The global chemical logistics industry is estimated to grow to $317.17 billion in 2026 at a 3.9% CAGR. Factors that will favor this projected growth include major industry players taking precautions to provide safe, effective, reliable, and productive Third-Party Logistic (3PL) services.
As an industry-leading 3PL in chemical warehousing, we don’t shy away from the unique challenges that chemical warehousing companies face. However, the mark of a reliable chemical warehousing 3PL company is the ability to mitigate, handle, and avoid such unexpected risks.
As an industry leader, it is vital to have a fully optimized workforce–in terms of skill set, experience, employee attitude, or customer relations. This article discusses the unique workforce challenges that chemical warehousing companies face and the importance of skills and experience in chemical handling.
Challenges That Chemical Warehousing Companies Experience
Chemical logistics companies majorly confront the same challenges, including:
- Factory slowdowns
- Port congestion
- Geopolitical upheaval
- Capacity and labor shortages.
Unique operational challenges that players in the chemical warehousing industry face include:
- Companies must deal with multiple rules and regulations from different bodies and regions to stay compliant. Ultimately, keeping up with every rule and regulation can prove hectic for some industry players.
- Lack of inventory visibility. Warehousing staff needs to know where to locate inventory in real-time. This is a challenge for chemical warehousing companies without a proper warehouse management software/ system.
- Quality control (QC). Chemical warehousing companies must also be ready to respond to recalls rapidly.
Furthermore, workforce challenges that chemical warehousing companies face include:
- Inexperience
- Lack of prerequisite skills
- Employee disengagement
- Lacking safety knowledge and equipment
- Poor communication.
For context, inexperience means workers are not entirely familiar with the chemical warehousing operations. Unfortunately, inexperienced chemical warehousing staff pose a significant threat to the safety of the establishments and the warehouse clients’ investments.
The Importance of Experience and Skills–An Optimized Workforce–in Chemical Handling
Experience–or the lack of it–can drastically influence the survival of a chemical warehousing company. Benefits of having an experienced workforce in a chemical warehouse include:
1. Increased Worker Engagement
While many warehousing processes are currently automated, those that require human intervention often lack the required engagement levels. Disengagement in employees can be attributed to employees feeling a knowledge or experience gap. The more a worker is experienced in handling chemicals or the associated processes, the more confident and engaged they become.
2. Safe Chemical Handling
Improper management of hazardous chemicals poses severe risks, including but not limited to chemical fires and spillage. Unfortunately, these risks can mean losses to warehousing clients. You can attribute these chemical accidents to a workforce inexperienced in chemical management.
3. Increased Worker Safety
The more experienced chemical warehousing workers, the easier it is for them to take safety precautions automatically when handling chemicals and machinery.
4. Protecting Clients’ Chemical Products
Experience breeds the need to ensure safe and reliable handling of the clients’ chemical products.
How We Mitigate Unique Challenges When Handling Chemicals
As an industry leader, we embrace challenges and a ‘can-do’ attitude to help avoid, mitigate, and handle any type of risk. We take every necessary step to ensure we are one step ahead of our competitors to ensure safe and reliable product handling/ management.
For starters, we address the need for an experienced workforce by hiring experienced workers in our chemical warehouses to handle even the most dangerous class of chemical goods. Besides seeking top talent, we are keen on providing workers with some form of training to help them gain expertise, skills, and real-time experience. By teaching our staff about proper chemical handling, we ensure our clients’ goods and investments are protected at all costs.
In addition, we use state-of-the-art tech and software beneficial in the proper chemical handling and warehousing. Contact us to get started or consult further about our chemical warehousing 3PL services.
