“There are structural advantages you have in redundancy if you’re Amazon,” said former Amazon leader who guided logistics software-focused teams, Jason Murray. “Amazon has its own transportation network, it has access to all the carriers. Multiple ships, multiple factories.”

Because of this, the major online retailer has been able to circumvent shipment difficulties that have left boxes and boxes of product inventory stuck at ports along the west coast–Los Angeles in particular–by chartering the Olive Bay and subsequently dispatching to a port north of Seattle (where the company’s base is located). Amazon has also docked at the Port of Houston, in addition to Everett, allowing the retailer to meet the demands of one of the biggest online shopping holiday seasons to date. In fact, according to Adobe, shoppers across the United States are projected to spend $207 billion among online retail options–a 10% increase from 2020.

To help keep these shipments moving smoothly and efficiently, Amazon brought on an additional 150,000 seasonal employees, offering sign-on bonuses of up to $3,000 and overall pay boosts. Costs for logistical moves–such as dispatching trucks that are only half-full–to meet demands during the ever-important holiday shopping season and an ongoing major boost in e-commerce will likely reach around $4 billion, enough to put many other companies out of business.

However, Amazon vans hauling cargo from hundreds of delivery depots, thousands of employees and contracted workers, Amazon-chartered ships bringing in products from Asian factories, and Amazon Air cargo jets making their way across the country will all be to thank if Amazon meets the high demands of customers across the country.

“Amazon had space on ships, and I couldn’t say no to anyone,” said home decor and lighting retailer David Knopfler of Lights.com. His comments come as one of thousands of sellers offering their products on Amazon’s website who previously refused to do so. The reason? These companies would need to share pricing and supplier information and data with Amazon, potentially allowing for future competition with the company. However, holiday season container shortages made it difficult for these merchants to refuse access to these shipment capabilities.

“It’s a one-stop-shop from Asia to Amazon,” said Goja’s CEO, Walter Gonzales. Goja sells a variety of products on Amazon’s site. “It reduces the gray areas where the shipping process might fail.”

Now, Goja has stocked up on 95% of the inventory it will need to fill holiday season orders, Gonzales noted.

In fact, Amazon has been booking cargo ship space in advance since around 2015 in an effort to make for a smooth-as-possible shipping process between its warehouse and Chinese factories, an irresistible offer for nearly any online seller.

“They basically went from zero containers a month a few years ago to over 10,000 containers a month,” said ocean freight consultant Steve Ferreira. “The thing is an 800-pound gorilla now.”

Still, bringing Amazon customers their holiday season orders efficiently and on-time has been trickier in the midst of a continuous labor shortage; job-hunt websites have been filled with Amazon warehouse gigs fit with incentives, benefits, and bonuses. Overtime opportunities are allowing employees to earn even more than their supervisors, although the pressure of current demand may not be worth the extra income.

“Amazon will stick to its guns and get things to customers,” said former Amazon Logistics executive, David Glick. “It’s going to be extensive, but in the long term, [it] builds customer trust.”

Regardless of efforts to keep customers happy during this time, Levinson and Stefani’s Ken Levinson wants to make sure Amazon–and any company hiring transportation workers right now–is bringing in the best candidates possible and keeping them trained and well-informed on all aspects of safety protocol. Safe driving is imperative, he said.

“It goes back to training,” he explained. “Just because someone may be in a rush to get things done, it’s not an excuse to let safety go to the wayside. Often, companies have unrealistic expirations based on their workers’ pay and delivery times that can create a huge incentive to be unsafe, and we can’t have that. We have to make sure they’re going to regulate themselves.”

He also hopes police offers are keeping a close eye on everyone hauling shipments over the holidays, especially given the inclement weather that comes with the winter season.

“Law enforcement needs to be diligent in making sure safety laws are adhered to, especially when it comes to speeding and driving in hazardous conditions,” Levinson said.

The Surface Transportation Advanced Through Reform, Technology, and Efficient Review (STARTER) Act 2.0 is likely to replace an expiring highway law. This legislation would allocate $400 billion over five years for surface transportation programs.

On May 19th, Republican lawmakers released the outline of the bill, which would implement or extend programs for the trucking industry, autonomous technology, self-driving vehicles, and overall highway funding.

The bill would also work to make the process easier in regards to federal environmental permitting as part of the surface transportation proposal backed by Democrats. Such a highway policy bill aligns with the infrastructure-related plans of the Biden Administration, and the House transportation panel’s Democrats are likely to assess their version of the bill by the end of May.

“Our bill focuses on the core infrastructure that helps move people and goods through our communities every single day, cuts red tape that holds up project construction, and gets resources into the hands of our states and locals with as few strings attached as possible,” explained chief sponsor of the bill, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee ranking member Sam Graves of Missouri.

Many supporters of the bill have noted its capacity to draw backing from both parties.

“As the process for considering legislation on infrastructure moves forward, I am eager to see these proposals become part of a robust bipartisan effort, just as the president continues to call for,” Graves added.

The measure also aims to set forth an efficient infrastructure grants program, as well as mandate that organizations create an environmental review permitting timetable. It would also work toward updating the current national highway freight plan.

“Streaming the federal permitting and environmental review process absolutely must be a part of an infrastructure package,” Rodney Davis, ranking member of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee, noted.

For states looking to find ways to fully optimize truck parking capabilities, the bill could also boost the resources available. Additionally, it could also implement an interstate driving training program for commercial driver’s license holders between the ages of 18 and 20–an initiative that would also create higher standards for carriers’ best practices.

For livestock haulers and farm operations, this legislation would also be able to increase hours-of-service regulation flexibility and allocate specific funding solely to programs based in rural regions.

To do this, the bill “provides greater flexibility and supports greater mobility in rural areas by increasing the federal share of project costs for projects located in qualified opportunity zones, in medically underserved areas, or areas with medically underserved populations,” explaining a summary of the measure.

Through this legislation, the Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT) grant program regarding the aid of areas affected by natural disasters would come into play, as would a nationwide vehicle-miles-traveled fee system and a connected vehicle applications-based competitive grant program.

“This legislation puts true transportation infrastructure first and prioritizes building a resilient transit system,” explained co-sponsor of the bill and ranking member of the Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee, Rick Crawford of Arkansas.

For committee chairman Peter DeFazio, the ideal version of the legislation would set forth mobility grid upgrades–especially in regards to transit systems. For his five-year 2015 highway law update, DeFazio recommends $100 billion for transit state-of-good repair criteria needing attention.

“America is facing serious challenges: crumbling infrastructure, the threat of climate change, inequality and racial justice, a rising China that threatens our domestic workforce and manufacturing,” he explained. “We can’t solve these problems by doing the status quo.”

Still, Republicans want to focus on surface transportation policies and have been collaborating with the White House to determine the best courses of actions in regards to funding and infrastructure policy negotiations.

“We believe we can find a bipartisan deal on infrastructure,” said President Biden. “But we’ve made one thing clear: We’ll compromise, but doing nothing is not an option.”

Senate Republicans recently released their strategy which would center upon a $600 billion policy plan, while Biden’s plan requests $2.25 trillion and aims to do acquire such funding by boosting corporate taxes.

Amazon Finds Ways Around Strained Supply Chain, But is it Safe?

New Surface Transportation Bill Introduced by Republicans