For the February 2025 episode, host Ted Stank and guest host Josh King speak with Barbara Melvin, CEO and president of the South Carolina Ports about everything from U.S. trade and tariffs to the impact of labor and economic development on port operations.
A member of the GSCI Advisory Board Melvin runs one of the fastest-growing ports in the country, and the fourth-busiest gateway on the East Coast in Charleston, South Carolina. Previously serving as the organization’s COO, she was named to her position in July 2022, becoming the first woman to lead a top 10 U.S. operating container port. In 2023, she was recognized as an Outstanding Woman in Supply Chain by student leaders at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Listen in as our hosts also delve into the state of the U.S. economy, talent development in the industry, applied research opportunities with UT, and the challenges leaders like Melvin are tasked with overcoming to benefit American businesses and consumers.
The interview with Barbara Melvin starts at 8:23.
The episode was recorded on February 13, 2025, during the Winter GSCI Advisory Board meeting at the Haslam College of Business.
Related links:
- Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs shake up supply chains
- U.S. consumer inflation increases at fastest pace in nearly 1.5 years.
- Register for SCM Academies in Finance, and Planning
- Register for the Supply Chain Forum, April 8–10 in Knoxville
- Join the Advanced Supply Chain Collaborative to explore advanced concepts in SCM with top experts in the discipline.
- Read our latest white paper, “Unlocking the Potential of the Gen XYZ Labor Force”
- Become a Supply Chain Forum member
- Subscribe to GSCI’s monthly newsletter
- Read the latest news and insights from GSCI
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro & Outro (00:00):
Welcome to the Tennessee on Supply Chain
Management podcast.
Listen in as co-hosts Ted Stankand Tom Goldsby set sail into
the world of end-to-end supplychain management, diving deep
into today's most relevantbusiness topics.
They'll share insights andpressing industry issues and
tackle the challenges keepingsupply chain professionals up at
night.
If you're enjoying the ride,download and subscribe to
(00:22):
Tennessee on Supply ChainManagement on your favorite
podcast platform now.
Ted Stank (00:28):
Welcome listeners.
This is Ted Stank withTennessee on Supply Chain
Management podcast.
We're coming to you from ourFebruary 2025 Executive Advisory
Board meeting.
I'm informed by our producer,Brian Kniever, that this is
Season 3, Episode 5.
Really excited to be here withyou today.
These are always interestingtimes.
(00:48):
We're a full month into thePresident Trump's second
administration and anybody thathasn't been on the far side of
the galaxy has known thatthere's been a lot of things
happening politically thatimpact the economic environment
and the geopolitical environmentthat also impact our supply
chain environment.
We're going to track a fewthings that are happening today.
(01:09):
I'd like to welcome a couple ofpeople with me.
My partner in crime, TomGoldsby, is not with us here
today.
He's attending in a conferenceand expresses his sorrow for not
being here with us, but we havea real able co-host, Josh King,
our Global Supply ChainInstitute Marketing and
Operations Director.
He's also a UT MBA, worked fora while in customer supply chain
(01:30):
with SC Johnson.
Josh is joining us.
Welcome, Josh.
Josh King (01:34):
Welcome, ted.
I have to tell you that it isan honor to be on this podcast
with you, looking at where thispodcast has come from its origin
, seeing its progress andhelping it move along in the
back end a little bit.
I'm happy to be here sittingwith you talking to a great
guest.
Ted Stank (01:49):
Well, I'm happy to have you here with us too.
Josh King (01:51):
I'm feeling the BS meter going up a little bit high
, absolutely Well, I'm trying tomatch the standard level of the
podcast generally.
You're right.
Ted Stank (01:58):
We do that a lot.
So, hey, let us talk about ourguest.
I'm really, really happy towelcome an old friend of mine,
Barbara Melvin, who is thepresident and CEO of South
Carolina Ports Authority.
Just about everything we'retalking about.
We just had a briefing byMarianne Wanamaker, who was our
guest in December, about what'shappening today in the political
and economic environment, andjust about every one of the
(02:19):
themes that Marianne talks aboutis something that Barbara deals
with.
So I'm really looking forwardto having Barbara's commentary
on some of the things that arehappening.
Josh want to give us a quickupdate on some things that are
happening with the Institute.
Josh King (02:31):
Sure, well, you've mentioned it.
You know one of the thingsalready, which is the Executive
Advisory Board meeting.
We're so happy that in the pastcouple of weeks the Institute
has done some really excitingwork and we're looking forward
to some future events that wethink our members will really
benefit from.
So in the past we've had theAdvanced Supply Chain
Collaborative quarterly meetingI think we had some great
(02:51):
collaboration there followed bythe Expo the Expo right.
So career management, we hadCole Burns and our new colleague
Buki Abdul leading, I think, 50employers through meeting our
students who were looking forjobs and internships.
And then we're here at theadvisory board meeting where we
have, I think, record attendancesince the pandemic.
(03:12):
So I think we've got 30executives here coming to learn,
to advise and to help us keepon being the number one supply
chain management program in theworld In the future.
Final update you know we havean exciting event coming up
April 8th through the 10th herein Knoxville the Supply Chain
Forum.
So we're expecting around 700people there, students coming
(03:34):
and going.
We're excited to see the chiefsupply chain officer of the
tractor supply company, colinYankee, being on this podcast
live recorded there at the forum, and we encourage our partners
to go ahead and register, sowe're looking forward to seeing
them here in Knoxville in April.
That's the Institute update.
Ted Stank (03:50):
You know GSC, I'm marketing and operations
director.
Given that plug, I might cutoperations out of your time.
You're becoming a pure marketernow.
Josh King (03:58):
It's a heavy lift, but you know we have a great
team at the Institute, and soI'm able to look forward and
hopefully promote everythingwe're doing.
Ted Stank (04:05):
Quick plug on that expo in February.
We've always had a supply chainexclusive career services fair
in September.
This is the first time we didit in the winter and again, that
was something our advisoryboard really pushed us to do.
Well, josh, in the biggerpicture, let's start talking
about some of the things thatare going on in supply chain.
There's tariffs and threats oftariffs.
Some of them are nationallydirected, some of them are
(04:27):
commodity directed, like steeland aluminum.
A lot of talk about changingglobal trade patterns.
A lot of geopolitical thingshappening with Ukraine and
Russia, with Middle East and,right now, an uncertain peace
between Hamas and Israel.
Barbara, you probably know moreabout this.
I haven't seen that there'sbeen an increase in transits
through the Red Sea, but that'scertainly something that is
(04:50):
possible if there's peace there.
A lot of talk about immigrationcontrols, about DEI, et cetera.
There's just a lot going on.
Josh King (04:58):
There's so much going on right now and it's
interesting to see how supplychain management is affected or
interwoven throughout all of it.
Interesting to see how supplychain management is affected or
interwoven throughout all of it.
You know top line tariffs, Ibelieve.
In our last episode, tomGoldsby said that all of this
tariff talk is probably based onwhat he's hearing 60% rhetoric
and 40% fact.
I think we're getting some newinformation about what's fact
(05:20):
and what's rhetoric Since thelast episode.
What do you think is fact abouttariffs?
