Now the Ohio River, which provides about 60% of the Lower Mississippi River’s water, is seeing closures at multiple locations due to groundings and dredging work.

Pandemic or no pandemic, e-commerce shoppers have upped their expectations of retailers and their logistics partners, with an emphasis on transparency, says Brian Bourke, chief growth officer with Seko Logistics.

 Volatility is here to stay, and supply chains need long-term solutions to navigate change.

The result signals continued discontent over compensation, working conditions and sick-leave policies among some of the more than 100,000 union-represented workers of U.S. freight railroads.

Natural disasters such as droughts, hurricanes and wildfires are becoming more frequent and are likely to wreak sporadic havoc on global supply chains

Truckers  are coping with choked-up freight facilities and troublesome equipment shortages, as bottlenecks at U.S. seaports and warehouses ripple across distribution channels to Chicago.

Capacity restraints and inflation concerns are easing in the transportation sector, says John Haber, chief strategy officer at Transportation Insight.

Drought has depleted river water levels so much that in some spots barges are getting stuck, and low water levels are causing severe impacts to navigation not seen since 1988.

Shippers are worried about the railways’ ability to haul grain, as Canadian farmers harvest the nation’s third-biggest wheat crop on record and 42% more canola than a year ago.