Supply chain

Visibility provider OpenTrack has spent more than a year in stealth building an automated platform for ocean container status on the belief that shippers and 3PLs need faster access to cargo availability data.

Process automation is already a feature of logistics technology investment, but the drivers for that investment are changing from cost reductions to business empowerment.

The COVID-19 crisis will push the freight transportation industry closer to a future where digitalization is nearly omnipresent, automation is ingrained, and logistics has adapted to slower trade as the economic windfalls of globalization fade further.

The largest US logistics provider is prioritizing technology spending as the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates why more automation and digitization is needed.

The revenue and volume contribution by Panalpina, acquired last August, gave DSV a welcome boost in the first quarter as the coronavirus began to drag down demand.

The US Federal Maritime Commission is signaling to the industry that the fairness of detention and demurrage fees should be viewed through a lens of whether they encourage the pickup of import containers and return of empties.

The race to provide the most complete set of tools to manage the interface of container terminals and drayage is heating up, evidenced by Advent eModal linking with a drayage optimization software provider.

A steep loss in volume will make the second quarter one to forget for the world’s largest ocean forwarder, which expects a recovery to begin in June.

DP World’s rollout this week of an online freight booking platform for forwarders continues its campaign toward broadening its reach in containerized supply chains.

Venture capital investment is beginning to flow toward logistics providers that ease the freight and trade compliance burdens on US-Mexico cross-border shippers.

Freight visibility provider Overhaul, fresh off a $17.5 million funding round in March, is partnering with Schneider’s broker division.

A spike in demand for less-than-containerload (LCL) service suggests US importers are limiting shipping costs by not importing items that may not sell during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A survey of shippers and 3PLs finds the COVID-19 crisis left many companies ill-prepared for the pandemic and will compel them to invest in technology.

Demand for global transport services remains volatile across the supply chain, but the COVID-19 recession has not diminished the urgency required in finding a carbon-neutral fuel source.

CBP has reversed course on allowing certain importers to defer duties by 90 days for companies whose receipts in March or April dropped by more than 60 percent due to COVID-19.

Each year JOC publishes a directory of nearly 200 warehousing service providers across the United States to help beneficial cargo owners and transportation providers find warehousing capacity as needed.

As blank sailings pile up on the major east-west trades, the forwarder Kuehne + Nagel updated its Sea Explorer to offer more detailed information on ocean freight service schedules and predicted port arrivals.

The container shipping industry will undoubtedly do more business electronically as a result of the corona­virus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but will digitalization be a force for solving longstanding problems, set the stage for disruption, or both?

The new functionality is designed to help drivers make more informed decisions about which loads they accept by making the pricing more transparent.

XPO Logistics CEO Bradley S. Jacobs believes the US and global economies will recover in “fits and starts” in the second half of 2020, and supply chains will become more resilient.

Logistics startups are facing a new reality in which funding rounds are likely to be smaller, recurring revenue expectations will be higher and valuations will be greater for subscription-based software than for digital brokers and forwarders.

The world's second biggest container line was slowing resolving a four-day server outage at its Geneva headquarters, a disruption that has affected online processes but not the flow of its customers cargo.

It is a matter of both national security and economic necessity that the flow of goods to end-markets is preserved. In turn, this requires identifying in detail the critical roles required for the transportation system to function.

Nothing highlights the need for freight visibility like a crisis, but is a crisis like the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) the right time for shippers to accelerate investments in such technology?

Online platforms to check rates, procure capacity, and track freight are not new, but forwarder Kuehne + Nagel is testing whether an intra-Asia-specific platform will accelerate uptake of such an approach.

Youredi is the second integration specialist is providing connectivity to a new track and trace container standard developed by the DCSA, a consortium of liner carriers pushing for common protocols and processes in the container shipping.

Supply chain risk monitoring tools have largely been seen as a luxury, not necessity, but COVID-19 is likely to change the industry’s thinking about their ability to adapt to massive disruption.

The pandemic adds impetus to the rush to develop more sophisticated tools that can give shippers better insight into future truck rates, and eventually “forward-looking visibility.”

Surging e-commerce volumes continued to drive growth among the 50 largest global logistics providers in 2019, but excluding Amazon, revenue not only decelerated, it actually fell from the previous year.

Singapore-based carrier ONE plans to roll out globally an electronic bill of lading through its customer portal starting in the second quarter of 2020.

The lengthy apparel supply chain, with its multitude of raw material suppliers, is struggling to cope with a collapse in retail sales and canceled orders.

Slync has made quick progress in landing large forwarders as customers for its automation software, securing an $11 million funding round to fuel its growth despite COVID-19 making investors more conservative.

A $10 million investment into US-Mexico broker Forager could set the company on a path away from its brokerage roots to a more expansive view of cross-border commerce.

Digital truck brokers have found it hard to confidently provide an accurate guaranteed rate to shippers 14 or 21 days in advance because of the unpredictable developments of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), causing one-off quotes to be higher than normal.

While there is some upside in dynamic pricing for the freight forwarder, it is the shipping line where Mizzen sees the true value, and it is tied to the lines' cost structure and business model.

The Trump administration may be celebrating its “phase one” trade deal with China as a success, but the collateral damage on Europe will be costly.

CBP issued a statement saying it will no longer accept requests to delay duty payments, after notifying the trade community on Friday that it would consider such requests on “case-by-case basis.”

JNPT, which handles the majority of Indian containerized freight, has been hit hard by severe truck driver scarcity and drayage capacity issues.

The difficulty in fulfilling cargo contracts amid an increasingly chaotic supply chain and a spreading pandemic is driving forwarders to drastic steps to limit their liability.

The ability to competently assist in challenging conditions is where shipping lines and logistics providers can differentiate their services in an environment where digital tools will take over the standard processes.