Ted Stank (05:25):
I mean, I think the only fact that we can really bet
on is that President Trump is aworld-class, well-renowned
negotiator and he's a toughnegotiator.
I mean, his book was the Heartof the Deal, right, and I think
for me, what I've seen is thatthese tariff threats are the
start of negotiating positions.
You know, the market was allworked up about the day that.
(05:47):
He said, starting midnighttonight, we're going to put a
25% tariff on Mexico and Canada,and I came into work and having
coffee that morning I can'tremember who I said it to was.
By the time we go home todaythere's going to be news from
both Mexico and Canada.
They've made concessions andwe're going to delay tariffs.
Sure enough.
Josh King (06:04):
Crystal ball.
Ted Stank (06:06):
That's not surprising .
I mean, he is what he is.
Love him or hate him, he iswhat he is.
He is a world-class negotiator,and I think that's part of what
he's doing.
We've heard some recent thingsabout steel and aluminum tariffs
.
I don't think we can share fromwhere we heard it from, but
interesting concessions on thatfront as well.
Josh King (06:30):
Interesting developments, and I think that
another interesting developmentthat I like to consider when
thinking about tariffs isinflation.
So typically, when I think oftariffs, I think of inflation,
and it sounds like, as of thenews reports yesterday, we may
not have achieved a soft landingand tariffs may be something
that could negatively impactinflation.
What are your thoughts on that?
Ted Stank (06:49):
Yeah, so today is February 13th, 2025.
February 12th.
Yesterday the new inflationdata came out for January and it
showed an uptick we're up to.
Cpi is around 3%.
They're saying a lot of it isdue to housing costs.
Most of us that own houses orare looking to buy houses know
that that market is not eased atall, and so there's thinking
(07:11):
that the Fed was premature incutting the federal rate back in
December.
One of the things again, whenyou hang out with economists,
you learn some reallyinteresting things.
One of the things I heard wasthat President Trump's leverage
in using threats of tariffs togain concessions may lose some
of their power if we are reallyon that edge of seeing inflation
(07:33):
come back, because the thoughtis he's not going to want to do
anything that's really going tocause inflation.
So you know we're just in atime of pretty significant
uncertainty, although inventoryto sales ratios look pretty good
.
We had a really good salesseason in November and December,
so holiday sales came throughlike a champ and that has eased
the burden a bit where everybodythought we were stocking up so
(07:54):
much in the summer months.
Largely, barbara, we'll talk toyou about this too, about the
threat of East Coast laborstrife at our ports.
So a lot of people were a lotof threats about what China
tariff war might be.
So we stocked up a lot but itseems that a lot of that
inventory is sold.
I think our latest inventory tosales ratio is 1.32, which is a
(08:16):
pretty good number, right?
So you know we're talking a lotaround the issue.
Let's bring Barbara in and gether take on this.
Josh King (08:23):
This is exciting to have her with us.
So to introduce Barbara alittle further, first and
foremost she is a Vol Go Vols.
She's a UT Executive MBA grad.
Among her many accolades, Imight add, she has won UT's
Nexus Woman in Supply Chain ofthe Year Award and I hear from
our students on a regular basisthat she is adored as a person
(08:44):
and revered as a role model.
So that's a little bit aboutBarbara Looking forward to
talking with you.
Barbara, welcome to the show.
Barbara Melvin (08:51):
Thank you so much.
It's great to be here.
I think I'm on round two, so Imust not have bombed the first
one too badly.
Ted Stank (08:57):
Yep, you're a special guest all the way back to
season one.
Josh King (09:00):
Great to have you back.
I was doing some research forthis conversation and these
facts really stood out to meabout the port.
So you're CEO of the Port ofCharleston Big job.
The Port of Charleston is oneof the fastest-growing ports in
the country and thefourth-busiest gateway on the
East Coast.
Charleston has the deepestharbor on the US East Coast and
(09:21):
this was fascinating to me.
Talk about labor implicationsOne out of nine South Carolina
jobs is tied to port operations.
Barbara Melvin (09:29):
That's correct.
Josh King (09:29):
Wow.
So what is it like having thatkind of weight and
responsibility?
Barbara Melvin (09:32):
Well, it's about as equal as it is to be a role
model for UT supply chainstudents.
It's quite an honor every dayto get up and think about
impacting one in nine jobs,either directly or indirectly,
in South Carolina, and we remindour workforce of that.
We want to make sure that theyhave a safe and productive day,
(09:56):
given the amount of people thatcount on them to do those jobs
and do them well and help usstand out as a port.
The port business is not forthe faint of heart.
You mentioned the deepeningproject.
We are capital intensivebusiness, probably only rivaled
by railroads and probably not asintensive in a railroad as we
(10:18):
are in ports.
And you know some of the issuesthat you brought up earlier
actually are playing a part inthat.
We all, as sports, look atbuying equipment and what do
steel cost?
Tariffs due to our ability tohave a reasonable purchase price
on our port equipment that haslong lead times.
(10:38):
So when there are long leadtimes for delivery of equipment,
uncertainty about where tariffsare just lead people to price
higher and not assume risk inwhat it may look like upon
delivery.
So a lot of what happens at aport is the same thing that a
family faces every day thedecisions you make.
(10:59):
Where do you invest yourcapital?
How about your people?
How do you keep your workforceinterested and active and safe
in what they're doing?
And then, how do you stand outamong other ports and what is
important to people in theirsupply chains?
That make you customer focused.
Ted Stank (11:18):
Yeah, I'd say, Barb.
I think we've known each otherfor probably closing on 10 years
now or more.
One of the things that's alwaysimpressed me about the
Charleston port is howinnovative and entrepreneurial
you all are.
I mean, Josh, you talked aboutdeepening the port.
I know I've walked with youduring that whole project and
getting the funding for it.
You've opened a couple of inlandports with rail connections
(11:40):
from those inland ports to theactual port so that you could
try to reduce congestion.
Former Charlestonian here, acity that I love dearly.
It's a peninsula.
It's historically hard to getdown to the port on the
peninsula and so anything youcan do to reduce congestion.
When you were in the MBAprogram with us, you were
working a year-long programabout getting a rail hub opened
(12:03):
right at the port so that railcars could side right up to the
port and be able to loadcontainers on and off.
So you all are so amazinglyinnovative.
Can you talk about that cultureand how you've kept that
culture going?
Barbara Melvin (12:16):
Sure, we like to call ourselves scrappy.
We don't think that we havecaptive cargo.
We consider every boxdiscretionary because we feel
like we have to earn it, and soevery day we are looking for
solutions inside of the supplychain.
Ports should be the leastselfish.
We should be doing things on adaily basis that allow for our
(12:39):
customers to be more successfuland then have enough earnings to
continue to invest in ourcapital and in our people.
You know, this is a businessthat allows us we're an
enterprise agency, which isreally interesting that we have
an aspect of us that isaffiliated with our state
government, our statelegislature, our governor.
(13:00):
We have a governing board thatalso interacts with our governor
and our state legislature, butyet we are expected to run on
business principles and reallyour value proposition is to be
the preferred port in thecountry.
