Dive Brief:
- Hurricane Florence disrupted deliveries nationwide, according to data from bulk delivery management technology provider Convey.
- During the week of September 10, Convey reports a 49% increase in shipments exceptions — meaning parcels and less than truckload deliveries that were unable to be properly delivered — from the previous week, paired with just a 2% drop in shipments.
- The total number of delivery exceptions, by Convey's count was 317,576.
| Delivery provider | How service is affected | # of Zip Codes in North Carolina | # of Zip Codes in South Carolina |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPS | Pickups and deliveries are suspended | 20 | 7 |
| FedEx Ground | Service suspended | 95 | 5 |
| USPS | Service suspended | 22 | 1 |
SOURCE: Service alerts
Dive Insight:
I-95, the major north-south artery along the East Coast, has reopened in the Carolinas, but deliveries and freight traffic will feel the effects of Hurricane Florence for weeks and even months to come.
"Florence continues to bring misery to North Carolina," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement Sunday. Moody's has valued the storm at $44 billion in damage and lost output.
"As typical with any storm of this force and scale, Florence brought exponential increases in delivery delays across carrier networks, upending typical weekly exception figures for the Carolinas in the double digits with numbers in the tens of thousands," said Dan Bebout, founder and VP of customer success at Convey.
I-95 is now open through North Carolina. Motorists should still use caution as hundreds of roads across the state remain closed and a danger in many areas. Read more at https://bit.ly/2xxpvk2 . Latest road conditions are available at https://bit.ly/2hVGPpa . #FlorenceNC
— NCDOT (@NCDOT) September 24, 2018
Though the Port of Wilmington reopened to truck traffic today for the first time since the storm, routes in and out of Wilmington are still unreliable, and the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) warned drivers that GPS directions may not reflect flooding threats. Eighteen North Carolina counties are still experiencing enough flooding to block roads, according to NCDOT.
As recovery begins, the low-lying areas of South Carolina will become more of a concern long-term, according to multiple news reports. Since the flood waters are still rising there, it may take considerable time for them to recede.
