• BREAKBULK & PROJECT CARGO
  • April 24-26, 2024 | Hilton New Orleans Riverside, Louisiana

Joye Runfola

Air Liquide USA

Logistics Principal, Americas Procurement Center

Runfola is a passionate logistics professional that has over 17 years of combined experience in the construction, transportation, and logistics arenas with a primary focus in super heavy lift and transport and international shipping. Runfola started her career at Praxair in Buffalo, NY as a Materials Coordinator and held various roles of increased responsibility. Prior to coming to Air Liquide, Runfola was a Project Manager for Barnhart Crane and Rigging. Having experience on both the shipper’s side and the carrier’s side of the business has allowed Runfola to find cost savings solutions and mitigate risk on complex project cargo shipments. Her lifelong quest for knowledge in all things, especially logistics, helped her to develop outside of the box solutions for her stakeholders' challenges. Runfola holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from SUNY at Buffalo and an MBA from Medaille College in Buffalo, NY.

Sessions With Joye Runfola

Thursday, 20 April

  • 03:30pm - 04:15pm (CST) / 20/apr/2023 08:30 pm - 20/apr/2023 09:15 pm

    Brownwater and Heavy Transport: Moving OOG Cargo by Barge and Road
    Low water, high water, weight restrictions, scarce labor, and scarce equipment all serve to complicate the seemingly straightforward movement of out-of-gauge and breakbulk cargo by barge in the US. Following several seasons of dangerously high water on the lower Mississippi, water at once-in-a-century lows stymied cargo movement on the river system for weeks in late 2022, while the labor shortages triggered by the pandemic market are a problem with no end in sight. The hand-off from barge to heavy-haul or specialized transportation also must be managed, often at remote sites with little or no infrastructure in place. Transportation delays and complications caused by these factors increase risks for shippers who must, in many cases, meet demanding project schedules or face costly penalties. In addition, brownwater service providers, like their bluewater brethren, must incorporate increasingly stringent emissions control and decarbonization requirements into their operations. In this roundtable session, service providers and cargo shippers will delve into the problems of OOG river transportation in the US.
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