Conference Program

Conference description:
This is a conference about helping shippers to save money. Inland Distribution is the process of strategically -- and cost effectively -- transporting and positioning imported goods at inland North American locations for onward distribution to retail locations and direct to consumers. Conversely it involves moving exports to coasts and land borders and how imports and exports converge at inland hubs, spawning new opportunity. Once imported goods hit North American seaports and land borders a myriad of choices and challenges confront the shipper: how to optimally mix and match transport modes, whether transloading is a viable option, where, when and if to convert over-the-road cargo to intermodal, what inland ports to use, where DCs should optimally be located and what opportunities may exist to mitigate cost by leveraging backhaul whether in trucks or containers. The JOC Inland program will consist of a mix of keynote speakers, panel discussions and case studies featuring shippers and supply chain partners discussing how they overcame certain challenges..

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

7:30-8:30 AM
Registration


8:30-9:00 AM
Welcoming Remarks


9:00-9:30 AM
Opening Keynote Address
Christopher Lofgren, President and CEO, Schneider National Inc.


9:30-10:45 AM
Intermodal and Truck Pricing: Where are rates headed? What are the key trends?

Within the past year U.S. 53' intermodal pricing has come out of the shadows and is being tracked like many other freight rate indicators. Intermodal prices move in somewhat predictable ways; There is a “peak season” in domestic intermodal spot pricing driven by the retail holiday import surge which typically hits anywhere around late July to mid-August. During the peak, rates on West to East lanes typically increase while East to West lanes soften as shippers are encouraged to utilize more intermodal to lower the number of empty boxes going West to fulfill the peak West to East demand. Fuel will impact both intermodal and trucking rates; as of Feb. 2013 intermodal rates across the board were trending upwards as fuel surcharges took effect and freight demand, measured in truck tonnage, increased. Spot rates, which only cover part of the market, also can impact contract rates. Truckload rates are also a major factor in intermodal pricing; as truckload capacity tightens, sending over-the-road rates up, intermodal pricing often follows suit, though still at levels that offer significant savings to shippers. When available truck capacity increases, over-the-road rates and intermodal rates tend to become more competitive, reducing savings from intermodal conversion to shippers.

Moderator:
Rick LaGore, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, IDS Transportation Services

Panelists:
Larry Gross, Senior Consultant, FTR Associates
Frank Cirimele, Director of Products and Services, Cass Information Systems
Mark Montague, Industry Rate Analyst, DAT


10:45-11:15 AM
Coffee Break


11:15-12:30 PM
Intermodal 101: It's not your grandfather's intermodal, a primer on how times have changed and what today’s intermodal looks like

Intermodal in the past was unreliable, hazardous, and of little interest to railroads and shippers alike. Year after year, articles would ask “Is 19XX the year for intermodal?” That has all changed. What brave shippers experienced in past years is today a rapidly growing mode that is saving shippers millions without sacrificing reliability, while providing railroads with a source of long-term growth, even if lower in profitability versus bulk cargoes. An indication of the growing viability of intermodal is how it's taking hold in short-haul lanes of less than 1,000 miles primarily within the eastern half of the country. Temperature-controlled intermodal is gaining favor among shippers, as reefer truck capacity tightens and rail services improve. An intermodal "map" will be shown that shows just how extensive the North American intermodal network has become.

Moderator:
Mark Szakonyi, Associate Editor, Rail, Intermodal, Regulation & Policy, The Journal of Commerce

Panelists:
Tom Finkbiner, Senior Chairman, Intermodal Transportation Institute, University of Denver
Jim Gaw, Executive Vice President, Hub Group Inc.


12:30-2:00 PM
Lunch with Speaker

Speaker:
Patrick Ottensmeyer, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer, Kansas City Southern Railway

In his luncheon speech, Pat will address the KCS perspective on government regulations and its impact on customers' supply chains, the U.S. infrastructure grade card and what it means, and the changing picture of supply chains, including near-shoring and the approaching Panama Canal expansion.


