by logisticsplus | Mar 19, 2020 | News
Covid-19: Tips for Shippers & Consignees
As a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, many truck drivers are finding that it’s increasingly difficult to deliver freight. Some drivers are being denied into buildings, some are being required to fill out extra forms and bills are being left in the back of trailers. Listed below are 9 tips for keeping your loading docks healthy. (Click the banner or thumbnail image below to download a PDF copy of these tips)
1) Ask Drivers and Dock Personnel to maintain the practice of “Social Distancing” and stand 6-10 feet away when interacting.
2) Make hand sanitizer, hand washing stations, disposable face masks, clean and unused pens readily available to drivers and dock personnel.
3) Limit loading and offloading, sort & segregation, routine inspection and count, and other dock activities to your own shipping/receiving personnel to avoid having drivers spend any unnecessary time on the dock.
4) Shippers – provide pre-signed copies of BOL’s and shipping docs on the freight, or in the back of the loaded trailer to limit interaction with driver.
5) Consignees – request that the driver themselves record the exact time of delivery, note any exceptions and obtain the name of the person who is accepting the freight. If a copy of the delivery receipt is required, request the driver leave a copy on top of the freight.
6) Many larger carriers have implemented their own forms of social distancing and rules of interaction for their drivers. Please be understanding and respectful of new policies drivers may be instructed to follow by their management.
7) Many shippers and consignees are asking drivers to stay in their trucks and stay out of buildings completely. This is a good way to help avoid contact all together. However…
8) Please consider that many regions have closed rest areas, public restrooms, restaurants, dining rooms, etc. Drivers need access to clean bathrooms and hand washing facilities now more than ever. Please help make sanitary basic restroom facilities accessible either inside your facility or by providing external port-a-potties and portable hand washing stations. The drivers that are serving you will appreciate it!!!!
9) Check the CDC website for updates: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/
To read more updates and FAQ’s, including what Logistics Plus is doing to assist our customers during this pandemic, click here.
by logisticsplus | Mar 19, 2020 | News
Yesterday WJET-TV stopped by the Logistics Plus global headquarters to interview founder & CEO, Jim Berlin, regarding COVID-19 virus challenges and how the company is getting creative to help its customers. You can watch the TV segments below; or view and read more online here: https://www.yourerie.com/news/local-news/covid-19-hurting-businesses/
by logisticsplus | Mar 16, 2020 | News
March 16, 2020
To All,
Logistics Plus continues to closely monitor daily developments related to the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Our team is focused on the wellness and safety of our employees, customers, and partners, and we will continue to provide relevant, appropriate updates as appropriate.
The safety of our employees and their families continues to be our highest priority. We recognize this situation remains very fluid. Our official policy is “steady as she goes” as we take this day-by-day, customer-by-customer, and person-by-person to get the job done – no matter what obstacles we encounter.
Logistics Plus and its 50+ offices worldwide remain fully operational and continue to service all our global and domestic customers while adhering to government and health regulations.
Our people, technology, and experience enable us to continue to support our network of customers and carriers worldwide. All our locations have business continuity plans and strategies to allow our employees to work remotely as the need arises.
We will continue to monitor global supply chains’ impacts and provide updates through our website and social media platforms.
Logistics Plus remains the company with a total Passion for Excellence™. Our global experts will continue to put the “plus” in logistics by doing the big things properly and the countless little things that together ensure complete customer satisfaction and success – even during these difficult times.
Upward and onward!
Sincerely,
Your Logistics Plus Team
contactus@logisticsplus.com
by logisticsplus | Mar 13, 2020 | News
Jim Berlin was interviewed earlier this week about COVID-19 by Jim Martin, of Erie Times-News. That interviewed appeared in yesterday’s local newspaper, which you can read here. You can subscribe to Erie Times-News here.
by logisticsplus | Mar 13, 2020 | News
Dear Logistics Plus Linguistic Solutions (LPLS) Clients,
Due to the current climate surrounding the COVID-19 (Coronavirus). Logistics Plus Linguistic Solutions has taken the following measures to ensure both public health and community wellness.
- All LPLS staff are undergoing COVID19 training with the Erie County Health Department. This will allow all staff members to be properly educated on early symptom detection and reporting.
- LPLS has extended usage of VRI (Video Remote Interpreting) and OPI (Over the Phone Interpretation) for all clients. While it is still our preference for in-person services, in the event this is no longer plausible LPLS has multiple options available to avoid any disruption in service.
- LPLS has simplified our translation costs to allow clients to provide up-to-date information to their consumers. Please send me an email directly to update relevant service agreements to reflect these changes.
- LPLS can provide linguistic support in the event your company decides to establish a questionnaire phone number for consumers. Please email me directly to set up the technological guidelines.
