Supply chain

Even if the Teamsters fail to overturn a recent federal decision to allow Mexican motor carriers to haul loads past the border region, the impact of the new program may be negligible anyway.

Truck drivers employed by Agility Logistics in Kenya are protesting long working hours and lack of union representation, allegedly disrupting traffic on a key trade corridor that connects the Port of Mombasa to inland markets in Uganda and other nations.

The U.S and Canada signed a historic agreement Monday establishing the framework for pre-clearance processes at U.S.-Canadian border crossings, marking the first time pre-clearance will be available for all modes of transportation — land, rail, marine and air — in both countries.

Speaking to more than 2,000 attendees at the 15th Annual TPM Conference this month, Matthew Shay, president of the National Retail Federation, called on Congress and the Obama administration to change how unionized port labor and waterfront employers negotiate agreements so “the interest of thousands” can no longer threaten the livelihood of millions.

APL Logistics will establish a regional consolidation hub for South Asia in Sri Lanka by the second half of 2015, the Singapore-based forwarder has announced.

Global trade management company Amber Road adds new sourcing and manufacturing capabilities by acquiring Hong Kong-based ecVision.

After a banner year for freight and an unexpected tax revenue boost, U.S. inland waterways could see shovels in the ground on a list of long-overdue projects in the coming year, helping shippers move their commodities more efficiently.

Indonesia’s logistics and forwarding markets are on the brink of a new era — if it can secure billions dollars of investment for its antiquated and overburdened infrastructure.

Deutsche Post DHL’s fourth quarter earnings slumped 17 percent even as the German mail, express and freight forwarding giant posted strong gains in ocean container and air freight revenues.

Forwarders are reporting a steady rise in shipper enquiries into the China-Europe rail route from higher value shippers looking for an alternative to expensive and often unreliable air freight and the lengthy ocean shipping.

U.S. federal agencies able to slow and hold imports are finally getting down to brass tacks as the deadline for President Obama’s new comprehensive trade system nears.

The Port of Gothenburg, Sweden’s largest container port, said sulphur emissions have fallen by 80 percent since the beginning of the year when tighter sulphur emission controls came into force but warned that many vessels are still failing to comply.

British postal service Royal Mail has launched a new Chinese-focused online shop front to capture soaring demand in the mainland cross-border e-commerce market and rising interest among local consumers for premium UK-made products.

North American customs broker Livingston International will be opening a new U.S. headquarters in Chicago, which has become a virtual hub for fast-growing third-party logistics companies during the past decade.

Logistics giant Transport Corporation of India has launched a coastal container feeder service between West India and South India, a growing route that has seen the entry of rival feeder lines in recent months.

As manufacturers grapple with deciding about whether to move to the cloud, some executives are wondering if such a move could make a difference in making accurate decisions about how much, if any, of their manufacturing should be brought back to the U.S. — or, in the case of Japanese and European companies, to their respective homelands.

Toll Global Forwarding CEO Paul Coutts has drawn a parallel between the Japan Post acquisition of Australia’s Toll Holdings last week and the Deutsche Post takeovers that turned DHL into a global giant, giving an insight into the bold ambitions of the Melbourne-based logistics operator.

The build-out of cold storage capacity is on fire around the world. From 2012 through 2014, total global capacity grew 20 percent to 552 million cubic meters, an increase of 92 million cubic meters in just two years, according to the 2014 IARW Global Cold Storage Capacity Report.

Drug giants AstraZeneca and Baxter are shifting more cold chain shipments from air to ocean, attracted by lower transportation costs, a reduced carbon footprint and mitigated security concerns, according to Outsourcing-Pharma.com.

The U.S. needs to boost its exports to fast-growing emerging markets, but it faces a number of barriers that stand in the way of a more balanced trade, Walter Kemmsies, chief economist of port design consultancy Moffatt & Nichol, told a panel at the 15th annual TPM Conference on Tuesday.

CEVA Logistics posted slightly lower revenue and earnings in the fourth quarter of 2014 as currency movements outweighed market-beating increases in ocean and air freight volumes.

Panalpina’s profit more than doubled in 2014 as the Swiss forwarding and logistics company posted market-beating ocean and air freight traffic growth and narrowed logistics losses ahead of schedule.

The quality, availability and management of data has to improve if the supply chain is to efficiently handle the mountain of information that is now available to carriers and their customers, panelists said at the 13th annual TPM Conference in Long Beach, California.

With the air cargo industry under increasing competition from ocean carriers for certain cargoes, especially perishables, more sophisticated software and technology tools are helping drive the migration from ocean to air.

The challenges are abundant for second-tier suppliers moving west into China’s interior, a massive region rife with cheap labor but lacking necessary infrastructure and reliable transportation.

Global economic growth will accelerate next year driven by lower energy prices, a resurgent U.S. consumer as a global driver of growth, and stimulus measures being imposed by multiple central banks, IHS Chief Economist Nariman Behravesh told the 2015 TPM conference in Long Beach on Monday.

U.S. exports of agricultural goods have outpaced imports since 1960, generating a surplus in the nation’s farm trade and helping to “counter the persistent deficit in nonagricultural U.S. merchandise trade,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Much of the trade in this sector relies on an integrated global cold chain.

The shipping executive perhaps best suited to assess the relationship between container lines and non-vessel operating common carriers sought on Monday to set to rest the tensions that have long existed between the two, and very much continue today.

Norbert Dentressangle’s operating profit surged 18.6 percent in 2014 as it reaped an early benefit from its $750 million acquisition of Jacobson, the fourth largest U.S. logistics group.

Growth in the global reefer market this year will likely outpace the lukewarm performance of the past few years, according to industry analysts.

A bill introduced in the House of Representatives this week would establish national hiring standards for shippers, brokers and other parties contracting or using trucking companies.

A broad measure of business activity for the Chicago are plunged in February with much of the blame being laid at the door of the West Coast port labor standoff.

Singapore-based Global Logistic Properties Limited (GLP) has completed the acquisition of one of the largest logistics platforms in the U.S. for $8.1 billion.

Freight forwarder Expeditors International saw air freight volume soar in the fourth quarter, reaching a 19 percent year-over-year increase in December, as shippers tried to fly over West Coast port gridlock.

The Obama administration is discussing a plan that U.S.-flag carriers fear will further reduce their ability to carry food aid shipments financed by government agencies.

Kuehne+Nagel in 2014 became the largest non-vessel operating common carrier serving the overall U.S. import market, knocking longtime leader Expeditors International out of the top spot, according to PIERS, a sister product of JOC.com within IHS.