The Compliance Cowboy Rides Into Memphis: Inside A Logistics Powerhouse Event (Podcast)

September thirtieth and October first, and we’ll get all that in just a second. But I have on the show today, Jennifer Amos. She is the director of sales at Dunavant Log Logistics. She’s also the elected president of the

Memphis World Trade Club, folks. Jennifer, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for joining us. And I’m looking forward to our discussion. But how are things there in Memphis since I have moved to central Arkansas? miss a lot.

Jennifer Amos (00:53)
Good morning, Andy. Thank you so much for having me. I’m tickled to be here. My first podcast.

Andy Shiles (00:59)
let’s get to what we’re talking about. the Memphis World Trade Club. What’s going on with that of recent?

Jennifer Amos (01:08)
goodness, Andy, we’ve missed you. We’ve had so much going on. This week we had our monthly luncheon. We had Ryan Steinbach, who is VP of Intermodal Sales from the Union Pacific Railroad speak to about 150 people over at the Hilton Memphis, speaking directly to the merger of the UPNS, giving us our first national intercontinental railroad here in the United States.

and with that there is a big announcement from the city of West Memphis. They have started with a thousand acre industrial park to support the railroad. So that big announcement happened. Yes,

Andy Shiles (01:49)
That’s fantastic, said

Jennifer Amos (01:51)
big news, big news, hot off the press. we heard it first this week. really exciting.

Andy Shiles (01:58)
So where’s

that gonna be? Is it it just expanding the current rail yard that that’s there or what?

Jennifer Amos (02:05)
great question. I have a map you can look at. maybe if you wanna

put a link to it, we’ll share it. but it’s right over in Marion. Right around the current railhead. Yeah, big deal.

Andy Shiles (02:14)
that’s fantastic. Well, and

and so what that’s gonna do is obviously increase the frequency and and the the ability for logistics companies and transportation companies obviously to move more goods in a shorter period of time because you’re talking

Jennifer Amos (02:33)
Mm.

Andy Shiles (02:33)
about switching out you got the Marion, you got Memphis, you got there in in North Mississippi, I gotta tell you, is doing a lot of development.

But all said and done, there’s one of the things I noticed too, the Memphis area. Let me step back for a little bit and kind of set the stage as we’re gearing up for your conference.

Folks, the Memphis area has topped the the regional the the gross regional product. You know, you hear of G D P the gross domestic product. I said the U the US national economic thing.

Well, for each of the regions you call it the GRP. The GRP in the Memphis area for the first time has topped over one hundred billion dollars in a year. And with that it’s actually one hundred and two point nine, so almost a hundred and three billion dollars.

That means that with the economic growth, there’s been a a five percent GRP growth year over year, which has been really good for the Memphis area. and it’s been a long time coming, but it’s just like all of a sudden there’s a it’s skyrocketing. The

Employment situation in Memphis area is at an all-time high. Six hundred and twenty-five thousand jobs in the Memphis area people are being employed, and and that’s that’s fantastic. Okay, so setting that out of that folks, the logistics piece of it is about twenty to twenty-five percent of the GRP. Well

You’ve got FedEx obviously is the headquarters there, but you also have to my understanding, there’s probably about twenty three hundred different logistics companies operating in a a a warehouse or some kind of distribution center or something in and out of the Memphis area. So with that, there’s well over a hundred thousand jobs that are attributed to

the logistics industry. That’s huge. That’s a lot. And with that, you just heard where Jennifer was saying the development of a thousand you say a thousand acres, I guess. That’s that’s so

Jennifer Amos (04:58)
A thousand acres. It’s huge.

Andy Shiles (05:02)
a rail yard or whatever in and this you know that that’s that’s huge.

All right, so let’s keep going. Is now Memphis also is just again setting the stage. Memphis has the number one cargo airport in the world. Well, obviously FedEx is in behind that. That’s the air express side, but there’s also air cargo and and and huge amounts of air cargo goes in and out of there. The trucking distribution centers, the rail, as we’re talking about. I know that there has been plans to build.

a a a river port so that barges can come up and transload from the barge to rail to truck to whatever the in the area. not sure where that’s at, but I mean the point being is things are growing and the employment situation is fantastic in Memphis. so all that to say we have now with the Memphis World Trade Club having their annual conference.

