California Logistics Blog | West Coast

Let a 3PL’s West Coast Distribution Center Help You During the Driver Shortage

Jan 24, 2019 / by Robert Deiro posted in West Coast Distribution, Public Warehousing, Third Party Logistics, 3PL, west coast warehouses, 3PL Outsourcing, Regional Logistics, Distribution Center, Distribution, Warehouse

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The three states that border the Pacific Ocean are home to 48 million people, with the states just slightly inland adding millions more to the population of the “Western U.S.” With such a sizable chunk of the U.S. population residing in these Western states, West region distribution is a vital part of the supply chains of companies whose products originate in the Central and Eastern U.S.

In recent years, however, multiple factors – the truck driver shortage chief among them – have made long-haul truck runs to the West Coast increasingly unreliable and inefficient. The response of many companies has been to focus less on shipping West and, instead, store products in a West Coast distribution center operated by a third-party logistics provider (3PL).

Jan 10, 2019 / by Jerry Critchfield posted in Southern California Ports, West Coast Distribution, Third Party Logistics, west coast warehouses, Transportation Strategies, Labor issues, Drayage, Distribution

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Stop me if you’ve heard this before: we’re in the midst of a truck driver shortage.

While we may feel that we’ve reached the saturation point in hearing – and reading – about this shortage, the related headlines aren’t going away any time soon. That’s because the shortage isn’t going away any time soon. In fact, we can only expect to hear more about it as the impact to the trucking industry and the nation’s economy continues to worsen.

Here in California, one of the major areas where this impact is being felt is container drayage. The shortage of drayage drivers has recently returned to the headlines as there aren’t enough drivers to handle rising volumes in advance of tariffs and an interest rate hike. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at this shortage and what you, as an importer, can do to keep your drayage freight moving to and from the ports.

Dec 21, 2018 / by Weber Logistics posted in 3PL, Vendor Compliance, eCommerce Fulfillment, Metrics-KPIs

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We’re coming to the end of 2018 and preparing for 2019 – and you know what that means: year-end “best of” lists. And, while our list may not be as entertaining as the “top 10 movies of 2018” rankings you’ll see in your social media feeds, we hope that you find it valuable. Here, we present the three Weber Logistics blog posts that were most popular among our readers in 2018.

Dec 13, 2018 / by Weber Logistics posted in West Coast Distribution, Shared Warehousing, Food Supply Chain, Cold Chain Managment, Refrigerated Trucking, Pool Distribution, Freight Consolidation

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If you need to get across town fast and your choices are a taxi cab or public transit, you’d likely prefer the cab.

Times being what they are, however, the price of that cab ride might drive you to the bus stop. But what if you could share an air-conditioned cab ride with others going to the exact same place, and pay about the same as the cost of the bus ride?

Welcome to pool distribution. Direct car service for a mass transit price.

Nov 29, 2018 / by Weber Logistics posted in Southern California Ports, West Coast Distribution, Third Party Logistics, 3PL, west coast warehouses, 3PL Outsourcing, eCommerce Fulfillment, Pick and Pack, Multi Channel Fulfillment

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Growing from 100 orders per month to 15,000 per month. For most companies, that’s a dream come true. But if you have the wrong solution in place for eCommerce order fulfillment, that’s a dream that may never materialize. Here at Weber, this type of quick growth spurt can, and has, happened with eCommerce order fulfillment clients. The only way to handle it is to have an operation that can seamlessly scale to meet the uptick in demand.

Nov 15, 2018 / by Weber Logistics posted in Southern California Ports, West Coast Distribution, Third Party Logistics, 3PL Outsourcing, Drayage, 3pl contracts

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Does your logistics operation source drayage services in California? If so, read on as new legal developments in the state can put you on the hook for damages if the drayage provider you hire is misclassifying employees as independent owner/operators.

This latest shot across the bow in California’s labor battles comes in the form of California Senate Bill 1402 (SB 1402). The Bill was signed by Governor Brown on September 22, 2018 and will take effect on January 1, 2019. In this article, we’ll summarize the new Bill and explain what it means for shippers and other companies that hire port drayage companies in the state of California.

Oct 25, 2018 / by Weber Logistics posted in Southern California Ports, West Coast Distribution, San Diego Warehouse, Inland Empire Warehouse, Regional Logistics, Northern California 3PL, Distribution Center, Warehouse

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California. A very big state with a very big population. In fact, it’s the largest consumer market in the U.S. and thus a very sensible place to have a distribution center. Making California even more sensible, from a distribution perspective, is the fact that most of the Pan-Pacific freight arrives via its ports. For many companies, these combined facts make logistics strategy simple: place a DC in California close to the arriving port and the West Coast distribution riddle is solved.

Looking a bit closer, however, we can see that West Coast distribution isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at choosing the right California warehouse space for your company and the impact it has on your port-to-market speed.

Oct 18, 2018 / by Jerry Critchfield posted in Southern California Ports, West Coast Distribution, Port Logistics, Third Party Logistics, 3PL, 3PL Outsourcing, Drayage, Peak Season Shipping, 3pl contracts

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When considering all the costs involved in getting your containerized goods from port to market, it’s easy to think of all the “big” things that drive up your spend. These big-ticket items include your ocean carrier, drayage, and warehousing costs.

As your container makes its way through your supply chain, however, there’s a smaller – but cumulatively significant – cost that is likely eating away at your margins: the chassis rental fee. In this article, we’ll examine key ways to reduce this fee and improve the profitability of your operation.

Sep 27, 2018 / by Weber Logistics posted in 3PL Outsourcing, Drayage, Distribution, supply chain cycle time

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Many companies will choose to have their ocean carrier perform “port-to-door” drayage services. While this approach may be convenient, it can also be detrimental to your port-to-market distribution speed as it’s easy to become a small fish in a big ocean carrier pond. When you turn to an asset-based carrier such as a 3PL provider for drayage, its assets are as good as yours.

Sep 13, 2018 / by Weber Logistics posted in Southern California Ports, Port Logistics, west coast warehouses, Distribution

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Your company has made a cost-driven decision to manufacturer in Asia and import from Asia back into the U.S. The by-product of that decision is a much lengthier supply chain and cash cycle. Your job, in logistics, is to mitigate the negative impacts of your import supply chain by designing an efficient U.S. distribution strategy. And one of the first things you will need to decide is your destination port. For this decision, you’ll need to look at the impact of port location on time-to-market, customer satisfaction, freight costs and inventory costs.

West Coast and California Logistics Blog

Let a 3PL’s West Coast Distribution Center Help You During the Driver Shortage

4 Ways to Move Drayage Freight Despite the Driver Shortage

The Top Weber Logistics Blog Posts of 2018

Collaborate and Save: Pool Distribution for Temperature-Controlled Transportation

The Importance of Scalability in ECommerce Order Fulfillment

California SB 1402: What You Need to Know

Finding the Optimal California Warehouse Space for Your Products

How to Reduce Your Chassis Rental Fee

Select an Asset-Based Carrier for Drayage to Speed Distribution

Importing from Asia: Selecting the Right Shipping Port

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