We'll never be the largest,we'll never have airports or
other things affiliated with us,but when people say if I could
(13:24):
do business anywhere in thecountry, we want them to say we
choose the South Carolina port.
Ted Stank (13:29):
You've been pretty successful.
Again, I mentioned I was aCharlestonian back in the 80s
and I drive to Charleston todayand you come in on 26, and you
just see all the development ofmanufacturing, distribution et
cetera.
So much of that is related toaccessibility to the poor.
It's really an impressive thingto see.
Barbara Melvin (13:46):
Well, thank you, and I must say that it's also a
tremendous piece of the SouthCarolina business climate that
matters.
Our elected officials, ourbusiness stakeholders, they all
realize that when they invest inthe port they're investing
directly in economic developmentand infrastructure that
benefits South Carolinians andbeyond.
(14:08):
So we have customers wellbeyond the South Carolina
borders into other parts of thehinterland, and you know.
I must say too that the successof our port is largely due to
two UT grads.
My predecessor was veryinvolved in the UT supply chain
programs.
He's undergraduate and graduatedegrees from the University of
(14:29):
Tennessee and really got meinterested in it.
So learning from businesspeople who now teach, I think
it's the big game changer, thebig differentiator and of course
, Barb's talking about a goodfriend of ours, Jim Newsom,
who's been a guest on thispodcast.
Josh King (14:42):
You know, barbara, I'm struck by your use of the
term scrappy and a culture thatdoesn't take anything for
granted.
You know, the workforce thatyou get the opportunity to lead
is diverse and it is not immuneto labor issues.
So potential labor strikes,workforce shortages at ports and
those things really impactsupply chain.
(15:03):
How do you try to get in frontof that?
Be proactive and make sure thatthat scrappy workforce is
showing up for work and being asproductive as they can be.
Barbara Melvin (15:11):
Well, you know, the first thing is really
communication and having all ofthe maritime partners that work
around your terminals every dayhaving the same value system.
So we work together with ourstevedores, our international
longshoremen, our own workforce,our motor carriers.
It's a supply chain that has toall work together and if we
(15:33):
have one part of it that isfailing, we've all seen exactly
what happens.
So we try to have a sharedvalue system and a shared
culture.
When you hear us all talk, whatyou hear is we work at the
South Carolina ports.
We don't really differentiatejobs and so so far we have not
run into any availability oflabor issues.
(15:56):
We have people that still wantto work with us on a daily basis
.
We spend a lot of time onsafety and training and
productivity, and I think thatpays off for us and that's
across the board.
It doesn't matter who you'reworking for.
That's a shared culture that wehave, culture that we have.
(16:18):
And then, with regards to kindof labor situations, we
experienced exactly what everyboard experienced on the East
and Gulf Coast very temporarilyin October, and the good news
about that is the USMX, which isthe United States Maritime
Alliance and the InternationalLongshoremen's Association,
achieved a master contract withone side already ratifying it,
and the InternationalLongshoremen will do that at the
(16:38):
end of February, and that againrestores confidence in our
labor force and our productivityand our fluidity on the East
and Gulf, just as the West Coastwas able to achieve for the
next six years.
So that is certainty, and whatdoes business benefit the most
from Certainty?
Ted Stank (16:57):
Can you share a little bit?
Are you allowed to share alittle bit of some of those
conversations?
I know the world was holdingits breath at least the US
domestic business world washolding its breath about the
East Coast port labor situation.
The word on the street was thiswas all about maintaining jobs
for the unions and again thepopular press was that it was
(17:20):
kind of an anti-automation moveby the unions to protect jobs.
Can you kind of talk a littlebit about that?
And again, what projections arefor you?
Again, to give everybody acontext, we just came from a
talk by Marianne Wanamakertalking about how dire the labor
situation is going to be outinto the not too distant future.
And so certainly a port thatemploys a lot of people, that's
(17:41):
got to be top of mind for you.
Barbara Melvin (17:43):
Sure.
Well, I don't sit at thatnegotiating table so I can share
what I understand the resultsof the negotiations to be.
I think it was twofold to be.
I think it was twofold.
When you have a six-yearcontract and you have something
like COVID that interrupted thatsix-year contract, you know you
could.
What I believe theinternational longshoremen saw
(18:06):
were lagging wages based oninflation that came about during
that period.
So when you roll the dice on asix-year contract and don't have
in it something that mitigatesfor additional wage growth when
prices go up, that's going tohave a lasting effect on the
next negotiation.
So I think that was part of thewage story was that by the time
(18:29):
that six-year contract expiredtheir wages had not kept up with
inflation.
So the large percentages youheard were a result of them
being further behind, becausethe employers were able to
benefit from the lower wagesthan the international
longshoremen needed to catch up.
On the other side of it, Ibelieve what the result of
(18:52):
conversations around investmentsin technology and automation
really centered on.
As a result of theconversations, I believe
improvements in productivity andsafety.
So if you could make thatworker, who you're not replacing
with the technology, moreproductive in their job and in a
safer environment.
(19:12):
The international longshoremenhave said we want to look at
that, we want to review it, andif that's exactly what you're
doing, that's an investment thatwe will support.
So I think that that's fair and, frankly, it's the same way we
look at our investments intechnology If it is allowing for
that worker not to replace them, but to make them safer and
(19:34):
more productive in their job.
That's what we support and whatwe invest in.
And I think it's important too,because we have a dual mission
we are to move waterbornecommerce and to support economic
development.
And by supporting economicdevelopment we see that as a job
.
So we need to help create jobsand clearly one in nine is
(19:56):
either directly or indirectlyrelated to our success.
So we must be doing somethingright.
And the productivity at ourport is mentioned, not by us,
but in a report measuringproductivity around the world.
We are the top in the UnitedStates.
Yeah, I've seen that product andwe don't have the automation
(20:16):
that was being talked about.
These are our workers, ourpartners in the International
Longshoremen's Association, ourstevedores, our tug pilots, our
harbor pilots, our motorcarriers.
Those are the people achievingthat productivity, our railroads
.
Josh King (20:31):
What a statement to have productivity enabled
through people and through aculture, Switching gears a
little bit.
Last night at dinner we wereprivileged to have you with us
and also to have Hardy Pearson,who is on the advisory board,
who's a senior VP of sales andcustomer service at Hapag-Lloyd,
and I think our dinner was theday after the big announcement
(20:53):
about the new alliance betweenHapagloid and Maersk and I know
that I was excited to see it.
I believe it's called theGemini Cooperation Correct and
it's driving towards reliability.
So when you see those types ofalliances, are you excited about
that kind of cooperation?
Barbara Melvin (21:09):
Of course you know, the world in ocean
shipping has been clustered inalliances now for quite a few
years and just this year we'veseen some shifting in the
alliances and we've seen theMediterranean shipping company
go out on their own, althoughyou know, they are still having
vessel cooperation with otherocean carriers, with other ocean
(21:31):
carriers.
But anytime that there arechoices in which ocean carrier
you use, then those oceancarriers are each providing
different solutions to theircustomers.
Such as Gemini is concentratingon service reliability and
(21:52):
on-time performance of theirships.