Jennifer Amos (06:05)
Absolutely. So this is the fourth year for the Memphis Logistics Summit. we also have the Tech Innovation Day as well as Port Night. So we have coined this as Memphis World Trade Week. you know, this is our 75th anniversary of Port Night, and a few years ago we started really thinking: how can we expand this? How can we grow this community?

Get more people to our city. So we came up with the summit. Like I said, this is the fourth year that we’ve had it. It has increasingly grown. We’ve outgrown our space twice. So how lucky are we to, you know, to do that? we partnered with the chamber, the greater Memphis Chamber, to make this bigger and better than anything that we had done before. And it’s been a great partnership so far.

And with that, we’ve also expanded into a partnership with Epicenter Memphis. They’re sort of an incubator hub for Tech startups. so they will be hosting event on the first as well. And then of course.

Andy Shiles (07:17)
And I so forgive me.

What what is it you partnered with that last what was that last one?

Jennifer Amos (07:22)
Epicenter Memphis, they’re sort of an incubator hub for any type of startup. So what they’ll have on 10 1 is the opportunity for any startup to come and pitch their product, pitch their idea, and they will have a room full of industry leaders to give them feedback. and it’s just really a great opportunity for someone who wants to be involved in the industry. Memphis is the place.

You know, you talk about all the things that we have going on here. We have five class one railroads. We have, you know, that tiny little company called FedEx that distributes all around the world. we have the Mississippi River, then we’ve got our very, very intricate interstate system. You’re not going anywhere in the United States without passing through Memphis.

All freight goes through here. We are the logistics capital of the world. I think we surpassed Shanghai this past year.

Andy Shiles (08:24)
Well, and and and like you said, as far as connecting the world there and the and and as far as the freight moving through from one par to the other, if you’re by truck, obviously you’re going through on I-40 you’re east or west or th you wind up north and south. It’s like a lot of truckers wind up coming into the Memphis area and then having to turn up on to I-55 heading north as far as towards Saint Louis and Chicago or the heading south towards

Louisiana area and Mississippi and all that in the Gulf. east and west. I obviously it’s it’s a a big, big, big distribution center. What that means also is one of the things from a manufacturer’s perspective is the y if you can locate your distribution center

to the as close as you can to a cargo hub, if you will, and they and I’m talking the whole area here, it reduces your transportation costs, it reduces your delivery costs.

So Memphis is definitely a a key factor there. Now one of the other things is Memphis is also a key factor in technology. I know one of the things there’s a data center that’s I actually more than one I think that’s being built in or has been built in the in Memphis area.

But the other side of it is not only artificial intelligence, but as you just talked about, is a lot of technological innovation. And so with this summit here, this epicenter that’s you know promoting this, I guess,

We’re gonna get to see, I guess, some new latest, greatest type things. I know there’s a lot of robotics training going

Jennifer Amos (10:20)
Mm-hmm.

Andy Shiles (10:20)
on through the University of Memphis and some others there that is is paramount to so many industries, not only manufacturing but also in the logistics realm. but then you also have technological advances.

Everything from the computer programming, the hardware and and the maintenance of all of that, that generates jobs and and that’s so

Jennifer Amos (10:44)
Absolutely.

Andy Shiles (10:45)
in important. and then y you know, logistics anymore is not like the everyday old, you know, let me just pick up a box and move it. Yeah, you physically still have to do those things.

But technology is enabling these people to in operations become more efficient Not only from skeletal apparatuses that I’ve seen that employed, robots, pick and pack automation, all that kind of stuff. So that right there, you’re

Club, talk about that a little bit. Why should somebody be part of the Memphis World Trade Club?

Jennifer Amos (11:23)
We bring it all together. we have probably close to 300 active members in the city and there’s representation from at least 50 logistics companies, not just logistics companies, BCOs, beneficial cargo owners, steamship lines, actual carriers. we are the one place in the city where we’re all friends. We all work together.

