This fireside chat recap is from Day 6 of FreightWaves’ Global Supply Chain Week. Day 6 focuses on global maritime logistics.
FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: How weather impacts supply chains
DETAILS: 2020 was a record year for weather disasters in the United States and shipping activity was impacted by those disasters. How do shippers navigate extreme weather events, especially as a changing climate moves to make disasters a more regular occurrence?
SPEAKER: Korby Keeney, vice president of shipping and operations at Irby Co., an electrical distributor for the utility sector
BIO: At Irby Co., Keeney develops strategic business plans pertaining to the utility market trends. Prior to his current role, Keeney was a national sales manager of project services with Irby. In this capacity, he led the single largest sales event in company history — 210 miles of 345-kilovolt double-circuit transmission line.
KEY QUOTES FROM KEENEY:
“Utilities can’t build infrastructure and bill their customers if they don’t have material, and it has been a crazy, crazy year. The panhandle of Texas is not quite as bad as the coast, but everything that happens across the country, that is a detriment to material supply, really affects everybody.”
“If we knew what [weather] was ahead of us and could change that route or change that load or bring it from another branch, because we are located all over the country, it would be a huge advantage for us.”
“We meet with [customers] regularly on their logistics plans. We tell them how we can participate. When you get a hurricane, when you have so many customers affected, the reason they’re affected is downed power lines. They need material and they need a way to get it there quickly. That’s where we come in.”
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