Others, including Gemini, aremaking investments in newer
technology and how they powertheir ships, so fuels of the
future.
I mean it's really exciting howthey work together and yet
challenge each other indifferent alliances to make
improvements in what is, youknow, an innovative industry.
Although most people just see aship, they have no idea what
(22:13):
all goes behind those thoughts,but it's an innovative industry
that has always looked to thefuture to make improvements in
the way they do business.
Ted Stank (22:22):
And also you know that capital intensiveness you
mentioned before.
You talk about having to make abet in terms of investment.
Barbara Melvin (22:28):
Absolutely.
You know you can build a shipin three years, but it takes 10
to 12 to deepen a harbor.
So you're constantly, as a port, reacting to the industry and
trying to make sure that, asyou're making very long-term
capital investments, that theyare sufficient enough to support
Gen 1, gen 2, and Gen 3 ofwhatever the ocean carriers are
(22:51):
thinking.
Ted Stank (22:51):
next, Am I right in my perception that the carriers
have backed off a little bitfrom building bigger and bigger
and bigger container ships?
Barbara Melvin (22:58):
I think that there was certainly an
achievement of an economies ofscale.
If you have to add a secondengine, are you really doing
much to reduce fuel consumptionor create efficiencies?
How many ports can those reallylarge ships actually call and
what trade lanes support thatmuch capacity on them?
And so you know, I think you'llstill see the largest ships on
(23:22):
the water existing between Asiaand Europe trades.
And then the cascading effectof those 16 to 18,000 to 20,000
TEU ships, you know, and you seethem today, really start to
appear in US trades, west Coastand East Coast.
As a matter of fact, very soonwe'll have our largest ship ever
coming in to the port and it'sgreater than 16,000, but it, by
(23:45):
record, will be a few containerslarger than the last one that
we had.
You know, those investments,when they make them from a ship
perspective, have to call morethan one port.
So you're only as good as theports that you need in your
network.
Josh King (24:04):
So, ted, we're coming up towards the end of the show
here and I noticed that at thebeginning of the show you really
tried to tempt Barbara withsome hot topics and she, just
she, wasn't taking them.
Ted Stank (24:10):
So I think she's taken them all.
I do have one more for her,okay, okay, so we haven't talked
about tariffs and the impact oftariffs on global trade and
trade patterns etc.
I mean, obviously tariffsagainst Mexico and Canada aren't
going to affect you as an oceanport very much, although maybe
if we start trading withsomebody else because we don't
(24:30):
get it from Mexico or Canada.
But the next I think next bigfrontier of tariff talks is with
Europe and our European tradepartners.
What kind of thoughts do youall have on changing trade lanes
and how tariffs might impact it?
Barbara Melvin (24:44):
So, around the subject of tariffs, so far I'm
not sure that we have a goodunderstanding of the ground
rules and I do believe that theyare one arrow in the quiver of
a leader who is seeking toequalize trading with our
(25:04):
country and nobody can blame himfor that and I think, as you
stated, he's an excellentnegotiator.
But countries, businesses, ifwe are to pivot from supply
chains that we have today, needto understand where is it safe
to go.
So we've got to understand, ifwe do change from some of our
(25:25):
trading partners largest tradingpartners today where do we go?
What is a victory defined as?
What does the win look like?
And then, in the long run, howis it going to impact our
exporting?
Because if this becomes well, ifwe do this to you, what are you
going to do to us?
I think we've got to keep oureye on the ball of how we are
(25:47):
going to be able to export,because there've been a lot of
industries that we have talkedas a country, strategically,
about returning to the UnitedStates.
We can be the leader in thoseindustries and become larger
exporters of that, but then wehave our meat and potatoes, not
to make a food joke, but weexport food and forest products
(26:09):
and resins around the world.
We need to make sure we canstill do that and not hurt our
farmers.
So it's really the rules andwhat is the win and how do we
use tariffs to achieve thosewins without enduring negative
impacts on our own economy?
Ted Stank (26:24):
Today?
What are your biggest tradelines today, both on the import
and exports?
Barbara Melvin (26:28):
Asia, India, Southeast Asia.
So the promise of the newPanama.
Ted Stank (26:32):
Canal locks has really paid off in terms of
Asian trade.
Barbara Melvin (26:35):
Absolutely and then impactfully.
We have seen much longertransit times around the Cape
because of the no use of the RedSea and the Suez Canal and
we're very hopeful that thatcomes back soon.
You've seen ocean carrierstalking about the impact that
that has on their profitabilitycarriers talking about the
(26:57):
impact that that has on theirprofitability.
So there is a very strong hopethat trade lanes return to
normal through the Suez Canalsoon, but they need to be safe.
You can't-.
Ted Stank (27:02):
Has there been any increase in the last, you know,
couple of weeks?
No, we haven't.
Barbara Melvin (27:06):
I think that the ocean carriers will be cautious
in returning to those tradelanes and they need to make sure
that they're stable.
Ted Stank (27:15):
Well, okay, I think we're getting a high sign from
Brian that we need to wrap thisup.
Josh King (27:18):
Yeah, you know, Barbara has some students to go
meet with next she does.
Ted Stank (27:21):
She's going to meet with those students that worship
her.
Josh King (27:23):
Absolutely so.
Parting moment, barbara, if youhave something to deliver to a
student interested in your area,interested in becoming a leader
in your area what would you sayto encourage that person to
(27:43):
drive them forward?
Barbara Melvin (27:44):
Always take advantage of a good crisis.
And the pandemic spotlightedthe importance of supply chain.
Our supply chain folks nolonger are sitting just in
procurement, they're sitting inboard meetings.
They're interacting witheveryone in the C-suite because
of the importance of fluidity,not just in inventory but
transportation costs and reallyacross the board, and how
important what they do is forthe health of their company or
(28:07):
their business or their port orwhatever portion of supply chain
they go into and really sitproudly at that board table and
interact and give input, becausethe economy showed it when we
are failing it has lastingimpact and so we can't do it
again.
We have to learn.
Josh King (28:28):
True words.
Ted Stank (28:29):
Love it.
Yeah, one of the attendees atour advisory board meeting told
me last night this is a housingproducts manufacturing company
that just before he came to themeeting yesterday he had a
one-hour meeting scheduled withthe CEO and it turned into a
three-and-a-half-hour meeting atthe CEO's request because the
CEO didn't have strong supplychain background and needed that
(28:51):
insight.
And this person does sit atthat executive level, which is
really good to hear that peopleare listening to us.
Barbara Melvin (28:57):
Absolutely.
Barbara, thank you so much forbeing with us.
I don't want to hold you fromthe students.
Ted Stank (29:02):
Josh, fill in.
Josh, you did a great job Doingmy best, all right, thanks for
leading the way, ted.
Yeah, okay, everybody, we'regoing to wrap today, as always.
If you want to get in touchwith us, gsci at utkedu, send us
questions, send us potentialguests you'd like to hear, love,
to hear from you, our listeners, so that we can make this more
focused on the kind of thingsy'all want to hear.
(29:24):
With that, we're going toadjourn and we will see you in
March.
Well, you'll hear us.
I have a voice for radio.
No, no, it's not a voice, thesaying is yeah, I have a face
for radio.