Andy Shiles (11:51)
Yeah.

Jennifer Amos (11:51)
it’s

A great place. We get together once a month. We host several events, but we want to bring industry topics to the forefront and give everyone the platform to discuss it openly together. it’s a great organization. We are very philanthropic.

We’re partnering with University and Olympic Training Institute to hand out some scholarships to non-traditional students. logistics is somewhat of a a dying industry. a lot of people have aged out. A lot of people went out with COVID. And I do a lot of community outreach, work with a lot of children. When I speak about logistics, the one thing I would like for them to understand is not every role has wheels underneath it.

We have all of the supporting roles. You’ve got finance, IT, analytics, operations. you know, you can find something to do. and there’s a lot of companies here. We would love to bring more talent in and

Being a member of the World Trade Club, you have all of those opportunities at your fingertips from someone within the organization.

Andy Shiles (13:07)
Well, and that’s one th you’re you’re hitting the nail on the head on one thing, Jenny, is that there is everything is not just, you know, working in a warehouse or driving a truck or something like that. There’s a so many different aspects.

in the industry and so your training as far as your schooling, skill development, all that, there’s a lot of aspects that employ people in in the logistics. So it’s like you can usually find something that’s gonna be of your interest and and keep going. All right. So let’s talk about now again the the the I guess the summit. That’s on September what, twenty

Jennifer Amos (13:50)
September

thirtieth. The summit is going to be on September

Andy Shiles (13:52)
Thirtieth. Okay.

Jennifer Amos (13:53)
thirtieth. we’re hosting at the Peabody. we will be in the Skyway room. We have a full day of content, lots of great speakers, some familiar faces, but you know, we’ve also got some new people coming in. We’re really excited this year.

Andy Shiles (14:14)
that’s fantastic. That’s fantastic. And then on October first, you’ve got where you’ve your logistics innovation showcase. So where’s that gonna be? Is that it still at the Peabody or what? episode, okay.

Jennifer Amos (14:26)
That is going to be at Epicenter. just around

the corner. it’s on Peabody Place, right around the corner from the Peabody. that’s gonna be from eleven to two. We’re gonna give any tech startups the opportunity to pitch their event and get some feedback. and there’s from what I understand, there’s a little bit of a challenge going on and there will be an award.

Andy Shiles (14:52)
well fantastic.

Jennifer Amos (14:53)
We are.

Andy Shiles (14:55)
and then the greater so folks, i if you’re interested, before we go too much further, it’s I I assume it’s gonna be on your website, the World Trade Club’s website, right?

Jennifer Amos (15:09)
Yes, everything is up now. feel free to check out our website it’s Memphisworldtradeclub.com.

Andy Shiles (15:17)
There, there you go. And

Jennifer Amos (15:18)
There you go.

Andy Shiles (15:19)
then with that, I I guess then is the big part of the grand finale.

Jennifer Amos (15:23)
The grand finale is Port Night Yeah.

Andy Shiles (15:27)
Now, folks, I I gotta tell you, if you are not used to this and you’re in that Memphis area and in this industry, even if you’re not in the I gotta tell you there are people that fly in

from all over the country that come to attend this event. the the it’s it’s it used to be called New Orleans Port Night or whatever, because the New Orleans Memphis is within the New Orleans district as far as customs clearance and all that. So

Jennifer Amos (15:58)
Yeah.

Andy Shiles (16:00)
It is a formal affair, I guess. there’s it’s like it is quite quite extravagant. It is great and people have a wonderful time. but that’s all right, so that’s October first. Where at? Is it is it’s at the Peabody?

Jennifer Amos (16:15)
It is in the grand ballroom

at the Peabody. we’re really looking forward to celebrating that relationship between New Orleans and Memphis. This is our 75th year hosting the event. We’re expecting close to a thousand people from all around the world, heads of steamship lines, company CEOs, everyone. If you are in the logistics industry, you’re anywhere in the area.

