Katrina's Legacy
Hurricane relief transportation effort is confused and ineffective. Trucking should coordinate it.
Deborah Whistler
Editor
As is always the case in times of disaster, all segments of the trucking industry rallied to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina in any way they could.
But that help was slow to reach the people who mattered. Some of it never did reach them.
The day after the wind and rain stopped, offers to transport supplies to the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast began pouring in from trucking companies.
The problem wasn't collecting the supplies, or arranging the transportation. It was finding someone in charge who could coordinate the effort. It was clear from the start: Government officials were ill-equipped to handle the influx of trucks and supplies.
Just two days after the hurricane, our company CEO called. He had friends who had collected a trailerload of supplies. He asked if we could find a truck to haul it. I called Dave Berry, vice president at Swift Transportation, to see if he could help.
He was already trying. He had 180 trucks, loaded with vital supplies like water, staged in various states awaiting instructions on how to get their loads to the victims. FEMA, he said, was telling truckers thanks, but no thanks; they didn't have the ability to coordinate the trucks. So there they sat.
Swift's effort was just one of many. Fleets from all over the country were donating services to the cause. But their efforts were frustrated because the authorities couldn't figure out how to get it done. An ATA executive told us a FEMA employee hung up on him when he tried to help coordinate trucking relief efforts.
So it became quickly obvious that the country was not prepared to handle a natural disaster of this magnitude. The coordination of trucking should have been addressed as a critical element in the relief effort, right up there with rescuing victims. It wasn't.
People with little or no experience coordinating freight movement were trying to learn under the heaviest of fire. Coordinating the logistics of thousands of trucks takes experience –<\!s>experience the trucking industry has.
The industry is loaded with astute logistics planners. Imagine how an early call to ATA to muster forces could have eliminated bumper-to-bumper truck traffic into the hardest-hit areas.
Trucks will be needed not only to haul supplies to victims, but to aid in the cleanup. There needs to be a better way for trucking to be utilized in this and future efforts.
As officials seek information on how better to plan for future emergencies, let's hope they consult with truck transportation specialists. I'm sure they would find them eager to help.
This magazine is currently collecting information on trucking's involvement in hurricane relief. A major feature acknowledging the Herculean efforts of every segment of the industry to lend a hand will appear in the November issue.
Please e-mail me about your experiences, so we can include them.
For now, we salute you all for your patience and your service.
E-mail Deb Whistler at dwhistler@truckinginfo.com
