STATE OF FREIGHT
STATE OF FREIGHT
How Walmart, Target, and the White House Monitor Consumer Demand and Inflation in Real Time
PUBLISHED WED, MAR 20 2024 6:00 AM EDT UPDATED WED, MAR 20 2024 11:26 AM EDT
Lori Ann LaRocco @LORIANNLAROCCO
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KEY POINTS
- The Biden administration has established a data partnership with companies such as Walmart, Target, Nike, Home Depot, FedEx, Union Pacific, and DHL to monitor the supply chain as a factor in inflation in real time.
- Initiated two years ago, the platform known as FLOW is expanding to track inland freight ports, including rail terminal and warehouse end-destination data.
- “We are getting a look at actual demand,” said Andrew Petrisin, advisor for multimodal freight for the Department of Transportation, in an exclusive interview with CNBC.
WATCH NOW VIDEO 17:49
Department of Transportation’s Andrew Petrisin on the FLOW program’s two-year milestone
The Biden administration is enhancing a freight data partnership with major U.S. companies to track goods movement in real time. On Wednesday, the Department of Transportation will announce the expansion of its digital supply chain monitoring platform, Freight Logistics Optimization Works (FLOW), to include data on inland freight ports, such as rail terminals and warehouse destinations.
Launched two years ago by the Biden administration, FLOW collaborates with retailers like Home Depot, Nike, Walmart, and Target; railroads Union Pacific and BNSF; and logistics providers CH Robinson, DHL, and FedEx. The platform provides real-time snapshots of port and inland network congestion and monitors unexpected cargo shifts caused by global events, such as the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
A recent White House economic analysis revealed that over 80% of the recent progress in reducing inflation (disinflation) in the U.S. economy is attributable to the supply chain. “We are getting a look at actual demand,” stated Andrew Petrisin, advisor for multimodal freight for the Department of Transportation, in an exclusive interview with CNBC. “By aggregating purchase orders from our shippers 40 days out and importer partners, as well as booking information from our ocean carrier partners 60 days out on a daily basis, the broader membership can see and understand aggregate future demand.”
Petrisin informed CNBC that the additional data would enhance the insights that major firms gain from the platform, tracking container import volumes and traffic from the point of export origin into a U.S. port, and eventually being