Storm Alert – Hurricane Milton Afternoon Update October 8, 2024

Mansfield extends a heartfelt thank you to its freight partners, supply partners, and employees who are working tirelessly to ensure deliveries can continue as long as possible in and around Florida. For those executing fuel deliveries, supply logistics, and tank drops – your efforts to prepare the Florida market ahead of the storm and your readiness to deploy when the storm has passed are deeply appreciated.

Hundreds of thousands of residents from the Tampa Bay area are evacuating ahead of Hurricane Milton, which is expected to make landfall early Thursday as a Category 3 or higher storm. The National Hurricane Center’s 2 p.m. update reported Hurricane Milton with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph, an increase from earlier in the day after weakening overnight. The storm is still moving very slowly across the Gulf and is expected to spend hours pummeling Florida’s west coast when it arrives.

Fuel trucks will not be operating in many Florida markets tomorrow due to hazardous wind conditions. Current forecasts show bands of tropical-storm-force winds arriving around 8 a.m. tomorrow, making it unsafe for fuel trucks to make deliveries. This will completely halt re-fueling operations, as well as most customer operations, until Hurricane Milton has passed. Mansfield and its partners have trucking assets standing by in nearby markets, ready to resupply the market as soon as it is safe to resume deliveries.

Damage to Gulf Coast ports could tighten fuel inventories further. Florida’s reliance on fuel imports means that any significant damage to terminals could severely disrupt supply. Many of the fuel terminals sit directly on or near Tampa Bay, putting them in the areas facing the highest storm surge. Terminal operators are making efforts now to safely close operations so fueling can resume as quickly as possible after Hurricane Milton passes.

Effective Wednesday, Mansfield will move Tampa and Orlando markets to Code Blue in response to worsening conditions that will make roads impassable. This means no deliveries can safely take place and delivery ETAs cannot be given until the storm has passed and road conditions are navigable. Other markets around Florida remain on Code Red, requesting 72-hour notice for new deliveries. Mansfield is also keeping southern Georgia, including Macon, Bainbridge, and Albany, in Code Orange, requesting 48-hour notices.