The Amazon Effect on Freight Transportation Discussed at FTR Conference
A panel discussion at the FTR Conference tackles the Amazon effect, with FTR’s Eric Starks (left) moderating. Photo: Evan Lockridge
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A panel discussion at the FTR Conference tackles the Amazon effect, with FTR’s Eric Starks (left) moderating. Photo: Evan Lockridge
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Talk about how the company Amazon is changing the future of freight transportation kicked off the final day of the FTR Transportation Conference in Indianapolis on Wednesday with a panel that included two truck fleet representatives.
There is little doubt the company that offers everything from books to bananas is changing the landscape for logistics providers, said Matt Parry, senior vice president of logistics, Werner Enterprises. He noted Amazon is forcing logistics providers to choose a niche so they can survive the future.
The panel also touched on the subject of how Amazon has changed inventory management. Paul Will, senior executive consultant for Celadon Trucking Services, noted that Amazon has greatly decreased the amount of time between the time a customer orders and product and arriving on their doorstep.
“You really think about what happens now from the standpoint of logistics and supply chain. Now you need these massive distribution centers when you are trying to get merchandise to people in just two days,” he said.
In other words, how will the freight transportation industry get merchandise to people who want it practically immediately, including in a matter of hours, not days?
He also pointed out that trucking companies will be challenged with delivering products as their customers have increasingly different ways to interact with consumers through omnichannel retailing.
“The Amazon effect is our expectations are so much greater now to get stuff,” Will said. This includes customers demanding cheap to no cost shipping, and shippers having to figure out where the product is coming from and how it is tracked, all of which will make for rapid changes in the trucking and logistics sectors.
Both Parry and Will said Amazon has also upended so-called final mile deliveries, …Read the rest of this story
