美国国家公共电台 NPR--A rail strike would have put another kink in an out-of-balance supply chain

A rail strike would have put another kink in an out-of-balance supply chain

Transcript¹

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Abe Eshkenazi, CEO of the Association for Supply Chain Management, about the effects that a strike would have had on supply chains still recovering from the pandemic.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Even just the possibility of a rail strike put a kink in a supply chain that's still out of balance from the pandemic and disrupted further by the war in Ukraine and severe weather events. Railroads haul about 30% of the freight transported across the country every year. The effects of freight rail interruption would be felt in every manufacturing sector² and cause spot shortages of consumer goods. We are joined now by Abe Eshkenazi. He is CEO of the Association for Supply Chain Management. Thank you so much for being here.

ABE ESHKENAZI: Good morning, Rachel.

MARTIN: So this is a good thing, that they have reached this labor³ deal. Explain, though, what David was just talking about. All these contingency⁴ plans were already put in place in case there was a strike. So what's going to be the impact of all that?

ESHKENAZI: Yeah, absolutely. It will take some time to rebalance, as you indicated before, some of - restarting some of the schedules, as well as some of the deliveries. A number of organizations have already taken steps to mitigate⁵ the rail strike. Knowing that there was a significant potential of it, they may have diverted into other modalities, but very limited options. They may have done it for the short term. In the long term, any disruption on the rail would have hit a global issue from shipping⁶ to rail, to trucking, all the way to the consumer and retail⁷ outlets⁸. This has averted⁹ a significant disruption to our entire supply chain.

MARTIN: But we're going to have to see things like - I mean, these goods that were supposed to be moved from Point A to Point B on freight trains are probably already being put on trucks.

ESHKENAZI: Some of them are. I think you're finding some organizations that may have found some short-term, you know, options or alternatives, knowing that there may have been a possibility of it. But that would have been a short-term fix. In the long term, very few organizations, manufacturing or, you know, logistics companies could have withstood a - you know, a long duration of a strike from the rails. There just isn't a number - a significant number of options that organizations have for the volume that we're talking about and the costs, as you indicated before, from food, automotive to consumer goods. Almost, you know, half of our products are touched by rail at one point or another.

MARTIN: That's amazing to think about, half the products that we as just households have in our homes. I imagine especially construction, too - right? - which has been - that industry has just been walloped by the pandemic.

ESHKENAZI: Absolutely. Lumber¹⁰, obviously, is a critical part in the construction industry. And then you get into the agricultural, the coal and the chemicals, as well as the ore. And then you've got hazardous¹¹ materials. As we were indicating before, some of those, they may have already taken steps to mitigate where they are. Obviously, if refrigerated vehicles or containers were required, then you needed to make plans accordingly. You don't want those stuck in transit¹². And there are obviously products in transit that needed to be accounted for and secured, whether hazardous or otherwise. So this is a - you know, a significant part of our economy.

And as I indicated before, shippers are taking note in terms of, OK, if the rails are running, then I can ship my containers, you know, to the ports. The ports have to indicate, can they get the product off the ship, onto rail and out of the ports and into the warehouses¹³? So the extended supply chain really would have been impacted. And thankfully, it hasn't had to deal with this disruption. As you indicated before, from the pandemic to the Ukraine crisis, to weather-related issues, we're still dealing¹⁴ with a lot of the recovery issues from those disruptions. Labor shortages haven't reduced that significantly. Trucking is still a problem. So there were very few alternatives to the rails that we have.

MARTIN: Abe, are we just expecting the world to calm down? I mean, doesn't all of this point to just an inherent fragility about our supply chain system?

ESHKENAZI: It's a really interesting question because prior to the pandemic, we were very effective. Just-in-time was the hallmark for almost all supply chains. We had high, you know, variability. You had rapid delivery, reasonable cost. What we didn't prepare for was just-in-case, the demand surges and a lot of the disruptions. We were working on a very effective but a highly fragile system that needed all aligning¹⁵ - aligning all the nodes within the supply chain. And as we've seen, impacting one node, whether it's in the ports or whether it's in the China manufacturing or in trucking, you'll see the collateral¹⁶ effect that it has upstream and downstream in the supply chains.

MARTIN: Well, we so appreciate your context on this this morning. Abe Eshkenazi is CEO of the Association for Supply Chain Management, again, talking about this news that the White House has announced a labor deal that puts to rest the possibility of a rail strike. Thank you so much.

ESHKENAZI: My pleasure, Rachel. Thank you.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 contingency   

n.意外事件，可能性

参考例句：

• We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
• A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。

5 mitigate   

vt.（使）减轻，（使）缓和

参考例句：

• The government is trying to mitigate the effects of inflation.政府正试图缓和通货膨胀的影响。
• Governments should endeavour to mitigate distress.政府应努力缓解贫困问题。

6 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

7 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

8 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 averted   

防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移

参考例句：

• A disaster was narrowly averted. 及时防止了一场灾难。
• Thanks to her skilful handling of the affair, the problem was averted. 多亏她对事情处理得巧妙，才避免了麻烦。

10 lumber   

n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动

参考例句：

• The truck was sent to carry lumber.卡车被派出去运木材。
• They slapped together a cabin out of old lumber.他们利用旧木料草草地盖起了一间小屋。

11 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

12 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

13 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

14 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

15 aligning   

n. (直线)对准 动词align的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• There are signs that the prime minister is aligning himself with the liberals. 有迹象表明首相正在与自由党人结盟。
• ToolTips provide textual hints that assist in drawing lines and aligning objects. 工具提示提供了协助画线和对象对齐的文本提示。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

16 collateral   

adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品

参考例句：

• Many people use personal assets as collateral for small business loans.很多人把个人财产用作小额商业贷款的抵押品。
• Most people here cannot borrow from banks because they lack collateral.由于拿不出东西作为抵押，这里大部分人无法从银行贷款。