- LPLS is currently recording Public Service Announcements, in both audio and video to provide up-to-date information to consumers. Please send me an email directly to update relevant service agreements to reflect these changes.
I also ask, in the event of an emergency you please reach out to me directly. I will be available to you 24/7/365.
V/R,
Matthew D. Reichert, Esq.
Manager of Operations
Logistics Plus Linguistic Solutions
matthew.reichert@lplinguisticsolutions.com
Office: (814) 464-1700
Fax: (814) 286-6995
Toll-Free: (855) 318-6348
by logisticsplus | Mar 13, 2020 | News
Here are some FAQ coronavirus (COVID-19) updates from the Logistics Plus team:
Are customers worried more now with the possibility of goods from Europe being banned? What would the scenario look like?
Yes, Logistics Plus customers are definitely very worried, and some companies are affected more than others. Here is what we have been sharing with customers that are worried about the EU ban specifically: “The restriction stops people not goods,” as President Trump later noted on Twitter.
We are working with most of our customers on different contingency plans. This includes setting up emergency warehouses and helping our customers set up infrastructure for their employees to work from home. We are also reserving capacity for their shipments, working with carriers, consolidations, exploring full charter options and providing the visibility to affected areas and shipments.
What industries would be impacted the most?
All industries seem to be affected in one manner or another. We have an open poll to our customers right now and almost all respondents are indicating their supply chains are moderately affected so far, while 20% indicate they are severely impacted.
To assist some of our strategic customers, our Business Intelligence team is rapidly developing specific reports and dashboards to help them assess which of their shipments have been impacted so that we can help them develop contingency plans (see example below).
For the benefit of all our customers, we have also released a live, real-time dashboard (piggy-backed off data from John Hopkins Center) providing all of our eShipPlus domestic TMS users and our global MyLogisticsPlus portal users with a live view of the areas most affected by the pandemic (see example below).
Are there any examples of what Logistics Plus is doing to help its customers through this pandemic?
Yes, one example is the help we are providing a global financial client (a Fortune 50 company and one of the top hedge funds in the world) that is suffering from an immediate backlog of orders for equipment so that its employees can work remotely. To assist, Logistics Plus dispatched a half dozen cross-functional employees to the client’s warehouses in Chicago and New Jersey to work over the weekend helping them pick, pack and ship the critical equipment needed for the financial company’s employees to effectively work from home.
Other things that Logistics Plus is doing in support of our customers’ contingency plans:
- Setting up emergency warehouses- if LA shuts down then we have New Jersey, if not New Jersey then Chicago, if not Chicago then Erie (you get the idea; we have the ability to adapt at a moment’s notice).
- Working on setting up infrastructure that allows our customers’ workforce to effectively work from home for an extended period of time.
- Logistics Plus is not just helping companies move their freight; we are helping them stay OPERATIONAL. Many of the equipment and shipments we are coordinating are very critical to their operations.
- Logistics Plus is a SOLUTIONS company. Rather than telling people what ports or airports are closed (this is what other logistics companies are doing), we focus on telling our customers what is open. Example: if a customer’s freight can’t fly out of Italy, let’s move it on a truck to France, Switzerland, etc. and ship it from there.
- We are actively engaging our customers to provide supply chain analysis, reporting, and business intelligence features such as interactive dashboards that allow our customers to view visual representations of their global supply chain (as noted above).
Any predictions on the economy? How should companies prepare for this ongoing supply chain disruption?
We are not in position to make any predictions yet. This is a very fluid environment right now, and at the moment, we are squarely focused on solving many of the big, more immediate supply chain problems our customers our currently facing. Here is our advice to shippers:
- Monitor the news closely. If coronavirus has not impacted your supply chain dramatically, assume that it could and begin preparing contingency plans for employees, suppliers and customers.
- Set priorities. If capacity is limited, there will need to be rules for which products should be manufactured and which customers should be supplied first.
- Review suppliers. What does current inventory look like? Who makes critical parts and components? Are there alternative sources or suppliers in other countries?
- Maximize cash flow. In the event coronavirus has an extended impact on the economy, tighten cash flows and account receivables process; and focus sales to start identifying new opportunities for the pipeline.
- Maintain communications. If you have foreign offices, maintain dialog with federal and local authorities, as well as other employees and partners on the ground in impacted countries.
- Get creative. With many international trade lanes facing shutdowns and delays, look for alternative shipping modes and trade routes to get needed product from impacted countries to production facilities.
- Position yourself for the recovery. Work with air and ocean freight companies to secure first-available capacity once things recover and trade lanes return to normal operations.
- Seek third-party assistance. Find a knowledgeable and capable third-party logistics partner that has global operations and connections, like Logistics Plus, who can help support all of the items above.
Need some additional help? Contact us.
