Preparing for Hurricane Season: Protecting Your Time-Sensitive and Perishable Shipments

The Atlantic hurricane season presents unique challenges for businesses shipping time-sensitive deliveries and transporting perishable goods. Delays or disruptions caused by complications from severe weather can have immediate and significant consequences – spoiled inventory, missed critical deadlines, and dissatisfied customers. Being proactive and prepared is not just a good practice; it’s essential for survival.

Here are the key steps that your business can take to navigate hurricane season effectively, with a particular focus on leveraging resources and expertise offered by PeriShip.

Understanding the Threat
Despite technological advances and a wealth of historical data to draw upon, hurricanes are unpredictable. Last-minute jogs a storm takes along its path can create catastrophic circumstances. Along the Gulf Coast and the East Coast, the United States is particularly susceptible to these intense events, but, as we have seen, the effects often extend inland. Coastlines and nearby areas may be met with the perils of hurricane-force winds and storm surge, but the heavy rainfall, flooding, and wind can still take their toll miles away from where a storm makes landfall. Hurricanes can cause widespread damage, including road closures, power outages, and airport disruptions – all of which can directly impact a business’s ability to guarantee the arrival of timely and temperature-sensitive shipments.

Proactive Planning
Implementing a comprehensive preparedness plan is crucial when it comes to delivery in areas prone to tropical storms. This plan should encompass several key aspects:

• Weather Monitoring and Alert Systems: Staying informed is paramount. Utilize reliable weather forecasting services and consider investing in real-time alert systems that provide early warnings of severe weather in your operational areas and shipping routes. PeriShip’s in-house team of meteorologists provides daily and weekly weather forecasts and outlooks for the nation’s main sorting hubs and transit routes. These resources:
  • Predict the potential impact a weather event may have on the transit network
  • Offer maps showing weather fronts and systems that will affect conditions nationally
  • Provide a high-temperature forecast map and discussion for affected areas
  • Generate a closed zip code report for areas where delivery conditions are unsuitable for standard operations

• Route Diversification and Contingency Planning: Relying on a single route for critical shipments is a high-risk strategy during hurricane season. Identify alternative routes and transportation methods in advance. Having a logistics partner like PeriShip that excels in rerouting strategies and contingency plans can help you proactively mitigate delays.
• Communication Protocols: Establish clear communication protocols for internal teams and external partners, including your carriers and customers. Identify the responsible person for monitoring weather alerts, making decisions about possible delays in shipping dates, determining if rerouting is the best option, and communicating these changes between PeriShip’s support team and customers. Ensure you have up-to-date contact information for all relevant parties and a reliable system for disseminating information quickly.
• Inventory Management and Backup Plans: For businesses dealing with perishable goods, the risk of spoilage due to weather-related delays is a major concern. Implement robust inventory management practices to minimize the amount of perishable goods in transit during high-risk periods. Explore options for backup storage facilities in geographically diverse locations to safeguard inventory if your primary facility is threatened.

Leveraging PeriShip’s Expertise
PeriShip specializes in the time-critical and temperature-sensitive shipping of perishable goods. Our services and resources are particularly relevant for businesses preparing for hurricane season:

• Real-time Tracking and Monitoring: The PeriShip dashboard allows you to track and monitor your shipments and provide visibility into delays caused by weather or other service disruptions. PeriShip’s support team monitors the movement of your shipments and intervenes to aid in on-time delivery.
• Logistics Expertise and Problem Solving: We have significant experience in navigating complex logistical challenges, including weather-related disruptions. Our expertise and experience allow us to provide guidance when weather challenges are likely to create delays in delivery. PeriShip offers advice in advance to allow you the time needed to adjust shipping plans.
• Temperature Control and Cold Chain Management: Maintaining the cold chain is critical for perishable goods. We understand the specific requirements for temperature-sensitive shipments and can provide solutions to ensure the integrity of products in the face of potential delays.

Employee Training and Preparedness
If you ship from, to, or through hurricane-impacted areas, you need to have a plan in place before the start of the season.  Your employees are a vital part of your preparedness plan. Conduct training sessions on hurricane procedures, communication protocols, and contingency plans. Assign designated personnel to quickly and efficiently implement plans when storms are likely to impact your service areas.

Review and Refine
Like all readiness and contingency plans, your hurricane preparedness plan should not be a static document. Regularly review and refine it based on learnings when managing shipments. Make adjustments to align with changes in your business operations. Add resources as new options become available. After each significant weather event, conduct a post-incident review to identify areas for improvement and reinforce best practices.

The Atlantic Hurricane Season lasts from June 1 to November 30, officially, but there have been instances of storms before and after the official dates. By implementing a proactive and comprehensive preparedness plan and leveraging the expertise and resources of PeriShip, you can significantly mitigate the risks that hurricanes present. Ultimately, that means protecting your valuable inventory, maintaining customer satisfaction, and ensuring the resilience of your operations in the face of severe weather. Don’t wait until the skies turn dark. Get prepared today.

PeriShip works with clients to mitigate the effects of many shipping challenges. Our goal is to help ensure time-sensitive and perishable goods arrive on time, every time. Customized, in-house weather reporting, shipment monitoring, and transport intervention are our hallmarks. For more than 20 years, we have led the way in meeting the complex demands of our customers.

As the hurricane season approaches, connect with PeriShip to formulate your strategy for shipping time-sensitive products.

Let’s get started!