Texas logistics ops brace for Hurricane Harvey landfall

The strongest hurricane to strike the United States in 12 years is on course to make landfall on the Texas coast today, and some cargo carriers are already cancelling flights. UPS has cancelled pickups in Louisiana and Texas, and more disruption of logistics ops are expected through the weekend.

FedEx released a statement yesterday saying that it was, “closely monitoring Hurricane Harvey and related weather conditions.” The Memphis-based integrator said it was “preparing contingency plans to minimize impact on service. FedEx Express utilizes a team of meteorologists working around the clock to provide the latest projections on the storm’s path as part of our airline contingency planning.”

With Houston directly in the projected path of the storm, the city’s two airports, are reporting a list of flight cancellations that is growing by the hour. George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), had posted 47 cancellations and 31 delays as of 9:00 PDT. At the William P. Hobby Airport (HOU), cancellations stood at 54, with 28 delays.

The Port of Houston was shut down today at noon, local time, in anticipation of an expected storm surge of 6 to 12 feet, and says that it will, “continue to evaluate conditions throughout the weekend and will communicate plans for Monday as soon as possible.”

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), a major air freight hub, is located much farther inland and is not expected to experience meaningful weather-related disruption. However, airport spokesman David Magaña said that DFW was “preparing for possible flight diversions from airports in the storm’s path.”

At press time, Harvey was still a Category 2 storm, but is expected to increase to Category 3 before making landfall and could dump more than three feet of rain on the region through the weekend.

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