Andrew Petrisin | Unlocking FLOW: Freight Logistics Optimization Works

Freightvine

This week’s guest is Andrew Petrisin, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multimodal Freight in the U.S. Department of Transportation and the creator of the USDOT’s Freight Logistics Optimization Works or FLOW. FLOW is a public private partnership whereby different players in the global supply chain share previously unshared commercial data to better understand changes in international freight flows. These data are securely anonymized and harmonized within the platform and the results are available for the members to use in their analysis. Created and launched by Andrew just over three years ago during the depths of the massive containership backlogs in West Coast ports, FLOW is now a well-established source of freight flow data as well as a consortium of almost 100 supply chain partners ranging from port operators, ocean carriers, trucking companies, railroads, freight brokers as well as manufacturers, retailers, and distributors. In our conversation we discuss the importance of being a neutral trusted party and how trust is earned (hint - consistency over time), how different companies are using FLOW both strategically and tactically, and the challenges of getting so many private sector organizations (to include competitors) to contribute detailed data.