Logistics Technology News

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?

“PCS 1X is a cloud-based, new-generation technology, with a user-friendly interface. This system seamlessly integrates eight new stakeholders, besides the 19 existing stakeholders from the maritime, trade on a single platform,” a Ministry of Shipping statement said.

At the JOC Port Performance North America Conference in Newark, New Jersey, on Tuesday, a key technical director offered insights regarding how to increase port productivity as ships get bigger, including what stakeholders should expect from automation.

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

CMA CGM (India) said the smart container was loaded onto the CMA CGM Tosca at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust on Nov. 30, destined for Marseilles, France.

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?

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.

CMA CGM is the first carrier to participate on the marketplace hosted by Freightos, a technology startup that until now only provided aggregated rates to forwarders.

Container shipping is at a key point in its pursuit of carbon neutrality, and Maersk wants industry help in cleaning up the business.

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.

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.

APL's Nicolas Sartini has experience with turning around CMA CGM acquisitions and will apply this knowledge to CEVA Logistics.

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.

Rather than developing a platform, the ocean carriers involved are taking another approach to try to achieve the goal of common information technology standards.

In addition to survey responses, the Jones Walker study offered several cyber-defense recommendations.

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?

Efforts to digitize the bill of lading that must accompany each shipment, whether on an ocean vessel or tractor-trailer, aren’t necessarily new, but they’re gaining ground in an era of e-commerce and tight capacity.

Investment is growing in start-up collaborative logistics platforms that connect parties and break down silos between areas such as procurement, visibility, and payment.

The triple threat of e-commerce retailers, logistics technology startups, and ocean carriers pushing into the logistics services space is creating pressure on forwarders to innovate in the way they adopt new technology and engage with shippers to maintain value in those relationships.

Blockchain is one of the most-often discussed topics in the shipping industry. Proponents argue it has the potential to transform shipping and supply chain management, among many other uses. JOC senior technology editor Eric Johnson provided a primer on the subject at the recently completed JOC Logistics Technology Conference in Las Vegas.

Machine learning tools are often touted as mechanisms to drive next-level benefits in freight movement, but current use cases are more feet-on-the-ground than head-in-the-cloud applications.

The new consortium, powered by Oracle Cloud Blockchain Service, involves CMA CGM, Cosco Shipping (and subsidiary brand OOCL), Evergreen Marine, and Yang Ming, and the lines represent about one-third of total global container ship capacity.

In the shipping industry, it’s an exciting but risky time. Because tech innovation isn’t native to incumbent players, the risks of a wrong decision are inherently greater and are compounded by the accelerating pace of development and the increasing presence of tech-native players asserting themselves in many segments of the market.

Coupled with other, recent logistics-focused, blockchain developments, the announcement by Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, Cargill, and Louis Dreyfus on Oct. 25 could be seen as tangible progress in the advancement of commercially viable uses of the somewhat controversial technology.

A dynamic, demand-based pricing system similar to those used by airlines and hotels is one part of a broader plan that would affect how freight is shipped in the US LTL market.

Keep this in mind: Every innovation in technology and transportation since the fax machine was invented, that was intended to disrupt or to disintermediate, was adopted and deployed first by 3PLs and carriers. Hence, your action item lies with your 3PLs and their carrier partners.

In an era of tight US capacity and rising freight costs, shippers need a more ‘holistic’ approach to supply chain visibility, speakers at the JOC Logistics Technology Conference say.

For one, the acquisition is part of a wider trend toward consolidation in the logistics and supply chain software markets, one in which platforms are coalescing around the idea that global manufacturers and retailers need to execute more processes on fewer common platforms.

The purchase price in cash or shares for the freight management business has yet to be agreed on, and failing agreement will be determined by an independent appraisal.

Integration Point is one of the largest providers of trade compliance software — tools that allow global shippers to manage customs regulations across the world, but also to strategize around the use of free trade zones and other ways to reduce duty exposure.

Haven's product, called Origin, is carrier-neutral and intended to enable shippers to make bookings for ocean, air, trucking, and rail shipments either direct with carriers or with freight forwarders.

The acquisition by E2open allows INTTRA to tap into a base of manufacturers and other shippers, a customer segment with which INTTRA has struggled over its history.

The agreement will see the two companies provide their respective customer bases with tracking access to 175,000 multimodal carriers — 90,000 in North America and 85,000 in Europe.

The carrier raised its stake in the logistics service provider a week after CEVA Logistics rejected a $1.5 billion takeover bid from rival DSV.