SupplyChainNetwork.com » Humanitarian Logistics

Obama Orders Strategy for Protecting Nation’s Supply Chain

scn — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:30:40 +0000

President Barack Obama is directing the Departments of State and Homeland Security to come up with a plan to protect the $14.6 trillion U.S. economy from interruptions in the supply chain. The White House released a National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security today that gives officials from those departments six months to make recommendations on identifying risks and making commercial infrastructure more resilient.

“We have seen that disruptions to supply chains caused by natural disasters — earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions — and from criminal and terrorist networks seeking to exploit the system or use it as a means of attack can adversely impact global economic growth and productivity,” Obama said in a letter dated Jan. 23 and released by the White House today.

“As a nation, we must address the challenges posed by these threats and strengthen our national and international policies accordingly.” See Bloomberg for full story

The Haiti Quake: Supply Chain as a Matter of Life or Death

scn — Wed, 26 May 2010 22:16:42 +0000

From Supply Chain Brain: “Dr. Paul S. Auerbach is no stranger to human suffering. As professor of surgery at Stanford Universityâ€™s Division of Emergency Medicine, heâ€™s seen more than his share of crises. But he wasnâ€™t entirely prepared for the devastation from the 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12 of this year.

Auerbach was part of an eight-person medical team from Stanford, working under the auspices of the International Medical Corps, that responded within hours of the disaster. The groupâ€™s mission was reach to Haiti as quickly as possible, then do whatever it could to treat the wounded and the dying.” The Haiti Quake: Supply Chain as a Matter of Life or Death

Logistics Giants Join with WFP for Asian Crises Response

scn — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:38:20 +0000

Three of the biggest corporate names in global logistics – Agility, TNT and UPS – have joined international efforts to expedite food supplies to hundreds of thousands of people affected by natural disasters in Asia, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced today.
The three logistics giants are collaborating with WFP to move food assistance to those worst affected by flooding in the Philippines and an earthquake in Padang, Indonesia. WFP plans to provide assistance to about one million people in the Philippines affected by extensive flooding caused by cyclone Ketsana, which severed roads, bridges and closed airports.

In Padang, Indonesia, WFP is working to assist Government following the devastating earthquake last week which severed roads and bridges, making emergency response to remote areas a major logistics challenge. This initial work was facilitated by the immediate response of Agility.

“By helping WFP ensure food supplies reach people affected by these natural disasters as quickly as possible, these companies are playing a lead role in helping save lives,” said Peter French, WFP Deputy Regional Director for Asia.

“The expertise and resources they are providing come at a critical time and are invaluable.”

Agility, UPS, and TNT work together in an initiative called the Logistics Emergency Teams, or LETs. The initiative capitalises on each company`s ongoing operations nearest to the site where humanitarian response is needed. By using these local resources during times of crises, such as warehouse management and transport capabilities, WFP`s response is quicker and more effective.

On this occasion, the LETs companies donated trucks and warehousing resources as well as logistics staff and coordination services. All staff deployed by the companies have augmented WFP`s response and are provided free of charge.

Under the United Nations coordination mechanism for crisis response, WFP is the lead agency for logistics coordination for all humanitarian agencies, including interfacing with governments and military to maximise the effectiveness of assets during disaster response.

“The LETs initiative is an important component of our overall emergency response strategy and its generous contribution to these two natural disasters has been a significant boost to our response,” French said. “The three companies involved in this initiative are proving that the private sector really can make a significant contribution during a crisis. It`s heartening to see them so readily
involved and compassionate in their response.”

WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency; this year, WFP plans to feed more than 90 million people in 80 countries.

WFP now provides RSS feeds to help journalists keep up with the latest press releases, videos and photos as they are published on WFP.org. For more details see:
http://www.wfp.org/english/?n=999 .

WFP now has a dedicated ISDN line in Italy for quality two-way interviews with WFP officials.

WFP Media Contact:
Mike Huggins, +66-2-655-4115 (office)
+66-84-555-9001 (cell)
WFP/Bangkok
michael.huggins@wfp.org
or
Agility Media Contact:
Mira Mina, +965-2498-1581 (office)
+965-9724-4029 (cell)
PR Manager
mmina@agilitylogistics.com
or
TNT Media Relations:
Ernst Moeksis, +31-20-500-6171 (office)
+31-651-189-384 (cell)
Director Media Relations
ernst.moeksis@tnt.com
or
UPS Media Contact:
Ronna Charles Branch, +404-828-4393 (office)
+404-387-2928 (cell)
PR Supervisor
rcbranch@ups.com