The terminal floor stayed busy long before sunrise.
Forklifts crossed marked lanes in clean lines. Dock scanners flashed green one after another. Drivers checked manifests near Bay Three while loaders secured pallet straps near outbound staging. Rain from the night before still sat in shallow cracks outside the loading corridor, but inside the warehouse, everything moved on schedule.
Elena stood at the center desk with a stack of throughput reports spread beside her coffee.
"North corridor cleared the overnight delay?" she asked.
"Twenty-three minutes ahead," Marcus answered from dispatch.
She flipped the page.
"South lane?"
"Still stable."
Alexander sat two terminals away reviewing route logs. One screen showed outbound schedules. Another showed live truck positioning. He adjusted a timing bracket on the western carrier route without looking up.
"Carrier Delta arrived six minutes early," he said. "Bay assignment changed automatically."
Elena nodded once.