Josh King (29:35):
You certainly have a hairdo for radio.
Ted Stank (29:37):
Yeah, that's true.
All right everybody, Thank you.
Thank you, Josh and Barbara.
We're going to adjourn.
See you soon.
Intro & Outro (29:44):
Thanks for tuning in to Tennessee on Supply Chain
Management.
If you enjoyed the episode,subscribe today on your favorite
listening platform to get allof our episodes as soon as they
drop, and don't forget to take amoment to leave us a rating.
Have any questions, thoughts orfeedback?
We'd love to hear from ourlisteners.
Email us at gsci at utkedu.
Join us next time as wecontinue pulling back the
(30:07):
curtain on the world of supplychain, educating and
entertaining you along the way.
Until then, listeners.
Welcome to the Tennessee on Supply Chain
Management podcast.
Listen in as co-hosts Ted Stankand Tom Goldsby set sail into
the world of end-to-end supplychain management, diving deep
into today's most relevantbusiness topics.
They'll share insights andpressing industry issues and
tackle the challenges keepingsupply chain professionals up at
night.
If you're enjoying the ride,download and subscribe to
(00:22):
Tennessee on Supply ChainManagement on your favorite
podcast platform now.
Ted Stank (00:28):
Welcome listeners.
This is Ted Stank withTennessee on Supply Chain
Management podcast.
We're coming to you from ourFebruary 2025 Executive Advisory
Board meeting.
I'm informed by our producer,Brian Kniever, that this is
Season 3, Episode 5.
Really excited to be here withyou today.
These are always interestingtimes.
(00:48):
We're a full month into thePresident Trump's second
administration and anybody thathasn't been on the far side of
the galaxy has known thatthere's been a lot of things
happening politically thatimpact the economic environment
and the geopolitical environmentthat also impact our supply
chain environment.
We're going to track a fewthings that are happening today.
(01:09):
I'd like to welcome a couple ofpeople with me.
My partner in crime, TomGoldsby, is not with us here
today.
He's attending in a conferenceand expresses his sorrow for not
being here with us, but we havea real able co-host, Josh King,
our Global Supply ChainInstitute Marketing and
Operations Director.
He's also a UT MBA, worked fora while in customer supply chain
(01:30):
with SC Johnson.
Josh is joining us.
Welcome, Josh.
Josh King (01:34):
Welcome, ted.
I have to tell you that it isan honor to be on this podcast
with you, looking at where thispodcast has come from its origin
, seeing its progress andhelping it move along in the
back end a little bit.
I'm happy to be here sittingwith you talking to a great
guest.
Ted Stank (01:49):
Well, I'm happy to have you here with us too.
Josh King (01:51):
I'm feeling the BS meter going up a little bit high
, absolutely Well, I'm trying tomatch the standard level of the
podcast generally.
You're right.
Ted Stank (01:58):
We do that a lot.
So, hey, let us talk about ourguest.
I'm really, really happy towelcome an old friend of mine,
Barbara Melvin, who is thepresident and CEO of South
Carolina Ports Authority.
Just about everything we'retalking about.
We just had a briefing byMarianne Wanamaker, who was our
guest in December, about what'shappening today in the political
and economic environment, andjust about every one of the
(02:19):
themes that Marianne talks aboutis something that Barbara deals
with.
So I'm really looking forwardto having Barbara's commentary
on some of the things that arehappening.
Josh want to give us a quickupdate on some things that are
happening with the Institute.
Josh King (02:31):
Sure, well, you've mentioned it.
You know one of the thingsalready, which is the Executive
Advisory Board meeting.
We're so happy that in the pastcouple of weeks the Institute
has done some really excitingwork and we're looking forward
to some future events that wethink our members will really
benefit from.
So in the past we've had theAdvanced Supply Chain
Collaborative quarterly meetingI think we had some great
(02:51):
collaboration there followed bythe Expo the Expo right.
So career management, we hadCole Burns and our new colleague
Buki Abdul leading, I think, 50employers through meeting our
students who were looking forjobs and internships.
And then we're here at theadvisory board meeting where we
have, I think, record attendancesince the pandemic.
(03:12):
So I think we've got 30executives here coming to learn,
to advise and to help us keepon being the number one supply
chain management program in theworld In the future.
Final update you know we havean exciting event coming up
April 8th through the 10th herein Knoxville the Supply Chain
Forum.
So we're expecting around 700people there, students coming
(03:34):
and going.
We're excited to see the chiefsupply chain officer of the
tractor supply company, colinYankee, being on this podcast
live recorded there at the forum, and we encourage our partners
to go ahead and register, sowe're looking forward to seeing
them here in Knoxville in April.
That's the Institute update.
Ted Stank (03:50):
You know GSC, I'm marketing and operations
director.
Given that plug, I might cutoperations out of your time.
You're becoming a pure marketernow.
Josh King (03:58):
It's a heavy lift, but you know we have a great
team at the Institute, and soI'm able to look forward and
hopefully promote everythingwe're doing.
Ted Stank (04:05):
Quick plug on that expo in February.
We've always had a supply chainexclusive career services fair
in September.
This is the first time we didit in the winter and again, that
was something our advisoryboard really pushed us to do.
Well, josh, in the biggerpicture, let's start talking
about some of the things thatare going on in supply chain.
There's tariffs and threats oftariffs.
Some of them are nationallydirected, some of them are
(04:27):
commodity directed, like steeland aluminum.
A lot of talk about changingglobal trade patterns.
A lot of geopolitical thingshappening with Ukraine and
Russia, with Middle East and,right now, an uncertain peace
between Hamas and Israel.
Barbara, you probably know moreabout this.
I haven't seen that there'sbeen an increase in transits
through the Red Sea, but that'scertainly something that is
(04:50):
possible if there's peace there.
A lot of talk about immigrationcontrols, about DEI, et cetera.
There's just a lot going on.
Josh King (04:58):
There's so much going on right now and it's
interesting to see how supplychain management is affected or
interwoven throughout all of it.
Interesting to see how supplychain management is affected or
interwoven throughout all of it.
You know top line tariffs, Ibelieve.
In our last episode, tomGoldsby said that all of this
tariff talk is probably based onwhat he's hearing 60% rhetoric
and 40% fact.
I think we're getting some newinformation about what's fact
(05:20):
and what's rhetoric Since thelast episode.
What do you think is fact abouttariffs?
Ted Stank (05:25):
I mean, I think the only fact that we can really bet
on is that President Trump is aworld-class, well-renowned
negotiator and he's a toughnegotiator.
I mean, his book was the Heartof the Deal, right, and I think
for me, what I've seen is thatthese tariff threats are the
start of negotiating positions.
You know, the market was allworked up about the day that.
(05:47):
He said, starting midnighttonight, we're going to put a
25% tariff on Mexico and Canada,and I came into work and having
coffee that morning I can'tremember who I said it to was.
By the time we go home todaythere's going to be news from
both Mexico and Canada.
They've made concessions andwe're going to delay tariffs.
Sure enough.
Josh King (06:04):
Crystal ball.
Ted Stank (06:06):
That's not surprising .
I mean, he is what he is.
