Knowing ALAN

Knowing ALAN Logistics industry pulls together network offering capacity, expertise for disaster relief.

By Chris Gillis

   Jock Menzies, chairman of The Terminal Corp. in Baltimore, remembers the frustration he felt in September 2003 watching the Central Maryland Chapter of the Red Cross, which he chaired at the time, struggle to find transportation and other logistics-related items to assist Maryland’s storm-ravaged communities.
   Hurricane Isabel left many people homeless and without basic necessities. Goods moved quickly into the impacted area. But logistics support, including transportation, warehouse space, materials handling equipment and the appropriate staff to support the disaster zone’s needs, were sorely lacking.
   ‘It’s not that the resources weren’t available. It was just difficult to tap its availability in an emergency situation,’ Menzies said in an interview. ‘We should have had a network to provide these types of services ahead of time.’

Menzies

   Menzies sought to find a remedy to the lack of private sector disaster response coordination and support within the transportation and logistics industry. He first reached out to his colleagues in the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) and quickly found a cadre of executives who shared his frustration and wanted to do something about it.
   ‘The recovery rate of supply chains after an extreme event often defines the magnitude of a disaster,’ Menzies said. ‘Avoiding long-term economic and demographic trauma requires the engagement of the authority, resources, structures and capacities from the government, non-profit and private sectors.’
   Menzies said relief work is often complicated by ‘mix-matched’ supply chains. For example, a meal served by the Red Cross may have been prepared by Baptist Relief Services with Feeding America providing the food delivered via logistics support from Adventist Community Services and water provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. ‘Some of these relationships will be longstanding while others are ad-hoc arrangements,’ he explained.

Blasgen

   However, it would take two years and another devastating storm to solidify the logistics industry’s collective response to future natural disasters. In late August 2005 Hurricane Katrina, labeled the fifth-worst in recorded U.S. history, pounded the U.S. Gulf, leveling and flooding numerous coastal communities, including New Orleans. Despite the outpouring of aid from countless Americans and overseas sources to relief groups on the ground, the aftermath of the storm was punctuated by numerous logistics breakdowns.
   ‘The logistics industry was embarrassed and angry,’ said Rick Blasgen, CSCMP’s president and chief executive officer, reflecting on the unintended communication barriers between freight transporters and relief agencies during the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
   At the CSCMP’s 2005 annual conference in San Diego later that year, the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN) was born. ‘If not us, then who will? As logisticians, that’s what we do and we’re transparent about it,’ Blasgen said.

Central Point. ALAN serves as central point of industry contact for disaster relief support. To do this, ALAN’s founders developed a Web portal (www.ALANaid.org), based on National Donations Management Network technology, which allows emergency response agencies and relief organizations at local, state and national levels to post specific needs including on-the-ground contact information for the agency.
   With this information, shippers and transportation and logistics services providers are able to step forward to offer supply chain expertise, products, equipment and services, such as transportation, warehousing, and materials handling, for the disaster.
   While many large corporations have established channels to participate in domestic humanitarian efforts, ‘ALAN provides an outlet for organizations who may not have otherwise participated in relief efforts. We’re able to do this on a virtual basis, matching discrete needs with discrete capacity,’ said Menzies, who now serves as ALAN’s president.
   ALAN’s developers also believe the portal provides a level of comfort to industry participants because it vets the legitimacy of those relief organizations seeking the industry’s transportation and logistics support.
   In addition to CSCMP, the network’s membership encompasses 18 industry associations, including the American Trucking Associations, Grocery Manufacturers Association, International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses, International Refrigerated Transportation Association, Material Handling Equipment Distributors of America, International Warehouse Logistics Association, and World Food Logistics Organization, as well as individual service providers, manufacturers, retailers, distributors, academics and consultants. ‘We now have a lot of people who understand ALAN and are willing to participate,’ Blasgen said.
   ‘We’re committed to be a part of ALAN and we believe in what it can do,’ Alex Stark, director of marketing for Kane Is Able, told American Shipper. The Scranton, Pa.-based trucking company, with about 1,200 employees nationwide, has helped numerous local and national charities, including the Red Cross, Race for the Cure, Light the Night, and area food pantries.
   Kane Is Able supplied tractor-trailers to help in the relief effort after Hurricane Katrina and most recently delivered truckloads of bottled water to flood victims in Nashville, Tenn. ‘We’re always ready to go to any areas where we can offer assistance,’ Stark said.