2:00-3:15 PM
CONCURRENT PANEL SESSION: Rising costs and the “trucking renaissance”: What they mean for supply chains

Since deregulation in the 1980s, long-haul trucking has been a reliably low-cost transport option for shippers. If you didn't like one carrier's rate, there was always another carrier ready to haul freight for less. Lower trucking costs helped reduced the cost of logistics as a percentage of GDP. But those days are fading in the rear view mirror, and the clock is ticking for shippers who don't rethink their transportation strategies. For any number of reasons, many of them legacies of the Great Recession, shippers can expect trucking rates to trend upward over the long term. Tighter emissions standards are driving equipment costs higher; Long-haul drivers are increasingly scarce, in part due to the strenuous nature of the work but also due to tighter federal regulations, driving up wages for qualified drivers. The JOC Truckload Capacity Index hit a four year low of 82.4 in the fourth quarter of 2012, indicating available capacity at the large truckload group monitored by the JOC was more than 17 percent below its 2006 peak. Most important, trucking companies are increasingly focused on achieving sustainable profitability, shoring up their bottom lines rather than pursuing top line growth. The JOC refers to this trend as the “Trucking Renaissance,” and it has big supply chain implications. Truckers will add capacity only when they see a clear return on their capital investment, and they will reserve that capacity for their most profitable freight. This overall scenario – which is not going away – is forcing shippers to view transportation through a very different lens and to adapt accordingly.

Moderator:
William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor, Trucking and Domestic Transportation, The Journal of Commerce

Panelist:
Kenny Vieth, President and Senior Analyst, ACT Research


2:00-3:15 PM
CONCURRENT PANEL SESSION: Street turns or “matchbacks”: How they work in practice and how to take advantage

The practice of “street-turns" or "matchbacks”, in which import and domestic containers are matched to export bookings, is growing rapidly throughout the country in every region. Containers that are literally handed off from one shipper to another are being increasingly sought out to reduce empty repositioning, cut fuel costs, drive efficiencies, and in some cases, obtain lower rates from carriers. An understanding of how street turns are evolving and where the opportunities are to be found is a first step to shippers’ actually being able to execute on the street turn opportunity and realize the resulting benefits. The opportunities spring from the ocean carriers' increasing demands to eliminate unnecessary re-positioning moves for carrier-controlled door moves, exporters’ demand for increased visibility to available containers delivered under merchant and carrier-controlled haulage, and importers and motor carriers looking to make available empty containers to the export market. The ocean carrier, importer, exporter, 3PL, and motor carrier are all striving to drive this process forward, but the question is “how”? This panel will explain.

Moderator:
Peter Tirschwell, Senior Vice President, Strategy, Journal of Commerce

Panelist:
Bob Baker, President & CEO, SynchroNet


3:15-3:45 PM
Coffee Break


3:45-5:00 PM
CONCURRENT PANEL SESSION: Chassis availability and costs at inland locations: A different story from the seaports

As container lines withdraw from providing chassis, challenges are arising in ensuring chassis are available at inland port locations. At inland locations, intermodal facilities are mostly wheeled (versus stacked) operations which is key in ensuring rapid truck turn times. Chassis pooling has led to viable operational efficiencies for some intermodal terminal operators; the challenge “is to maintain those efficiencies as carriers exit the business yet continue to allow the railroads to run wheeled operations,” says Steve Rubin, principal of InterPro Advisory LLC and the moderator of chassis sessions at the past two TPM Long Beach conferences. But, as Rubin says, “if the steamship lines no longer “own” chassis, who does the railroad hold accountable for ensuring adequate supply to efficiently work trains?”

Moderator:
Bill Mongelluzzo, Senior Editor, Trans-Pacific, The Journal of Commerce

Panelists:
Ken Kellaway, President and CEO, RoadOne Intermodal Logistics
Philip Wojcik, President and CEO, Consolidated Chassis Management
Paul Dean, Director Intermodal Equipment/Maintenance, Norfolk Southern Railway Corp.
Brant Ring, Assistant Vice President Intermodal Terminal Operations, BNSF Railway


3:45-5:00 PM
CONCURRENT PANEL SESSION: The New LTL: A transformed sector’s impact on inland distribution

The less-than-truckload sector of trucking is undergoing a transformation with major implications for inland distribution. All the major LTL players, including the top three, FedEx Freight, Con-way Freight and YRC Freight, have made far-reaching network modifications since the end of the recession. They've closed hundreds of terminals, reflowed distribution into new lanes and slashed transit times. In part, this is a reaction to the billions of dollars lost during the recession — these companies had to change to survive. But more and more the changes reflects new supply chain realities, including slow-steaming containerships, embarrassingly lean inventories and same-day e-commerce orders. Some of the results: goods that may move across the ocean slowly accelerate once they hit U.S. ports; inbound transit times have been cut by days once goods arrive in the U.S.; freight is handled less in transit, which means less opportunity for damages and claims; greater lane density and more efficient utilization of existing equipment and personnel means more sustainable profit for carriers. At the same time, regional and multi-regional LTL players are expanding operations, and many carriers are diversifying services into areas such as parcel, drayage and even intermodal. This panel will look at the changes reshaping LTL and what they mean for shippers.

