Supply Chain by the Numbers for Week of April 7, 2011

Supply Chain by the Numbers

- April 7, 2011

Supply Chain by the Numbers for Week of April 7, 2011 - Transportation Edition

Inland Waterways for Container Freight?; Moving Cheerios with Less Fuel; Diesel Pain at the Pump; Carriers to be Scrounging for Trucks in 2012?



13%
Approximate percent of the total freight-ton miles in the US transportation network that moves over inland waterways, down from 26% in 1965. Most of that is bulk goods such as grains and ores. That number came from a report last week delivered to Congress last week by the US Maritime Administration pushing for greater investment in inland waterway infrastructure, with a goal of significantly increasing the share of container cargo over the water. See Can Inland Waterways Really be Key Source for Container Freight Moves?

35%

Food giant General Mills' goal for reduction in its North American operations of fuel used to ship a pound of product by fiscal 2015, using fiscal 2009 as a baseline. This new goal was announced in the company's just released Corporate Responsibility Report for 2011.



	96 Cents
Rise in the average spot price of diesel fuel in the US this week versus the same period a year ago, up to $3.97 per gallon. In California, average diesel prices reached an incredible $4.32 a gallon.




180,000
The shortfall in Class 8 truck production versus demand predicted for 2012, according to a new forecast from the Wall Street analysts at ACT Research, which follows the truck manufacturing industry. That may be good news for truck manufacturers, but likely bad news for shippers, as it likely will exacerbate trends moving towards tighter and tighter truckload capacity in the US market.