Center for Freight Transportation for Efficient & Resilient Supply Chain (FERSC) | The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
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FERSC Researchers Present at TRB’s 104th Annual Meeting
Bo Zou
Shailesh Chandra
Yunlong Zhang
Kevin Heaslip
Lee Han
Marcella Kaplan
January 5-9, 2025, at the 104
th
Annual Meeting of the Transportation Board, six FERSC researcher gave a total of eight Poster Sessions and six Lectern Sessions. Presenters included
Bo Zou
(UIC),
Shailesh Chandra
(CSULB),
Yunlong Zhang
(TAMU), and
Kevin Heaslip, Lee Han,
and
Marcella Kaplan
(UTK). All presentations illustrated the progress FERSC has made toward realizing its research priority of economic strength and global competitiveness.
List of FERSC Presentations at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting.
About FERSC
Our nation’s freight transportation challenges are immense. The already congested transportation system faces fast-growing freight demands. The annual freight volume is expected to grow from 19 billion tons in 2022 to at least 29 billion tons in 2050, according to the US Bureau of Statistics. In particular, imports and exports account for over 13% of the total freight volume and will grow at a much faster rate than domestic freight. The growth occurs in an environment of often disrupted supply chains. Today’s supply chains are increasingly interconnected, both domestically and internationally. Supply chain disruptions such as the complete lockout of Shanghai, a major global supply location, due to its COVID-19 policy profoundly challenge the operational efficiency of the US domestic freight system, particularly in coastal areas. Supply chain irregularities caused by natural disasters and political instabilities take a toll on the U.S. economy and even threaten national security (White House Report 14017, 2021). When COVID-19 disrupted the supply chain, commodity prices within the PPI indexed group rose by 19% from May 2020 to May 2021 (Whitehouse Report, 2021). A 2021 U.S. Census Bureau survey illustrates the devastating cost to the nation: Businesses—over 60% in manufacturing, 58% in construction, 55% in retail, etc.—experienced domestic supplier delay caused by freight issues and the disrupted supply chain. Motivated and obligated by this situation, our work addresses freight mobility in view of supply chain efficiency and resiliency.
FERSC Partners: University of Tennessee, University of Illinois Chicago, Oregon State University, California State University Long Beach, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Texas A&M University
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