This is the place you wanna be on October first. here we’re gonna have a great band, open bars, some fresh gulf shrimp from New Orleans. it’s gonna be a lovely evening.

Andy Shiles (16:57)
Well, I know that it was the banquet itself is I mean the last I I was there two years ago. I wasn’t there I I missed this past year, but

Two years ago and there was eight hundred people there. It was a great time. it was wonderful seeing so many good friends and whatnot. So I’m planning on being there and looking forward to seeing some folks. But then afterwards, and folks you can cut a rug because it’s always a great time.

And there was a lot of dancing there and whatnot. I think I kind of shocked a few folks when I’m strutting around with my cowboy hat and boots on.

Jennifer Amos (17:38)
You

know, Andy, I think that’s the first place I met you about six years ago was at Port Night

Andy Shiles (17:46)
Probably was. It probably was. Everybody’s like, who is this guy with the hat? So

Jennifer Amos (17:47)
I believe it was. and we’re wearing the hat. Yeah.

Andy Shiles (17:55)
well, it was a a wonderful time. I I will say this again, is that the networking that goes on there, I actually wound up getting to talk to several folks, several executives of different companies. And so you expand your network.

You see what’s going on there in the Memphis area. and and I’m gonna tell you, if you’re a company that is interested in putting in a distribution center, this would be a good summit to go to. a

Jennifer Amos (18:29)
Mm-hmm.

Andy Shiles (18:30)
a conference on on the 30th. You can see you know, that from eleven to two thirty there, the Epicenter there to see what kind of the latest things are going on.

But also attending that night. I’m telling you, one of the best things that it is to talk to people, you meet people

Not in a meeting. You wind up developing a relationship and and expand your network through, you know, socializing and socializing what better than a banquet and the time there and and all that. So I would definitely say this is a fun, fun, fun time. I know a lot of people in the area love looking forward to the this scenario there. So but anyway, so anyway with with that said now

Is this w will there be a a a transition to a new president or do you still have another year on your term?

Jennifer Amos (19:30)
No, my tenure ends in December. So elections will come in November. it’s it’s a five year process. and it what a cherry on top. going off with our seventy fifth birthday and couldn’t have asked for a better year.

Andy Shiles (19:50)
it’s well you’ve I I have seen a lot of what’s been going on. You’ve done a phenomenal job. one of the things too is the monthly luncheons. Here’s something else. For those in the area, again, they have these monthly luncheons that you’ve gone outgrown the country club that you were at and you’re now telling me you’re you’re having them at the Hilton, I believe, right?

Jennifer Amos (20:16)
Mm-hmm.

Andy Shiles (20:17)
So it the the the speakers are are well worth it. I always enjoyed going whenever I could. And so with that, hopefully I’ll get to to come back around and and attend some of these in the near future. But looking

Jennifer Amos (20:31)
Yeah.

Andy Shiles (20:32)
forward to September 30th and October 1st.

And again with seeing not only yourself but so so many of the great folks from the Memphis World Trade Club, the Epicenter, the the Greater Memphis Chamber and all of that, that’s it’s just that is a collaborative effort. Folks, I’m telling you, if you are

Jennifer Amos (20:55)
It is.

Andy Shiles (20:56)
looking for an area to for your company to prosper,

Memphis area is definitely well worth it as far as any of your logistics needs.

Jennifer Amos (21:07)
All your logistics needs.

Andy Shiles (21:09)
Yeah. All right. Any last words before we sign off here?

Jennifer Amos (21:15)
Thank you for having me. Thank you for your support. We hope you can make it to not only Port Night, but to the Logistics Summit and Tech Day as well. hope to see you there.

Andy Shiles (21:28)
All right. Looking forward to it. Folks, again, the Memphis World Trade Club dot com is where is the website. We’ll have a link to on our show notes. And with that, hopefully get to see you there. And if you see me, please come up and say hi. And hopefully you will again say that you’re a listener of the Simply Trade podcast.

and consider becoming a member of the Memphis World Trade Club. All right, folks, have a great day.

Jennifer Amos (22:01)
Thank you.