Sundermeier, for example, reports that Intel has already requested that its suppliers take specified steps to prepare for a flu pandemic.
"That's one of the key considerations transportation- wise," he says. "For a logistics professional, it's a daily part of doing business. About 95 percent of the time, everything runs well. It's how you manage that other 5 percent that differentiates you from the others. You need to build in a lot of redundancies in order to be able to change on a dime."
Money well spent
Despite the potentially catastrophic effects of a pandemic, it's often tough to convince management to invest time and money to plan for something like a flu outbreak, which could be six months—or six years—away. That's especially true of public companies, where management may be more concerned about the next quarter's financial results than in preparing for something as uncertain as a pandemic. And if rival companies aren't making similar investments, those managers will be all the more reluctant to spend money on pandemic preparedness for fear their earnings will look bad by comparison.
But the folks at Intel say it's money well spent. "It's like buying insurance," Steve Lund, Intel's director of security and head of its crisis response team, told a recent forum held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Transportation & Logistics. "Hopefully, you never have to cash it in. Yes, we are considered a cost [on the balance sheet]. And not all companies are willing to invest that money. But we provide a service that allows you to be much more profitable in the future [should a crisis occur]."
“The past year has been unprecedented, with extreme weather events, heightened geopolitical tension and cybercrime destabilizing supply chains throughout the world. Navigating this year’s looming risks to build a secure supply network has never been more critical,” Corey Rhodes, CEO of Everstream Analytics, said in the firm’s “2025 Annual Risk Report.”
“While some risks are unavoidable, early notice and swift action through a combination of planning, deep monitoring, and mitigation can save inventory and lives in 2025,” Rhodes said.
In its report, Everstream ranked the five categories by a “risk score metric” to help global supply chain leaders prioritize planning and mitigation efforts for coping with them. They include:
Drowning in Climate Change – 90% Risk Score. Driven by shifting climate patterns and record-high temperatures, extreme weather events are a dominant risk to the supply chain due to concerns such as flooding and elevated ocean temperatures.
Geopolitical Instability with Increased Tariff Risk – 80% Risk Score. These threats could disrupt trade networks and impact economies worldwide, including logistics, transportation, and manufacturing industries. The following major geopolitical events are likely to impact global trade: Red Sea disruptions, Russia-Ukraine conflict, Taiwan trade risks, Middle East tensions, South China Sea disputes, and proposed tariff increases.
More Backdoors for Cybercrime – 75% Risk Score. Supply chain leaders face escalating cybersecurity risks in 2025, driven by the growing reliance on AI and cloud computing within supply chains, the proliferation of IoT-connected devices, vulnerabilities in sub-tier supply chains, and a disproportionate impact on third-party logistics providers (3PLs) and the electronics industry.
Rare Metals and Minerals on Lockdown – 65% Risk Score. Between rising regulations, new tariffs, and long-term or exclusive contracts, rare minerals and metals will be harder than ever, and more expensive, to obtain.
Crackdown on Forced Labor – 60% Risk Score. A growing crackdown on forced labor across industries will increase pressure on companies who are facing scrutiny to manage and eliminate suppliers violating human rights. Anticipated risks in 2025 include a push for alternative suppliers, a cascade of legislation to address lax forced labor issues, challenges for agri-food products such as palm oil and vanilla.
That number is low compared to widespread unemployment in the transportation sector which reached its highest level during the COVID-19 pandemic at 15.7% in both May 2020 and July 2020. But it is slightly above the most recent pre-pandemic rate for the sector, which was 2.8% in December 2019, the BTS said.
For broader context, the nation’s overall unemployment rate for all sectors rose slightly in December, increasing 0.3 percentage points from December 2023 to 3.8%.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, employment in the transportation and warehousing sector rose to 6,630,200 people in December 2024 — up 0.1% from the previous month and up 1.7% from December 2023. Employment in transportation and warehousing grew 15.1% in December 2024 from the pre-pandemic December 2019 level of 5,760,300 people.
The largest portion of those workers was in warehousing and storage, followed by truck transportation, according to a breakout of the total figures into separate modes (seasonally adjusted):
Warehousing and storage rose to 1,770,300 in December 2024 — up 0.1% from the previous month and up 0.2% from December 2023.
Truck transportation fell to 1,545,900 in December 2024 — down 0.1% from the previous month and down 0.4% from December 2023.
Air transportation rose to 578,000 in December 2024 — up 0.4% from the previous month and up 1.4% from December 2023.
Transit and ground passenger transportation rose to 456,000 in December 2024 — up 0.3% from the previous month and up 5.7% from December 2023.
Rail transportation remained virtually unchanged in December 2024 at 150,300 from the previous month but down 1.8% from December 2023.
Water transportation rose to 74,300 in December 2024 — up 0.1% from the previous month and up 4.8% from December 2023.
Pipeline transportation rose to 55,000 in December 2024 — up 0.5% from the previous month and up 6.2% from December 2023.
