It’s Peak Cargo Season – Are You Ready for the Holidays?

Cargo Shipping and the Holidays

Typically, the busiest time in the U.S. shipping industry runs from July through October. The reason why is because this is when retail, wholesale, and manufacturing companies are working like crazy to meet consumer demand for products ahead of the year-end holiday buying season.

That’s typical. But these days, there’s nothing typical about what’s happening in shipping. 

For example, according to a recent article in Supply Chain Dive, June 2021 was the busiest June in the 114-year history of the Port of Los Angeles.

What is the Reason for Port Congestion?

In part this is due to backups on container shipping deliveries … caused by labor shortages … prompted by regulatory restrictions … brought on by the world’s response to the pandemic. 

That’s right. The slow shipping caused by the pandemic’s far-flung ripple effect has made global supply chains shudder, and order delays are commonplace. 

But supply chains shouldn’t have to care about pandemics. Supply chains want to be streamlined and fluid – as much as possible anyway. International shipping delays wreak havoc on the way supply chains are expected to operate. 

So how, amidst all the chaos and disruption that’s tossing about the global shipping industry, can your company even begin to cope? 

We call it “right sizing.” That means leveraging modern “ecosystem integration” technology to sense and respond to market disruption so you can team up with the right partners in your ecosystem and work in a dynamic fashion to move the things you need to move. 

With an ecosystem integration platform like Cleo Integration Cloud you can get immediate uplift in your business because you’re in control, meaning you can confidently make the strategic decisions you must to outsmart disruption and create positive outcomes even from a potentially negative situation. 

Take the major retailers.

Those who’ve already adopted ecosystem integration are already strategically circumventing port congestion by right-sizing their ecosystems.

One big box company whose name begins with W, for example, has opportunistically changed up its method of importing in 2021. Instead of having most everything purchased from manufacturers in Asia come into the U.S. via the Port of Los Angeles, they’ve selected shipping partners who can deliver through alternative ports, into states such as Georgia on the Gulf coast, or South Carolina on the Atlantic side.

It’s not only brilliant, it also keeps myriad stakeholders happy and strengthens business relationships when you can rise to the occasion seemingly against all odds.

And that helps drive revenue velocity. 

Let’s face it. Consumer demand isn’t going to let up this coming holiday season, and retailers and manufacturers don’t want to be out of stock for the things people want. In this sense, ecosystem integration technology is the responsible choice if you want to deliver the best customer experience possible. 

Here at Cleo, we’ve grown accustomed to helping our 4,000+ customers combat disruption. And with the Delta variant and a new round of pure pandemic pandemonium predicted, with the 2021 holidays already looming, it’s good to know you still have time.

If you have the right integration technology in place to outsmart disruption, ensure supply chain agility and visibility, and start right-sizing right now, you can positively impact your business, deliver on customer expectations, and not miss a beat. 

Time, however, may be running out. To experience a demo of the Cleo Integration Cloud platform, contact Cleo today. 
 

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