Disaster Relief Logistics

When disaster strikes, there’s no time to waste. Hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and tornadoes wreak havoc on communities, altering the lives of those impacted in ways few can comprehend…

Relief logistics is the process of getting humanitarian resources to disaster locations in a timely and effective manner. Speed is everything when it comes to delivering supplies to affected areas. Fast supplies save lives and help restore a sense of normalcy to a community.

If you need large materials to ship to or from a disaster relief area, Next Exit Logistics will follow – and exceed – all government regulations. We take all preventative steps to ensure our carriers provide safe transport of all materials. We have logistics and distribution expertise honed from years of experience in military shipments, produce transportation and heavy haul trucking.

Food in warehouse

Heavy Hauling Emergency Relief Rule Changes

Whether a federally declared disaster or state of emergency, regulations for transportation are frequently loosened for a period of time. This can speed up delivery of necessities to oversized construction equipment that can help rebuild communities.

As an example, Hurricanes Harvey and Irma hit South Texas and Florida within a month of each other in the summer of 2017. Both state Departments of Transportation waived permit requirements for oversize and overweight loads of relief related cargo within their borders. While waivers and exemptions from state and federal agencies are helpful, it is still difficult to ship to a disaster affected area. Next Exit Logistics has decades of experience getting critical generators to necessary fuel, food and supplies to disaster communities in the U.S.

Coordinating Shipments of Disaster Relief Supplies

Next Exit Logistics can coordinate the quick and safe shipment of vital disaster relief equipment such as tractors, work trucks, back hoes, light towers, generators and bulldozers to stricken areas.

Shipment coordination must run precisely and flawlessly, with supplies like ice, medicine and ready-to-eat meals arriving on time and in perfect condition.

Next Exit Logistics shipping, logistics and distribution expertise allows you to focus on what you do best – aid those in need of help – while we make sure that all supplies are delivered exactly where they’re needed, when they’re needed.

We contract everything to ensure supplies arrive in one piece. We also have several government trucking certifications and are known as an exceptionally reliable freight logistics company nationwide.

Once equipment and life-sustaining supplies are in place, areas affected by disaster need steady access to alternative sources of electricity for weeks at a time. Next Exit Logistics provides a full stock of large generators including HFO generators, commercial generators and industrial generators.

Liquid transport
Supplies in Trailer

An Emergency/Disaster Shipping Checklist

If you need to have disaster relief supplies sent to an area affected by a natural disaster, it’s always best to have put some thought into what you should do before the disaster takes place.

We’ve put together a short checklist to help you start thinking of how to manage a disaster relief supply chain.

  1. Establish a point person and create a plan for how your company or agency will react when it needs to ship relief supplies like portable light towers and shelters to a disaster area. Give this person – and his or her deputies – the responsibility to create a plan that looks at as many variables as possible when it comes to the logistics of shipping disaster relief supplies.
  2. This person should establish relationships with logistics and distribution firms before needing their services. Doing so means trusted partnerships will have been forged so that shipments take place as quickly and as effortlessly as possible when stress and needs are high.
  3. Stay as flexible as possible knowing that all plans, processes and procedures may have to change at a moment’s notice as you respond to new challenges as they come up. For example, a once-open major roadway may close as the disaster unfolds; make sure your disaster team as well as the logistics partners you’ve chosen are able to respond. Can you change your facility’s operating hours and call in additional employees to help at a moment’s notice? The time to plan for such needs is now, rather than as a disaster evolves.

Next Exit Logistics is considered one of the best freight management firms in the U.S. We’ve proven ourselves via our flawless on-time response and safety records. We will work with your disaster relief team and create logistics plans that work efficiently and safely in order to help you provide disaster relief supplies when they are most needed.

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