Everybody knows that freezing weather is hard on equipment, manpower and the bottom line. But somebody has finally put a price tag on the cold.
"The cost of weather-related delays to trucking companies in the U.S. is as much as $3.5 billion a year," said Karsten Berlage, global head of weather risk management at Allianz Risk Transfer (ART), a division of Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty insurance company.
Allianz released a study in late 2013 that stated that even mild changes in the weather can impact business performance in many industries, including transportation.
"The weather does not have to be extreme in order to have a negative impact on cash flows. Sometimes it is merely enough for it to be uncommon, unseasonal or even unexpected," Berlage said in the report, The Weather Business.
Berlange said that although the weather cannot be controlled, companies now have better means to control the risk of weather impacting them financially.
