Is “peak season” a thing of the past?

Logistics Management has an article out today questioning this very thing. I don’t think it’s so much a thing of the past as an effect of shippers getting smarter and increasing efficiencies in their supply chains, some of which is touched upon in this article. Most companies I know don’t like the speculation and unknowns of the traditional peak season, not to mention the risk of delays due to capacity constraints, congestion, and higher costs as well. There’s a growing trend to avoid the expensive bottlenecks of LA and Long Beach, shipping all-water to the East Coast, and flattening out the peak season so that it’s stretched further without some of the peaks and valleys of years past.