Top 50 3PLs

It is time for forwarders to shake off the shackles of being conservative and take back the headlines from the new market entrants who like to call themselves disrupters.

If there was ever a year when the outlook for reliability in the system was more clouded, 2019 and into 2020 would take the prize.

The United Kingdom is scheduled to leave the European Union on March 29 but is struggling to reach a deal on trade that would limit disruption.

Fissures have appeared, ranging from member frustration in standards-setting organizations to deeper concerns about the viability of the technology in the container shipping space.

Increasing use of the available capacity in both directions and the impact of service shifts in 2018 could mean shippers find it more difficult to find carrier space for containers this year.

The Shenzhen port of Shekou has opened a consolidation center that will ease customs restrictions on China's growing LCL cargo imports.

Here are a few certainties shippers and their transportation providers can bank on for 2019.

Users of industrial space who are looking for the right location for additional space must be prepared to pay more, sector analysts say.

New factors will increase pressure on the US wind power logistics market, which already experiences late-year bottlenecks.

With annual handling volume increasing substantially, Chittagong faces yard congestion throughout the year.

The Phoenix-based company broke into the top 10 of North American brokers in 2018.

TecPier plans to invest in maritime digitization opportunities in energy efficiency, online marketplaces, and process optimization.

There are just 100 days to go until the UK exits the European Union, with British businesses "watching in horror" as the country lurches towards the worst case scenario — leaving the EU with no deal.

US-China tariff uncertainty is prompting US-bound manufacturing moves out of China, but undertaking the shift is not a quick and easy process.

One shipping-trade group representing foreign carriers in trade to/from India, questioned why authorities went live with the revamped, single window system without an adequate trial-run process.

The electronic logging device transition period has passed and the trucking industry has found a new normal. On the rails, intermodal volume has grown each week, year over year, except week one. What do the aforementioned mean for rates and capacity for each?

Among other findings, the McKinsey report provided further evidence supporting the thesis that automation technology incorporation in container shipping, and in particular at marine terminals, will likely be part science and part art.

Shippers will have to scramble after Union Pacific Railroad and Norfolk Southern Railway announced the elimination of more than 425 domestic and nearly 100 international origin-and-destination interline pairs in multiple phases.

Matt Kane hopes new services, including factoring and insurance, will draw more truckers and shippers to his ‘no-broker’ loadboard, MyRiteLoad.com.

Two variables shippers will have to determine that will likely influence the instant quote practice’s acceptance/rejection are — will the shipper's business model benefit from an instant quote and an immediate booking? And how much of a premium are shippers willing to pay to obtain them?

Automating often ignored ‘behind-the-scenes’ systems can bring big benefits, including savings and improved customer service, says Echo Global Logistics CEO Doug Waggoner.

The new tools provide peace of mind for a segment of shippers who want web-based booking tools, and also offer a path to value/service differentiation for ocean carriers. But what happens to the value proposition of NVOs and their decades-long relationships and nuanced, specialized services?

An initial cargo of 19 units weighed more than 850 metric tons (937 tons) combined and included separators, heaters, and columns designed for hydrocarbon processing.

The challenge of taking blockchain pilots and proofs of concepts to wide-scale adoption is that the latter requires a broad adoption from a range of parties. But with a smart contract, that requirement is much smaller.

“By bringing our companies together permanently, we have created the first ever single-pane view into all our customers’ global shipments,” Jett McCandless, CEO and founder of project44, said.

The ‘truce’ between the United States and China that delays a new 25 percent US tariff until March 1 may substantially change the first-quarter US transportation landscape.

Tyler Smith, director of Viant, a blockchain-based supply chain modeling software company, said consortia have not proven their value, so far, but hopefully they will. He added that consortia are a way to get people involved.

Market share remains in the single digits —both as a percentage of overall reefer imports and exports in the US and overall volumes within the individual ports — but the port authorities of Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia say the US Department of Agriculture clearance will open the door to even more business opportunities.

The infusion of billions of dollars of venture capital (VC) is tasking shippers not only to keep track of a broader range of potential systems to use, but also to think about the financial structure of smaller VC-backed software providers and third-party logistics providers that have recently emerged. Further, failure by shippers to undertake diligence could mean time wasted, in more ways than one.

If the top players in the industry coagulate, and if ocean carriers continue to take a broader role in forwarding and logistics activities than they have in the recent past, that will have an undeniable impact on shippers.

The acquisition of a Houston-based logistics operator helps Manitoulin's forwarding arm link key energy markets in the United States and Canada to better serve international clients.

The meeting among JNPT stakeholders comes after customs officials recently stated that dwell times remain a major concern.

Swiss forwarder Panalpina says it has no plans to be acquired following media reports that Kuehne + Nagel has painted a takeover target on its back.

Those involved in freight auditing, invoicing, and payment services are tapping into new technologies, as well as new methods of aggregating and analyzing data, to meet the changing and, in many cases, more-demanding requirements of today’s shippers.

The tool is an extension of the company’s Sea Explorer platform, first released in March to help Kuehne + Nagel customers determine which global services best suit their needs based on a number of performance metrics.

Collaboration is not just an activity, but a process, and it requires a focus on customer experience, logistics executives told the Traffic Club of Chicago at a Business Development Symposium Wednesday.

Research earlier this year by Drewry Supply Chain Advisors found that large shippers face ocean freight invoicing inaccuracy rates of 2 to 5 percent, while smaller shippers face rates as high as 30 percent.

With consumers demanding ever faster delivery times, shippers are looking for space that helps them meet that demand, including nontraditional warehouse space.

Is venture capital (VC) advancing the logistics technology start-up sector for the betterment of shippers? Or is it distorting the market and penalizing well-run companies that are not VC-backed?

Every year, the expectation regarding “free” is that “free” gets faster and faster, and e-commerce players are a major factor. Thus, two-to-three-day click-to-delivery expectations are now the norm. And that’s upping delivery pressure on shippers.