Moderator:
William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor, Trucking and Domestic Transportation, The Journal of Commerce

Panelists:
Darren Hawkins, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, YRC Freight
Charles Hammel III, President, Pitt Ohio


5:00-7:00 PM
Networking Reception


Thursday, September 19, 2013


7:30 - 8:30 AM
Registration


8:45 - 9:00 AM
Opening Remarks


9:00-9:30 AM
Day 2 Keynote Address
Jack Holmes, President, UPS Freight


9:30-10:45 AM
The new multimodal reality: How shippers are rapidly evolving from a static to a dynamic modal environment.

In the past shippers were to some extent defined by the mode or modes they used, and if they utilized more than one mode it was part of a set strategy that changed little from year to year. Today that has all changed. As truckload capacity tightens and rates go up, shippers aren’t just converting to intermodal but adapting a dynamic, flexible approach that could involve a mix of intermodal, LTL, parcel and private fleets that better serve more complex, fast-changing supply chains. That could involve sharing space in trailers or containers with other shippers, converting parcel to truckload or LTL to parcel. LTL in particular is coming out of a massive re-alignment that better positions the sector to connect with seaports and has left it more efficient overall. Driving modal flexibility is data and technology that didn’t exist just a few years ago, often made available by 3PLs and non-asset freight brokers. Understanding how to operate in such a dynamic transport environment is critical for shippers that need to optimize transportation to reduce costs and support company strategy. This panel will discuss.

Moderator:
William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor, Trucking and Domestic Transportation, The Journal of Commerce

Speakers:

Cathy Burrow, Global Transportation Manager, Hallmark Cards
C. Thomas Barnes, President, Con-way Multimodal


10:45-11:15 AM
Coffee Break


11:15 AM -12:30 PM
CONCURRENT PANEL SESSION: Inland ports, key attributes and challenges, in rapid sequence

What is the current scenario at existing inland ports, where are these facilities headed and what new inland ports are in the works, including short haul facilities located a few hundred miles from seaports? Obviously no two inland ports are alike. Each has different transit times, freight rates and service availability from seaports, different highway and consumer market access, different quality of gate operations, chassis availability and road access. These varying operational realities need to be understood so their viability as interior destinations for containers can be adequately assessed. This panel will present in rapid sequence brief overviews of several U.S. inland ports with specific focus on the operational, transit time, pricing and future planning realities of each one.

Moderator:
Mark Szakonyi, Associate Editor, Rail, Intermodal, Regulation & Policy, The Journal of Commerce

Panelists:
Chris J.F. Gutierrez, President, Kansas City SmartPort
Steve Boecking, Vice President, Hillwood Properties
Blaine Kelley, Senior Vice President, CBRE's Global Supply Chain Practice


11:15 AM -12:30 PM
CONCURRENT PANEL SESSION: Agriculture Exports: Inland Distribution in reverse

The inland distribution system is being increasilngy leveraged by agricultural exporters, who are positioning facilities at inland ports where they can take advantage of scale and equipment availability and rail capacity. Such facilities are introducing a measure of predictability into what is often a volatile transportation picture for exporters. For example, this year ag exporters are not confronted with their traditional challenge, which is obtaining a sufficient supply of ocean containers. Container availability is not an issue this year, nor is ocean capacity or high ocean rates, Peter Friedmann of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition said on a JOC webcast in March. Rather, the issue for 2013 is securing enough truck capacity due to hours of service and other factors limiting capacity including environmental regulations in California. This panel will discuss how agricultural exporters are effectively leveraging rail and intermodal to reduce cost and improve consistency of service.