Love him or hate him, he iswhat he is.
He is a world-class negotiator,and I think that's part of what
he's doing.
We've heard some recent thingsabout steel and aluminum tariffs
.
I don't think we can share fromwhere we heard it from, but
interesting concessions on thatfront as well.
Josh King (06:30):
Interesting developments, and I think that
another interesting developmentthat I like to consider when
thinking about tariffs isinflation.
So typically, when I think oftariffs, I think of inflation,
and it sounds like, as of thenews reports yesterday, we may
not have achieved a soft landingand tariffs may be something
that could negatively impactinflation.
What are your thoughts on that?
Ted Stank (06:49):
Yeah, so today is February 13th, 2025.
February 12th.
Yesterday the new inflationdata came out for January and it
showed an uptick we're up to.
Cpi is around 3%.
They're saying a lot of it isdue to housing costs.
Most of us that own houses orare looking to buy houses know
that that market is not eased atall, and so there's thinking
(07:11):
that the Fed was premature incutting the federal rate back in
December.
One of the things again, whenyou hang out with economists,
you learn some reallyinteresting things.
One of the things I heard wasthat President Trump's leverage
in using threats of tariffs togain concessions may lose some
of their power if we are reallyon that edge of seeing inflation
(07:33):
come back, because the thoughtis he's not going to want to do
anything that's really going tocause inflation.
So you know we're just in atime of pretty significant
uncertainty, although inventoryto sales ratios look pretty good
.
We had a really good salesseason in November and December,
so holiday sales came throughlike a champ and that has eased
the burden a bit where everybodythought we were stocking up so
(07:54):
much in the summer months.
Largely, barbara, we'll talk toyou about this too, about the
threat of East Coast laborstrife at our ports.
So a lot of people were a lotof threats about what China
tariff war might be.
So we stocked up a lot but itseems that a lot of that
inventory is sold.
I think our latest inventory tosales ratio is 1.32, which is a
(08:16):
pretty good number, right?
So you know we're talking a lotaround the issue.
Let's bring Barbara in and gether take on this.
Josh King (08:23):
This is exciting to have her with us.
So to introduce Barbara alittle further, first and
foremost she is a Vol Go Vols.
She's a UT Executive MBA grad.
Among her many accolades, Imight add, she has won UT's
Nexus Woman in Supply Chain ofthe Year Award and I hear from
our students on a regular basisthat she is adored as a person
(08:44):
and revered as a role model.
So that's a little bit aboutBarbara Looking forward to
talking with you.
Barbara, welcome to the show.
Barbara Melvin (08:51):
Thank you so much.
It's great to be here.
I think I'm on round two, so Imust not have bombed the first
one too badly.
Ted Stank (08:57):
Yep, you're a special guest all the way back to
season one.
Josh King (09:00):
Great to have you back.
I was doing some research forthis conversation and these
facts really stood out to meabout the port.
So you're CEO of the Port ofCharleston Big job.
The Port of Charleston is oneof the fastest-growing ports in
the country and thefourth-busiest gateway on the
East Coast.
Charleston has the deepestharbor on the US East Coast and
(09:21):
this was fascinating to me.
Talk about labor implicationsOne out of nine South Carolina
jobs is tied to port operations.
Barbara Melvin (09:29):
That's correct.
Josh King (09:29):
Wow.
So what is it like having thatkind of weight and
responsibility?
Barbara Melvin (09:32):
Well, it's about as equal as it is to be a role
model for UT supply chainstudents.
It's quite an honor every dayto get up and think about
impacting one in nine jobs,either directly or indirectly,
in South Carolina, and we remindour workforce of that.
We want to make sure that theyhave a safe and productive day,
(09:56):
given the amount of people thatcount on them to do those jobs
and do them well and help usstand out as a port.
The port business is not forthe faint of heart.
You mentioned the deepeningproject.
We are capital intensivebusiness, probably only rivaled
by railroads and probably not asintensive in a railroad as we
(10:18):
are in ports.
And you know some of the issuesthat you brought up earlier
actually are playing a part inthat.
We all, as sports, look atbuying equipment and what do
steel cost?
Tariffs due to our ability tohave a reasonable purchase price
on our port equipment that haslong lead times.
(10:38):
So when there are long leadtimes for delivery of equipment,
uncertainty about where tariffsare just lead people to price
higher and not assume risk inwhat it may look like upon
delivery.
So a lot of what happens at aport is the same thing that a
family faces every day thedecisions you make.
(10:59):
Where do you invest yourcapital?
How about your people?
How do you keep your workforceinterested and active and safe
in what they're doing?
And then, how do you stand outamong other ports and what is
important to people in theirsupply chains?
That make you customer focused.
Ted Stank (11:18):
Yeah, I'd say, Barb.
I think we've known each otherfor probably closing on 10 years
now or more.
One of the things that's alwaysimpressed me about the
Charleston port is howinnovative and entrepreneurial
you all are.
I mean, Josh, you talked aboutdeepening the port.
I know I've walked with youduring that whole project and
getting the funding for it.
You've opened a couple of inlandports with rail connections
(11:40):
from those inland ports to theactual port so that you could
try to reduce congestion.
Former Charlestonian here, acity that I love dearly.
It's a peninsula.
It's historically hard to getdown to the port on the
peninsula and so anything youcan do to reduce congestion.
When you were in the MBAprogram with us, you were
working a year-long programabout getting a rail hub opened
(12:03):
right at the port so that railcars could side right up to the
port and be able to loadcontainers on and off.
So you all are so amazinglyinnovative.
Can you talk about that cultureand how you've kept that
culture going?
Barbara Melvin (12:16):
Sure, we like to call ourselves scrappy.
We don't think that we havecaptive cargo.
We consider every boxdiscretionary because we feel
like we have to earn it, and soevery day we are looking for
solutions inside of the supplychain.
Ports should be the leastselfish.
We should be doing things on adaily basis that allow for our
(12:39):
customers to be more successfuland then have enough earnings to
continue to invest in ourcapital and in our people.
You know, this is a businessthat allows us we're an
enterprise agency, which isreally interesting that we have
an aspect of us that isaffiliated with our state
government, our statelegislature, our governor.
(13:00):
We have a governing board thatalso interacts with our governor
and our state legislature, butyet we are expected to run on
business principles and reallyour value proposition is to be
the preferred port in thecountry.
We'll never be the largest,we'll never have airports or
other things affiliated with us,but when people say if I could
(13:24):
do business anywhere in thecountry, we want them to say we
choose the South Carolina port.
Ted Stank (13:29):
You've been pretty successful.
Again, I mentioned I was aCharlestonian back in the 80s
and I drive to Charleston todayand you come in on 26, and you
just see all the development ofmanufacturing, distribution et
cetera.
So much of that is related toaccessibility to the poor.
It's really an impressive thingto see.
Barbara Melvin (13:46):
Well, thank you, and I must say that it's also a
tremendous piece of the SouthCarolina business climate that
matters.
Our elected officials, ourbusiness stakeholders, they all
realize that when they invest inthe port they're investing
directly in economic developmentand infrastructure that
benefits South Carolinians andbeyond.
