Logistics Technology News

The new digital product, which commenced global operations in early 2017, is designed to offer instant pricing/booking, cost transparency/cargo tracking, simplified/centralized documentation, and proactive/round-the-clock customer services.

German and European less-than-containerload (LCL) market leader Dachser announced this week that it will be launching 26 new LCL services and increasing the frequency of six services from every fortnight to weekly.

The ocean carrier’s Ze Box venture capital unit has signed a memorandum of understanding with PSA unboXed, the external innovation and corporate venture capital arm of Singapore’s PSA International.

A funny thing has happened in the last few years even as the role of chief supply chain officer hasn’t become quite so ubiquitous: on-demand, subscription-based software providers have begun to partner more than ever, creating networks of logistics capabilities that often mimic those promised by the broader single suites.

The inclusion of carriers with up to 10 trucks in Uber’s capacity pool will help build density and increase the value of its app-based service to shippers.

Maersk’s first-quarter earnings conference call was not only a report card on the ocean carrier, as important as that is. It was also a summary of the major trends and factors affecting container shipping.

The arms race among freight forwarding enterprise systems should be a boon for forwarders and their beneficial cargo owner customers by extending the number of applications available through a single platform.

Shippabo’s founder Nina Luu says shippers struggling to find drayage trucks should start their search at sea, with better visibility into inbound containers. That means using technology to better connect importers, ocean carriers, freight forwarders, customs brokers, and trucking operators in flexible networks.

While the data on the phenomenon are in their infancy and hardly comprehensive, it appears less-than-containerload shipping is being propelled higher by several postmodern trends that are changing the nature of global trade, including the rise of e-commerce, more frequent shipping, and technology enabling supply chain monitoring and optimization.

DHL has launched "DHL SmarTrucking" in India, which the company claims will substantially increase the emerging market economy's over-the-road supply chain efficiency.

The Oakland Portal that the Northern California port launched Thursday will help beneficial cargo owners, terminal operators, truckers, and other port users share shipment information on a single platform rather than having to access dozens of different websites.

ShipChain, the cryptocurrency-based logistics start-up company, was issued a cease-and-desist order Tuesday by South Carolina’s attorney general for allegedly transacting securities as an unlicensed broker/dealer.

The Port of Virginia has been experiencing glitches with its new Navis N4 software in the Virginia International Gateway terminal. Fortunately, there has not been a major disruption for beneficial cargo owners but it is creating an inconvenience for truckers.

Reluctance to embrace new ways of doing business is holding back container shipping, executives said at a Hamburg shipping conference.

As some ocean carriers retreat from offering door contracts to beneficial cargo owners, non-vessel operating common carriers that have developed working relationships with truckers over the years are stepping in to secure truck capacity at competitive rates in today’s tight US trucking market.

Shippers are turning to parcel terminal management systems to help them more easily and effectively choose the shipping mode and channel of distribution.

With industrial vacancy rates in Los Angeles-Long Beach close to 1 percent for the past two years, and rents increasing by 12 percent a year, e-commerce fulfillment, light assembly, and specialty retail importers in Southern California are paying record prices for Class B and C properties.

The more that blockchain becomes understood, the more conceptually, at least, it fits hand in glove with international logistics. But actually transitioning logistics to the paradise of transactions being recorded instantly and efficiently is proving to be quite a formidable task.

Convoy is among the most prominent of a large crop of digitally powered companies using algorithms to better match capacity and demand.

The electronic logging device mandate’s impact has rippled across supply chains, and there is no better example of that than the US agriculture export market.

Technology came under the spotlight at the Transplace Shipper Symposium this week, as did the truck driver shortage (as expected). Other topics that may help shippers address their freight transportation problems yielded insights, as well.

NYSHEX’s digital exchange has the potential to increase cargo booking efficiency and reduce uncertainty and volatility, among other benefits. But can the platform evolve to meet the needs of a greater percentage of shippers, including larger shippers with complex supply chains?

Innovations in the global transportation management system space are happening around the fringes, incorporating things like in-app messaging, better user interfaces, or applying AI layers to existing optimization tools.

Logistics companies view digitization as an opportunity rather than a threat.

It was President John F. Kennedy who said, “I appreciate candor, almost as much as I appreciate good news.” Place this point in the category of utmost candor: if you thought it was difficult to find a truck in the United States in the first quarter, just wait.

The stronger European economy with its rising container volumes and next-generation technology has exposed a weakness in the continent’s supply chain — and it’s one that will likely require the input of all stakeholders to eliminate.

INTTRA doesn’t see its rate management pilot as directly competitive to those of its partners, but multiple current and former executives involved in the rate management software space have a different evaluation of the pilot’s launch last week.

In that debate, Flexport's CEO underscored the company's performance to date, and how he sees 2018.

The refinement is the latest time-saver from DP World, which has been at the forefront of automation and trade service improvements at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, with direct port delivery being a prime example.

Shippers were surprised by the severity of price increases demanded by US truckers in the first quarter. Logistics executives at the NASSTRAC Shipper Conference said they’re going beyond being “shippers of choice” and thinking outside the box — looking for new ways to create capacity.

With US truckload capacity tight, shippers are investigating any alternative method possible to get their freight off the docks.

Intel CEO Andrew Grove observed that the need for transformation could arise with the introduction of a different regulatory environment. Change is unavoidable, but strategic points of inflection are not always obvious in real-time. In the future, it’s likely that April 1, 2018 — the date electronic logging device enforcement “went live” — will be enshrined as a red-letter day for the industry.

Among other benefits, automating the management system for contract rates will reduce invoice errors that add to administrative functions, project administrators argue.

Some said it could not be done, but Bradley Jacobs is forging new shipper services by integrating assets and resources from across XPO Logistics’ diverse operating network.

A survey of more than 600 owner-operators and small carriers shows little change in detention practices at shipper docks, despite electronic logging and market pressures.

The immediate goal may be end-to-end tracking, but greater gains may come as shippers use data to manage capacity.

Manufacturers and shippers of autos and other vehicles have some of the most detailed contingency plans in the transportation industry for adjusting to weather, port congestion, rail disruptions, and truck capacity issues. And the need to have a resilient plan in place will only be magnified by the climate change era’s increased severe weather events.

In the US trucking sector, smaller carriers are gravitating toward shorter-haul freight, Zipline Logistics has found. That could put more pressure on longer-haul capacity.

An explosion of e-commerce business is driving up rents at last-mile/last-touch fulfillment centers in urban core locations, and entrepreneurial truckers are finding ways to participate in this growing market. But the end result is a plus for beneficial cargo owners and consumers, as these developments enhance customer service and prevent final delivered costs from getting out of hand.

Cargo can now make the East Russia-Europe trip in about six to seven days, as opposed to 10 to 11 days previously, owing to railway improvements that enable higher speeds.