The U.S. Department of transportation announced on August 13th that the Port of Oakland and the Northwest Seaport Alliance, including the Port of Seatle and the Port of Tacoma, are now members on the Freight Logistics Optimization Works (FLOW) initiative. FLOW is a public-private partnership among industry and government to build a forward-looking, integrated view of supply chain conditions in the United States. This expands the FLOW initiative’s reach to the five largest container ports on the West Coast.
The Port of Oakland and the Northwest Seaport Alliance join the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach as FLOW members. Collectively, they comprise roughly 95% of West Coast inbound container volume. With all major West Coast ports now FLOW members, ocean carriers, shippers, truckers, and railroads will be able to better plan for and predict capacity needs to keep cargo moving.