(14:08):
So we have customers wellbeyond the South Carolina
borders into other parts of thehinterland, and you know.
I must say too that the successof our port is largely due to
two UT grads.
My predecessor was veryinvolved in the UT supply chain
programs.
He's undergraduate and graduatedegrees from the University of
(14:29):
Tennessee and really got meinterested in it.
So learning from businesspeople who now teach, I think
it's the big game changer, thebig differentiator and of course
, Barb's talking about a goodfriend of ours, Jim Newsom,
who's been a guest on thispodcast.
Josh King (14:42):
You know, barbara, I'm struck by your use of the
term scrappy and a culture thatdoesn't take anything for
granted.
You know, the workforce thatyou get the opportunity to lead
is diverse and it is not immuneto labor issues.
So potential labor strikes,workforce shortages at ports and
those things really impactsupply chain.
(15:03):
How do you try to get in frontof that?
Be proactive and make sure thatthat scrappy workforce is
showing up for work and being asproductive as they can be.
Barbara Melvin (15:11):
Well, you know, the first thing is really
communication and having all ofthe maritime partners that work
around your terminals every dayhaving the same value system.
So we work together with ourstevedores, our international
longshoremen, our own workforce,our motor carriers.
It's a supply chain that has toall work together and if we
(15:33):
have one part of it that isfailing, we've all seen exactly
what happens.
So we try to have a sharedvalue system and a shared
culture.
When you hear us all talk, whatyou hear is we work at the
South Carolina ports.
We don't really differentiatejobs and so so far we have not
run into any availability oflabor issues.
(15:56):
We have people that still wantto work with us on a daily basis
.
We spend a lot of time onsafety and training and
productivity, and I think thatpays off for us and that's
across the board.
It doesn't matter who you'reworking for.
That's a shared culture that wehave, culture that we have.
(16:18):
And then, with regards to kindof labor situations, we
experienced exactly what everyboard experienced on the East
and Gulf Coast very temporarilyin October, and the good news
about that is the USMX, which isthe United States Maritime
Alliance and the InternationalLongshoremen's Association,
achieved a master contract withone side already ratifying it,
and the InternationalLongshoremen will do that at the
(16:38):
end of February, and that againrestores confidence in our
labor force and our productivityand our fluidity on the East
and Gulf, just as the West Coastwas able to achieve for the
next six years.
So that is certainty, and whatdoes business benefit the most
from Certainty?
Ted Stank (16:57):
Can you share a little bit?
Are you allowed to share alittle bit of some of those
conversations?
I know the world was holdingits breath at least the US
domestic business world washolding its breath about the
East Coast port labor situation.
The word on the street was thiswas all about maintaining jobs
for the unions and again thepopular press was that it was
(17:20):
kind of an anti-automation moveby the unions to protect jobs.
Can you kind of talk a littlebit about that?
And again, what projections arefor you?
Again, to give everybody acontext, we just came from a
talk by Marianne Wanamakertalking about how dire the labor
situation is going to be outinto the not too distant future.
And so certainly a port thatemploys a lot of people, that's
(17:41):
got to be top of mind for you.
Barbara Melvin (17:43):
Sure.
Well, I don't sit at thatnegotiating table so I can share
what I understand the resultsof the negotiations to be.
I think it was twofold to be.
I think it was twofold.
When you have a six-yearcontract and you have something
like COVID that interrupted thatsix-year contract, you know you
could.
What I believe theinternational longshoremen saw
(18:06):
were lagging wages based oninflation that came about during
that period.
So when you roll the dice on asix-year contract and don't have
in it something that mitigatesfor additional wage growth when
prices go up, that's going tohave a lasting effect on the
next negotiation.
So I think that was part of thewage story was that by the time
(18:29):
that six-year contract expiredtheir wages had not kept up with
inflation.
So the large percentages youheard were a result of them
being further behind, becausethe employers were able to
benefit from the lower wagesthan the international
longshoremen needed to catch up.
On the other side of it, Ibelieve what the result of
(18:52):
conversations around investmentsin technology and automation
really centered on.
As a result of theconversations, I believe
improvements in productivity andsafety.
So if you could make thatworker, who you're not replacing
with the technology, moreproductive in their job and in a
safer environment.
(19:12):
The international longshoremenhave said we want to look at
that, we want to review it, andif that's exactly what you're
doing, that's an investment thatwe will support.
So I think that that's fair and, frankly, it's the same way we
look at our investments intechnology If it is allowing for
that worker not to replace them, but to make them safer and
(19:34):
more productive in their job.
That's what we support and whatwe invest in.
And I think it's important too,because we have a dual mission
we are to move waterbornecommerce and to support economic
development.
And by supporting economicdevelopment we see that as a job
.
So we need to help create jobsand clearly one in nine is
(19:56):
either directly or indirectlyrelated to our success.
So we must be doing somethingright.
And the productivity at ourport is mentioned, not by us,
but in a report measuringproductivity around the world.
We are the top in the UnitedStates.
Yeah, I've seen that product andwe don't have the automation
(20:16):
that was being talked about.
These are our workers, ourpartners in the International
Longshoremen's Association, ourstevedores, our tug pilots, our
harbor pilots, our motorcarriers.
Those are the people achievingthat productivity, our railroads
.
Josh King (20:31):
What a statement to have productivity enabled
through people and through aculture, Switching gears a
little bit.
Last night at dinner we wereprivileged to have you with us
and also to have Hardy Pearson,who is on the advisory board,
who's a senior VP of sales andcustomer service at Hapag-Lloyd,
and I think our dinner was theday after the big announcement
(20:53):
about the new alliance betweenHapagloid and Maersk and I know
that I was excited to see it.
I believe it's called theGemini Cooperation Correct and
it's driving towards reliability.
So when you see those types ofalliances, are you excited about
that kind of cooperation?
Barbara Melvin (21:09):
Of course you know, the world in ocean
shipping has been clustered inalliances now for quite a few
years and just this year we'veseen some shifting in the
alliances and we've seen theMediterranean shipping company
go out on their own, althoughyou know, they are still having
vessel cooperation with otherocean carriers, with other ocean
(21:31):
carriers.
But anytime that there arechoices in which ocean carrier
you use, then those oceancarriers are each providing
different solutions to theircustomers.
Such as Gemini is concentratingon service reliability and
(21:52):
on-time performance of theirships.
Others, including Gemini, aremaking investments in newer
technology and how they powertheir ships, so fuels of the
future.
I mean it's really exciting howthey work together and yet
challenge each other indifferent alliances to make
improvements in what is, youknow, an innovative industry.
Although most people just see aship, they have no idea what
(22:13):
all goes behind those thoughts,but it's an innovative industry
that has always looked to thefuture to make improvements in
the way they do business.
Ted Stank (22:22):
And also you know that capital intensiveness you
mentioned before.
You talk about having to make abet in terms of investment.
Barbara Melvin (22:28):
Absolutely.
You know you can build a shipin three years, but it takes 10
to 12 to deepen a harbor.
So you're constantly, as a port, reacting to the industry and
trying to make sure that, asyou're making very long-term
capital investments, that theyare sufficient enough to support
Gen 1, gen 2, and Gen 3 ofwhatever the ocean carriers are
(22:51):
thinking.
