U.S. supply chain pilot project starts exchanging data

The U.S. Transportation Department said on Wednesday a supply chain pilot data-sharing project aimed at easing bottlenecks at congested U.S. ports has begun exchanging data and doubled in size.

In March, the USDOT announced a digital tool that will give companies information about the condition of a node or region in the supply chain. The Freight Logistics Optimization Works FLOW program was comprised 18 initial participants including FedEx, UPS, C.H Robinson, Albertsons, Target and the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and ocean carriers CMA CGM and MSC and Fenix Marine Terminal and Global Container Terminals.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called the program a first-of-its-kind initiative to share information and help move goods more quickly and cheaply. The White House said in March that the goal was to create a proof of-of- concept freight information exchange by the end of the summer. The department is holding a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the initial secure data sharing with USDOT of the group that has now expanded to 36 participants including logistics giant DHL, part of Deutsche Post DHL Group, long-haul trucker J.B. Hunt, Maersk, Samsung, Procter Gamble and Prologis.

USDOT said it is serving as an independent steward of supply chain data across a largely privately-owned enterprise that includes shipping lines, ports, terminal operators, truckers, railroads, warehouses, and beneficial cargo owners. KS Choi, the CEO of Samsung Electronics North America, said data sharing is a work in progress but it remains incomplete. It will require cooperation with many stakeholders across the supply chain to fix this problem. On Monday, the National Retail Federation NRF said imports at major U.S. container ports are expected to slow significantly for the remainder of the year, but 2022 should still see a net gain over 2021.

Lower volumes may help ease congestion at some ports, but other ports are still seeing backups and global supply chain challenges are far from over, according to the NRF.