Parcel carrier and logistics provider UPS Inc. has acquired the German company Frigo-Trans and its sister company BPL, which provide complex healthcare logistics solutions across Europe, the Atlanta-based firm said this week.
According to UPS, the move extends its UPS Healthcare division’s ability to offer end-to-end capabilities for its customers, who increasingly need temperature-controlled and time-critical logistics solutions globally.
UPS Healthcare has 17 million square feet of cGMP and GDP-compliant healthcare distribution space globally, supporting services such as inventory management, cold chain packaging and shipping, storage and fulfillment of medical devices, and lab and clinical trial logistics.
More specifically, UPS Healthcare said that the acquisitions align with its broader mission to provide end-to-end logistics for temperature-sensitive healthcare products, including biologics, specialty pharmaceuticals, and personalized medicine. With 80% of pharmaceutical products in Europe requiring temperature-controlled transportation, investments like these ensure UPS Healthcare remains at the forefront of innovation in the $82 billion complex healthcare logistics market, the company said.
Additionally, Frigo-Trans' presence in Germany—the world's fourth-largest healthcare manufacturing market—strengthens UPS's foothold and enhances its support for critical intra-Germany operations. Frigo-Trans’ network includes temperature-controlled warehousing ranging from cryopreservation (-196°C) to ambient (+15° to +25°C) as well as Pan-European cold chain transportation. And BPL provides logistics solutions including time-critical freight forwarding capabilities.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But it fits into UPS' long term strategy to double its healthcare revenue from $10 billion in 2023 to $20 billion by 2026. To get there, it has also made previous acquisitions of companies like Bomi and MNX. And UPS recently expanded its temperature-controlled fleet in France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Hungary.
"Healthcare customers increasingly demand precision, reliability, and adaptability—qualities that are critical for the future of biologics and personalized medicine. The Frigo-Trans and BPL acquisitions allow us to offer unmatched service across Europe, making logistics a competitive advantage for our pharma partners," says John Bolla, President, UPS Healthcare.
The supply chain risk management firm Overhaul has landed $55 million in backing, saying the financing will fuel its advancements in artificial intelligence and support its strategic acquisition roadmap.
The equity funding round comes from the private equity firm Springcoast Partners, with follow-on participation from existing investors Edison Partners and Americo. As part of the investment, Springcoast’s Chris Dederick and Holger Staude will join Overhaul’s board of directors.
According to Austin, Texas-based Overhaul, the money comes as macroeconomic and global trade dynamics are driving consequential transformations in supply chains. That makes cargo visibility and proactive risk management essential tools as shippers manage new routes and suppliers.
“The supply chain technology space will see significant consolidation over the next 12 to 24 months,” Barry Conlon, CEO of Overhaul, said in a release. “Overhaul is well-positioned to establish itself as the ultimate integrated solution, delivering a comprehensive suite of tools for supply chain risk management, efficiency, and visibility under a single trusted platform.”
Shippers today are praising an 11th-hour contract agreement that has averted the threat of a strike by dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports that could have frozen container imports and exports as soon as January 16.
The agreement came late last night between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) representing some 45,000 workers and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) that includes the operators of port facilities up and down the coast.
Details of the new agreement on those issues have not yet been made public, but in the meantime, retailers and manufacturers are heaving sighs of relief that trade flows will continue.
“Providing certainty with a new contract and avoiding further disruptions is paramount to ensure retail goods arrive in a timely manner for consumers. The agreement will also pave the way for much-needed modernization efforts, which are essential for future growth at these ports and the overall resiliency of our nation’s supply chain,” Gold said.
The next step in the process is for both sides to ratify the tentative agreement, so negotiators have agreed to keep those details private in the meantime, according to identical statements released by the ILA and the USMX. In their joint statement, the groups called the six-year deal a “win-win,” saying: “This agreement protects current ILA jobs and establishes a framework for implementing technologies that will create more jobs while modernizing East and Gulf coasts ports – making them safer and more efficient, and creating the capacity they need to keep our supply chains strong. This is a win-win agreement that creates ILA jobs, supports American consumers and businesses, and keeps the American economy the key hub of the global marketplace.”
The breakthrough hints at broader supply chain trends, which will focus on the tension between operational efficiency and workforce job protection, not just at ports but across other sectors as well, according to a statement from Judah Levine, head of research at Freightos, a freight booking and payment platform. Port automation was the major sticking point leading up to this agreement, as the USMX pushed for technologies to make ports more efficient, while the ILA opposed automation or semi-automation that could threaten jobs.
"This is a six-year détente in the tech-versus-labor tug-of-war at U.S. ports," Levine said. “Automation remains a lightning rod—and likely one we’ll see in other industries—but this deal suggests a cautious path forward."
Editor's note: This story was revised on January 9 to include additional input from the ILA, USMX, and Freightos.