Moderator:
Bill Mongelluzzo, Senior Editor, Trans-Pacific, The Journal of Commerce

Panelists:
Ed Zaninelli, Vice President, Westbound Transpacific Trade, OOCL (USA) Inc.
Robert B. Sinner, President, Sinner Bros. & Bresnahan (SB&B)
Bo DeLong, Vice President of Grain Operations, DeLong Company
Jean-Jacques Ruest, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Canadian National Railway


12:30-2:00 PM
Lunch

2:00-3:15 PM
Industrial real estate trends and what they mean for North American site selection
The industrial real estatemarket is rebounding along with the general economy, and the landscape for site selection has been redrawn, forcing shippers and transportation providers to adapt their post-recession strategies. Although real estate pricing is still generally the top factor for site selection, a variety of other factors are rising in importance. Because of the increased costs of transportation, distribution center site selection is increasingly a logistics exercise, particularly as it involves e-commerce channels where DC requirements differ due to the preponderance of small packages and larger, younger workforces. The panel will present an overview of the North American industrial real estate market and highlight the factors driving site selection in each major market.

Moderator:
Brian McKiernan, Sr. Vice President, Development, CenterPoint Properties

Panelists:
Richard H. Thompson, Managing Director, Americas Leader - Supply Chain & Logistics Solutions, Jones Lang LaSalle
Jon DeCesare, President, World Class Logistics Consulting, Inc.


2:00-3:15 PM
CASE STUDY: Transloading in practice: Multiple benefits for shippers
Shippers that transload from ocean to domestic equipment at seaports can realize a wealth of benefit, including fuel savings, freight cost saving, avoiding per-diem and demurrage cost, managing or eliminating chassis issues and allowing the ocean carrier to achieve higher utilization when containers don't move inland. Shippers could also realize benefits from multi-shipper co-loading/consolidation at origin and servicing multi-delivery points through DC bypass. Transloading also allows the shipper to prioritize or postpone delivery into a location based on inventory needs or capacity constraints. Transloading has been growing: transloading in LA-Long Beach in 2012 increased to 31.9% of total imports, up from 30.3 percent in 2011, according to TTX. In this case study, Daltile, a major flooring company which manufactures nearly 700 million square feet of floor covering per year, will discuss its use of transloading with Houston-based 3PL Gulf Winds International.

Panelists:
Mark Widner, Director of International Transportation & Trade Compliance, Mohawk Industries/Dal-Tile Corporation
Todd Stewart, President, Gulf Winds International Inc.


3:15-3:45 PM
Coffee Break


3:45-5:00 PM
CASE STUDY: Foreign Trade Zones: untapped tool for cost savings and supply chain benefit. Three case studies
For companies searching for untapped cost savings in the supply chain, foreign trade zones are an opportunity that deserve serious consideration. Able to be set up at existing distribution centers and assembly plants, zones have led to material cash flow and outright cost savings for many companies by allowing them to postpone the timing and amount of duties owed on imported goods. An FTZ is considered outside US commerce, and duty is owed only when goods leave the zone and enter US commerce. While zones have been used for years by manufacturing firms, only more recently are they being adopted by retailers and consumer goods firms as part of their core supply chains. In this session case studies of firms actively seeing supply chain benefit from FTZs will be presented.

Moderator:
Marshall Miller, Principal, Miller & Company P.C.

Panelists:
Sean Mahoney, Vice President, Zorrel. An apparel company that utilizes its FTZ to service a global market place from Kansas City.
Jennifer Kissner, Director, Global Trade Compliance; Export Compliance Officer, The Coleman Company
Speaker from Kawasaki


3:45-5:00 PM
CASE STUDY: All the Case Studies at the conference will be focused on how a shipper solved an inland distribution challenge or was able to achieve a measurable benefit in terms of cost reduction, transit time improvement or other element, in a joint presentation with a vendor. Further details will be posted shortly.


Statement of JOC Conference Editorial Policy:
All JOC conference programs are developed independently by the JOC editorial team based on input from a wide variety of industry experts and the editors' own industry knowledge. The editorial team determines session topics and extends all speaker invitations based entirely on the goal of providing highly relevant content for conference attendees. Certain sponsors may give welcoming remarks or introduce certain sessions, but if a sponsor appears as a bona-fide speaker it will be because of an editorial invitation, not as a benefit of sponsorship. Sponsorship benefits do not include speaking on a program.