Supply chain

India’s merchandise exports slumped for the eighth month in a row in July, but at a slower rate of decline despite well-publicized troubles at the country's largest container facility, according to new provisional trade figures released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

A political battle is brewing in Brazil as stakeholders spar over the future of the country’s Special Ports Ministry, or SEP, in a contest that may determine how future of container trade development.

Geodis, France’s largest transport and logistics operator, is said to be on the verge of clinching an $800 million acquisition of U.S.-based Ozburn-Hessey Logistics in the latest cross-border consolidation of the global logistics industry.

No decision on a block exemption for Hong Kong’s container shipping industry will be made before the new competition law comes into effect on December 14, leaving the container shipping industry in the bizarre position where its activity will be illegal from that date.

A review of federal safety data show the number of citations roadside inspectors handed to truckers for violating hours-of-service rules declined significantly from 2011 through 2014, especially for driving beyond the daily 11-hour limit. However, there was an uptick in some logbook violations, including falsified logs, in fiscal 2014.

Damco posted a rare profit in the second quarter as Maersk’s troubled freight forwarding and logistics arm reaped the benefits of a radical restructuring program.

Macy’s is expanding same-day delivery options into more markets, upping the ante in its high-stakes poker game with e-commerce giant Amazon.

The Italian government plans to sell up to 40 percent of the state-owned postal company Poste Italiane in an initial public offering in October.

Infor’s announcement that it would acquire GT Nexus for $675 million is the latest sign of how consolidation in the logistics cloud-based software industry is paralleling similar activity in the global third-party logistics market.

Allcargo Logistics Ltd., India’s leading international freight forwarder and logistics provider, posted a big jump in net earnings driven by strong gains across multiple segments, especially cargo consolidation, in the first fiscal quarter.

UPS plans to build a parcel distribution center adjoining London Gateway in a major boost to the container port’s bid to become one of Europe’s biggest logistics hubs.

E-commerce is creating demand for small distribution centers that can provide last-mile retail delivery more nimbly than the big regional DCs that currently dominate industry investment.

Perishables and pharmaceuticals — among the most lucrative segments of the air cargo because of the time-sensitive nature of their delivery — are at the forefront of air carrier plans to bolster revenue.

United Arab Shipping Co. has ordered another 3,500 reefer containers, after ordering 2,000 units from Japan’s Daikin Industries in January.

Canadian National Railway plans to invest C$20 million to expand its cold supply chain capacity to help producers and distributors of chilled and frozen foods increase business in North American and overseas markets.

CEVA’s second-quarter earnings surged 25 percent as it continued to reap the benefits of a new business model and maintained ocean and air freight volumes in the face of uneven global demand.

Orbcomm Inc. swung to a $12.2 million loss in the second quarter, after expenses mounted in the wake of recent acquisitions and the company lost communication with one of its low-earth-orbiting satellites.

Major Japanese international freight forwarder Kintetsu World Express Inc. saw its group net profit more than double in the first quarter of fiscal 2015, as it no longer feels the pinch of an antitrust class-action lawsuit in the United States.

The growth of e-commerce in China’s rural areas is outpacing that in major cities with Alibaba Group estimating the potential market in the countryside could be as much as $70 billion by next year.

One of the largest U.S. inland ports continues to grow, with one logistics provider planning to open a 1.1 million square foot distribution center and a grain shipper moving to the Chicago area site served by intermodal rail.

The Chinese government is prohibiting some port service charges and reducing the costs of others in an attempt to galvanize container shipping as the as the country’s container volume growth slows due to reduced global demand.

Gerber Childrenswear announced a $33 million investment for a distribution center in Berkeley County, South Carolina, another sign of Port of Charleston’s growing role as a major import gateway on the East Coast,

Echo Global Logistics’ profits took a tumble in the second quarter after the recent acquisition of Command Transportation in April. Revenues and volumes, however, were significantly higher and look to buoy future loss -— a testament to the success a third-party logistics provider can find in consolidation.

Expeditors International made more gains in air freight and ocean container volume in the second quarter, despite the fading impact of the West Coast port crisis, which gave trans-Pacific air cargo more lift. That helped the forwarder boost both net revenue and profit.

Brazilian stakeholders in the transport industry from state governments to port and trade organizations are pushing back strongly against the federal government’s plans to centralize all the country’s port authorities under the aegis of the Special Ports Ministry (SEP) in Brasilia.

Deutsche Post DHL trimmed its 2015 profit forecast after strikes by postal workers in Germany and restructuring costs in its global freight forwarding unit sharply reduced its second-quarter earnings.

XPO Logistics raised its 2019 revenue target to $23 billion, more than triple its $9 billion revenue run rate in mid-2015. A "two-pronged" pipeline of potential acquisitions in North America and Europe will help XPO meet that goal, CEO Bradley S. Jacobs said.

President Obama has nominated Scott Darling to helm the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. And it looks as though Darling will have an easier go of it than his predecessor, given his relative popularity in the industry and the fact that he’s already helmed the agency for a year as acting administrator.

E-commerce could be improving food safety in China. Cainiao, the logistics affiliate of online retailer Alibaba, plans to build fresh-food distribution centers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The three DCs will support cold-chain delivery of fresh food purchased on Taobao Marketplace and Tmall.com within 24 hours, with options for delivery on specific dates and times, as well as night delivery.

U.S. scrap metal exports took a tumble in the first half of 2015 and are expected to fall even more by year’s end, as the strong U.S. dollar continues to weigh on all American exports.

The value of major global transportation acquisitions jumped 50 percent in the second quarter and rose 16 percent from the first quarter, as trucking and logistics firms reached across borders to buy their way into new markets and expand services.

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission has collected $1.2 million in civil penalties from six companies for alleged Shipping Act violations, the agency announced Tuesday.

The world’s largest container carrier — and reefer carrier — Maersk Line is well-versed in the details of shipping temperature-controlled cargoes. William “Bill” Duggan, vice president of North American refrigerated services, recently shared his thoughts on key challenges and opportunities confronting the global reefer market.

Danish trucker and freight forwarder DSV posted a better-than-expected increase in second-quarter earnings, driven by sharply higher air and ocean container profits, leading it to upgrade its full-year earnings forecast.

The port-based logistics provider said it has acquired 48 acres adjacent to the Krishnapatnam port, near Chennai, for the construction of a new container freight station a month after the company kicked off a plan to build an inland container depot center at Viramgam, near Ahmedabad in Gujarat State.

Japanese international freight forwarder Yusen Logistics Co. returned to profit in the first quarter of fiscal 2015, which started April 1, thanks to robust revenue growth and the end of heavy losses caused by an antitrust lawsuit in the United States.

Transport Corporation of India posted a 17.4 percent jump in net profit in the first fiscal quarter, primarily on the back of strong gains from its freight division.

FedEx and TNT Express said they still expect to merge in the first half of 2016 despite the European Commission’s decision to launch an in-depth investigation of the US firm’s 4.4 billion euro ($4.8 billion) acquisition of its smaller Dutch rival.

London Gateway wants shippers to use its new common-user facility as a testbed for trying out innovative logistics solutions, said it implementation director Graeme Clarke.