Ted Stank (22:51):
next, Am I right in my perception that the carriers
have backed off a little bitfrom building bigger and bigger
and bigger container ships?
Barbara Melvin (22:58):
I think that there was certainly an
achievement of an economies ofscale.
If you have to add a secondengine, are you really doing
much to reduce fuel consumptionor create efficiencies?
How many ports can those reallylarge ships actually call and
what trade lanes support thatmuch capacity on them?
And so you know, I think you'llstill see the largest ships on
(23:22):
the water existing between Asiaand Europe trades.
And then the cascading effectof those 16 to 18,000 to 20,000
TEU ships, you know, and you seethem today, really start to
appear in US trades, west Coastand East Coast.
As a matter of fact, very soonwe'll have our largest ship ever
coming in to the port and it'sgreater than 16,000, but it, by
(23:45):
record, will be a few containerslarger than the last one that
we had.
You know, those investments,when they make them from a ship
perspective, have to call morethan one port.
So you're only as good as theports that you need in your
network.
Josh King (24:04):
So, ted, we're coming up towards the end of the show
here and I noticed that at thebeginning of the show you really
tried to tempt Barbara withsome hot topics and she, just
she, wasn't taking them.
Ted Stank (24:10):
So I think she's taken them all.
I do have one more for her,okay, okay, so we haven't talked
about tariffs and the impact oftariffs on global trade and
trade patterns etc.
I mean, obviously tariffsagainst Mexico and Canada aren't
going to affect you as an oceanport very much, although maybe
if we start trading withsomebody else because we don't
(24:30):
get it from Mexico or Canada.
But the next I think next bigfrontier of tariff talks is with
Europe and our European tradepartners.
What kind of thoughts do youall have on changing trade lanes
and how tariffs might impact it?
Barbara Melvin (24:44):
So, around the subject of tariffs, so far I'm
not sure that we have a goodunderstanding of the ground
rules and I do believe that theyare one arrow in the quiver of
a leader who is seeking toequalize trading with our
(25:04):
country and nobody can blame himfor that and I think, as you
stated, he's an excellentnegotiator.
But countries, businesses, ifwe are to pivot from supply
chains that we have today, needto understand where is it safe
to go.
So we've got to understand, ifwe do change from some of our
(25:25):
trading partners largest tradingpartners today where do we go?
What is a victory defined as?
What does the win look like?
And then, in the long run, howis it going to impact our
exporting?
Because if this becomes well, ifwe do this to you, what are you
going to do to us?
I think we've got to keep oureye on the ball of how we are
(25:47):
going to be able to export,because there've been a lot of
industries that we have talkedas a country, strategically,
about returning to the UnitedStates.
We can be the leader in thoseindustries and become larger
exporters of that, but then wehave our meat and potatoes, not
to make a food joke, but weexport food and forest products
(26:09):
and resins around the world.
We need to make sure we canstill do that and not hurt our
farmers.
So it's really the rules andwhat is the win and how do we
use tariffs to achieve thosewins without enduring negative
impacts on our own economy?
Ted Stank (26:24):
Today?
What are your biggest tradelines today, both on the import
and exports?
Barbara Melvin (26:28):
Asia, India, Southeast Asia.
So the promise of the newPanama.
Ted Stank (26:32):
Canal locks has really paid off in terms of
Asian trade.
Barbara Melvin (26:35):
Absolutely and then impactfully.
We have seen much longertransit times around the Cape
because of the no use of the RedSea and the Suez Canal and
we're very hopeful that thatcomes back soon.
You've seen ocean carrierstalking about the impact that
that has on their profitabilitycarriers talking about the
(26:57):
impact that that has on theirprofitability.
So there is a very strong hopethat trade lanes return to
normal through the Suez Canalsoon, but they need to be safe.
You can't-.
Ted Stank (27:02):
Has there been any increase in the last, you know,
couple of weeks?
No, we haven't.
Barbara Melvin (27:06):
I think that the ocean carriers will be cautious
in returning to those tradelanes and they need to make sure
that they're stable.
Ted Stank (27:15):
Well, okay, I think we're getting a high sign from
Brian that we need to wrap thisup.
Josh King (27:18):
Yeah, you know, Barbara has some students to go
meet with next she does.
Ted Stank (27:21):
She's going to meet with those students that worship
her.
Josh King (27:23):
Absolutely so.
Parting moment, barbara, if youhave something to deliver to a
student interested in your area,interested in becoming a leader
in your area what would you sayto encourage that person to
(27:43):
drive them forward?
Barbara Melvin (27:44):
Always take advantage of a good crisis.
And the pandemic spotlightedthe importance of supply chain.
Our supply chain folks nolonger are sitting just in
procurement, they're sitting inboard meetings.
They're interacting witheveryone in the C-suite because
of the importance of fluidity,not just in inventory but
transportation costs and reallyacross the board, and how
important what they do is forthe health of their company or
(28:07):
their business or their port orwhatever portion of supply chain
they go into and really sitproudly at that board table and
interact and give input, becausethe economy showed it when we
are failing it has lastingimpact and so we can't do it
again.
We have to learn.
Josh King (28:28):
True words.
Ted Stank (28:29):
Love it.
Yeah, one of the attendees atour advisory board meeting told
me last night this is a housingproducts manufacturing company
that just before he came to themeeting yesterday he had a
one-hour meeting scheduled withthe CEO and it turned into a
three-and-a-half-hour meeting atthe CEO's request because the
CEO didn't have strong supplychain background and needed that
(28:51):
insight.
And this person does sit atthat executive level, which is
really good to hear that peopleare listening to us.
Barbara Melvin (28:57):
Absolutely.
Barbara, thank you so much forbeing with us.
I don't want to hold you fromthe students.
Ted Stank (29:02):
Josh, fill in.
Josh, you did a great job Doingmy best, all right, thanks for
leading the way, ted.
Yeah, okay, everybody, we'regoing to wrap today, as always.
If you want to get in touchwith us, gsci at utkedu, send us
questions, send us potentialguests you'd like to hear, love,
to hear from you, our listeners, so that we can make this more
focused on the kind of thingsy'all want to hear.
(29:24):
With that, we're going toadjourn and we will see you in
March.
Well, you'll hear us.
I have a voice for radio.
No, no, it's not a voice, thesaying is yeah, I have a face
for radio.
Josh King (29:35):
You certainly have a hairdo for radio.
Ted Stank (29:37):
Yeah, that's true.
All right everybody, Thank you.
Thank you, Josh and Barbara.
We're going to adjourn.
See you soon.
Intro & Outro (29:44):
Thanks for tuning in to Tennessee on Supply Chain
Management.
If you enjoyed the episode,subscribe today on your favorite
listening platform to get allof our episodes as soon as they
drop, and don't forget to take amoment to leave us a rating.
Have any questions, thoughts orfeedback?
We'd love to hear from ourlisteners.
Email us at gsci at utkedu.
Join us next time as wecontinue pulling back the
(30:07):
curtain on the world of supplychain, educating and
entertaining you along the way.
Until then, listeners.
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