Business View Magazine Feb 2023

81 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 2 GULF RELAY Andy Vanzant With most industries linked to automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), Gulf Relay had issues allocating stock from the four leading tractor players in the industry. Namely, Freightliner, Mack, Peterbilt, and Volvo. In simple terms, the company needs more than the manufacturer can produce. But Gulf Relay understands that they can only purchase what the manufacturers are able to provide. The same predicament plagues the company within the trailer sector. These players can only provide 30% to 60% of Gulf Relay’s requests. With this backlog of vehicle stock, many players in the logistics industry are procuring more spares for their trucks so that they can keep them on the road for longer. This has had a domino effect that has cascaded into the spare parts industry.