The Friday Report: June 17th, 2022

Where Did All of The Sriracha Go? 

Huy Fong Foods Inc. recently announced that will affect lovers of spicy foods for an entire summer:  they are out of Sriracha! In April, the company shared news of the imminent shortage via social media, stating that weather conditions have affected chili pepper farming and there would be a shortage.  

In a press release that was confirmed by Bloomberg, Huy Fong Foods Inc. said that all orders on or after April 19th, 2022 would be rescheduled for after September 6th, 2022. This is not the first time that Huy Fong has had to deal with a chili pepper shortage. In 2013, shipments were delayed, leading to concerns about a possible product shortage. 

Weather conditions have had the most significant impact on the quality of chili peppers and the shortage has affected the production of other Huy Fong products. Chili Garlic and Samba Oelek are also out currently out of production.   

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Walmart Plans to Eliminate Emissions by 2040 

Walmart has announced its plan to use natural gas, hydrogen, and electricity to remove greenhouse-gas emissions from its trucks by the year 2040. Walmart is currently in the developmental stages of its strategy and is collaborating with partners that include Chevron Corp., Cummins Inc., and electric-truck manufacturer Nikola Corp. Projects across Texas and California are currently being developed to reduce the corporation’s emissions from its 10,000 tractor trucks and 80,000 trailers.  

In 2023, Walmart’s fleet of vehicles will be fitted with natural-gas engines from Cummins Inc. These motors will be manufactured to have equivalent power and torque of the current diesel engines that are in use. Chevron is partnering with Walmart to supply biomethane to power the motors and assist its goal in relying only on renewable energy.  

Walmart plans to experiment with a hydrogen fuel-cell truck manufactured by Capacity Trucks by the end of 2022. The company currently uses liquid hydrogen in its grocery distribution center forklifts and plans to use hydrogen fuel in its yard trucks that are used to move trailers and small containers between lots. Walmart also plans to utilize Freightliners’ eCascadia cargo truck and Nikola’s Tre Bev electric-battery truck cabs for short routes in the California area.  

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Logistics Gets a Boost with Uber Freight and Waymo Via Partnership

Uber Freight and Waymo Via have announced a historic partnership that will link their separate technologies to mobilize autonomous trucks for Uber Freight use. The collaboration will culminate with carriers being able to purchase self-driving trucks fitted with the Waymo Driver. Companies can then use an application to elect to work in Uber Freight marketplaces. The application will deliver: 

• Onboarding experiences 
• Cargo reservation and implementation 
• Trailer shifts and transfers 
• Payment options 

The partnership will allow shippers to integrate into networks that can advise them on best-practices and strategies to adjust their supply chain for better hybrid optimization. Their goal is to enable self-driving trucks and human-driven trucks to be able to transport freight simultaneously. They hope that this will create more efficient and safer shipping processes.  

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