Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, purchasing, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more.
       Topics covered: S&OP, inventory/requirements planning, technology integration, DC/warehouse management, etc.
       Topics covered include supplier relationships, payments and contracts, risk management, sustainability and ethics, trade and tariffs, and more.
       Topics covered include the last mile, shipper-carrier relationships, and trends in rail, sea, air, road and parcel delivery.
       Operation BBQ Relief brought in volunteer drivers from across the country to deliver much-needed food in the aftermath of the storm.
       The day after Hurricane Ian fatally hit Florida on September 28, Joe Milley was driving a truckload of five huge smokers and a dryer full of cooking utensils, heading to downtown Port Charlotte in Charlotte County.
        The 55-year-old truck driver said rescuers who were on a boat to rescue people stuck in their homes blocked the highway exit. Mayerly traveled dangerous roads from the Georgia border staging area to deliver essential supplies in the aftermath of a Category 4 hurricane.
       ”The first four or five days it was an obstacle course,” says Millie, who lives in Hagerstown, Maryland.
       Myerley was part of Operation BBQ Relief, a non-profit disaster relief organization volunteer team that he helped create and operate a free food distribution site designed to distribute at least a million hot meals to post-storm Florida residents in need. Hearty Lunches and Dinners.
        Since its founding in 2011, the nonprofit has relied on truckers like Mayerly to distribute food after natural disasters. But the extra push for the trucking industry since Hurricane Ian is supporting the group’s biggest response to date.
        The Logistics Assistance Network of America, a transportation industry non-profit founded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, provided transportation, refrigerated food storage trailers, and other free assistance. Operation BBQ Relief officials said the aid proved critical to the site’s ability to serve 60,000 to 80,000 meals a day.
       “They have been a godsend for us,” said Chris Hudgens, director of logistics and transportation for BBQ Relief Operations.
        On September 30, flooding closed Interstate 75, temporarily delaying Mayerly in Florida while the distribution point was being installed. As soon as the highway reopened, he left again to pick up pallets full of canned vegetables, food containers, and more from Texas, South Carolina, and Georgia.
       Just last week, the nonprofit purchased green beans from Wisconsin, mixed greens from Virginia, bread from Nebraska and Kentucky, and beef brisket from Arizona, Hudgens said.
        Hudgens, who lives in Dallas, works as a freight broker by day. But as Director of Logistics and Transportation for Operation BBQ Relief, he shifted his focus from building materials to food and groceries.
        “I have products that we buy from suppliers all over the country and that the suppliers donate to us,” he said. “Sometimes [during] these natural disasters, our transportation costs can exceed $150,000.”
        This is where the American Logistics Assistance Network and its CEO Cathy Fulton come to the rescue. Together, Huggins and Fulton coordinate the shipments to be sent, and Fulton works with network partners to deliver the shipments to Operation BBQ Relief for free.
       Fulton said Operation BBQ Relief and other nonprofits are reaching out to America’s Logistics Assistance Network in different ways, but by far the biggest request is for delivery, from LTL to truckloads.
       “We’re right in the middle between all the different groups, and we’re helping get information and resources to where they need them, and trying to build bridges so the web can exist without us,” Fulton said.
       In addition to working with the trucking industry, Operation BBQ Relief is partnering with Texas-based nonprofit Operation AirDrop to deliver food to Fort Myers, Sanibel Island, and other flood-cut areas.
        “We ship food to a lot of different counties,” said Operation BBQ Relief chief Joey Rusek. “We moved about 20,000 meals with them in three days.”
       With more than half of Charlotte County’s residents without power, cars lined up for free BBQ Relief meals, Charlotte County spokesman Brian Gleason said.
        “These guys never had a hot meal unless they cooked it on their grill, if it was from last week,” Gleason said. “The food in their freezer has gone bad for a long time… It’s a really great program and the timing couldn’t be better because people are really struggling.”
       On Friday morning, in the back of his trailer, Myerley jacked up his last batch of canned Del Monte green beans and slowly moved them toward the waiting forklift of fellow volunteer Forrest Parks.
       That night, he was on the road again, heading to Alabama to meet another driver and pick up a shipment of corn.
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