FEMA: Hurricane Ida Disaster Relief

Client Profile

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is responsible for leading the effort to prepare for, mitigate against, respond to, and recover from the impacts of disaster events. Once mobilized, FEMA moves quickly, with short notice, and with a no-fail expectation across all aspects of a mission.

Client Need

On Thursday, August 26th, 2021, FEMA began coordinating its efforts to respond to Hurricane Ida and its devastating aftermath. FEMA began scheduling numerous missions that required immediate action and were categorized as no-fail. These missions called for various specialized equipment, including power only, van, open deck, drop trailers, and over-dimensional capabilities. 

Approach/Solution

Our team deployed a multi-faceted team of veteran brokers, carrier procurement specialists, compliance specialists, and billing coordinators, leveraging our network of 40,000+ carriers.

• 24/7 Carrier compliance team available to add carriers, ensuring complete coverage
• A streamlined system of tracking and documentation to meet FEMA’s no-fail expectations
• Leveraged relationships with large, asset-based carriers to procure power and drop trailer capacity
• Around-the-clock point of contact readily available to FEMA transporters 
• Sourced on-site “Wrangler” to manage shuttle drivers and trailers
• Sourced on-site trailer maintenance personnel

Result

The KCH Transportation team successfully managed and executed over 500 loads over seven days, including receiving 14/15 bids between 8/28 and 8/29 with a streamlined documentation process to quickly deliver tracking updates and PODs.

Our experts sourced over-dimensional capable carriers overnight and executed them the next day, and met FEMA’s expectations with a 0% fail rate. We were able to pick up multiple missions that other carriers/brokerages failed on. Additional efforts included:

• Coordinated all drop trailer retrievals within FEMAs’ 48-hour requirement 
• Sourced over 50 daily shuttle carriers, including a 100% recovery rate for fall-offs
• Sourced next-day capacity on less than 15 hours’ notice for multiple missions