Expertise Recognized. While the outpouring of aid is welcome, the failure to move it efficiently could quickly lead to a ‘disaster within a disaster,’ said James McGowan, special projects manager for the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD), a national coordinating body for major community and faith-based disaster response organizations. ‘Physical product requires a lot more money to handle, receive, and sort than just receiving cash donations.’
   McGowan said efficient access to freight transportation has always been a complicated process for NVOAD’s members. ‘We would have to call around to seek donated transportation,’ he said.
   NVOAD started engaging ALAN two years ago. ‘ALAN offers one touch point,’ McGowan said.
   On July 1, NVOAD recognized ALAN as its 2010 Partner of the Year. ‘Our selection of the American Logistics Aid Network highlights the importance of the business supply chain community to relief agencies in times of need,’ said NVOAD Executive Director Diana Rothe-Smith, in a statement.
   McGowan said one of the other big challenges for aid groups is securing long-term recovery support. ‘There are still people in need long after a disaster strikes and agencies are still helping them. ALAN could assist us with this ongoing outreach,’ he said.
   ALAN recently engaged a FEMA-funded study to encourage regional catastrophic preparedness in each of the agency’s 10 regions. The network’s focus was on FEMA’s Region 3, which encompasses Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia.
   ‘With the exception of municipal water supplies and emergency shelters, the top priority supply chains are owned and operated primarily by the private sector,’ FEMA said. ‘Food, pharmaceuticals, and essential medical care each represent complex and sometimes overlapping supply chains.’
   For the study, ALAN was able to bring together a range of supply chain experts from the Mid-Atlantic region, including Safeway, Pfizer, PEPCO, University of Maryland Medical Center and Shock Trauma Center.
   ALAN has served as a useful tool in helping aid groups move tons of supplies to disaster areas overseas. One of the most recent initiatives was identifying logistics and transportation services for tons of relief goods headed to Haiti after the massive Jan. 12 earthquake there left 2 million people homeless and 3 million in need of emergency aid.
   The U.S. Agency for International Development’s invitation for ALAN to participate on a transportation committee led to the identification of shipping alternatives for Haiti relief agencies. For example, when Global Links required transport for donated medical equipment from Pennsylvania to Florida for onward shipment to Haiti, a connection to Pittsburgh-based GENCO Supply Chain Solutions, a third-party logistics firm, was established to meet the need.
   The Haiti earthquake also brought the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in contact with ALAN. PAHO, the Americas regional offices for the World Health Organization, operates an information technology system to manage humanitarian supplies that arrive at the entry point, in addition to supplies that are in the warehouses.
   ‘It is extremely important that aid groups understand transportation and logistics. Especially with Haiti, logistics was one of the main constraints for aid delivery,’ said Nicolas Lagomarsino, a PAHO project officer for emergency preparedness and disaster relief. ‘Logistics should be understood not only as communications and transportation, but also provision of shelter, food, etc., to aid groups.’
   PAHO is developing its own internal logistics capacity through training and recruitment of professional logisticians, Lagomarsino said.

Voluntary Support. ALAN’s future continues to depend on the voluntary support of its industry members. Companies routinely provide financial and human resources to the network. Menzies estimates that ALAN has raised about $100,000 since its inception, with CSCMP voluntarily providing its accounting services to the non-profit.
      ALAN plans to further upgrade its Web portal functions. In June, 3PL services provider Saddle Creek Corp. donated the time of one of its IT specialists, Kathy Fulton, to the organization.
   Starting July 1, Fulton, Saddle Creek’s senior manager of technical services, will serve a one-year term as director of operations for ALAN. She is responsible for strengthening ALAN’s technology platform, refining many aspects of the network’s operations, and helping build organization awareness. Fulton has worked with ALAN on a voluntary basis since 2005 and was instrumental in the deployment of the Web portal.
   ‘Her wealth of knowledge and passion for ALAN will play a critical role in taking our organization to the next level and helping our humanitarian relief efforts to have an even greater impact,’ Menzies said. ‘This is a significant financial commitment, and we’re very grateful to Saddle Creek for this valuable resource.’

      ‘ALAN is offering a much-needed service for our industry ‘ bringing together organizations throughout the supply chain for the common good,’ said Cliff Otto, Saddle Creek’s president and an ALAN officer. ‘Our corporate culture places significant emphasis on giving back to the community, so this is a natural fit for Saddle Creek.’