Supply chain

Shipper demand, lower modal boundaries, and changing procurement practices lead LTL technology provider SMC3 to add truckload functionality to its bidding software.

Tender and bid management software provider Winmore is trying to amplify investments by 3PLs into customer relationship management-based tools by allowing them to assemble bids more quickly and measure the effectiveness of those bids.

Mexican truckers, who say they are facing several state and municipal laws that burden them with fees and limit their movement, have persuaded the state of Jalisco to modify a law that required truckers to buy an annual permit to deliver cargo in Guadalajara.

A roundup of investment into international logistics and maritime technology has found that, outside of a $1 billion investment into the forwarder Flexport, total venture funding into startups fell from 2018 to 2019.

“Continuous” truck moves collaboratively arranged by networks of shippers and carriers are the goal of Transplace’s acquisition of Lanehub.

New Jersey truckers may find that the strategy California truckers have used to fight AB5 won’t work if a tough classification bill similar to the West Coast legislation passes in the state.

Two technology firms are taking an ambitious step toward bringing shippers, trucking companies, and logistics providers together on one transportation management platform.

A secret shopper study of top forwarders by an equipment marketplace provider finds that most are uninterested in providing shipper-owned container options to small or unknown shipper customers.

Knight-Swift and DAT test a truckload rate forecasting system as shippers and their transportation and logistics providers push out the boundaries of supply-chain visibility.

TradeLens container line participants have filed an antitrust exemption agreement with the Federal Maritime Commission to allow them to discuss how to share information and develop products on Maersk and IBM’s blockchain-based technology platform.

The world is a very different place since the advent of the Universal Postal Union in 1874. With the approval of “Option V,” the landscape will change, including the US being permitted to raise prices for packages arriving from other countries in exchange for a contribution into the Union’s voluntary fund.

Insight into the location and predicted arrival of freight across modes can no longer be confined to a single entity in a freight environment where outcomes between trading partners and service partners are intricately linked.

The electronic logging device (ELD) eventually will help shippers find trucks more quickly, help trucking companies better manage drivers, and help drivers better manage hours. But more integration of ELD data with other systems and more development are needed to deliver bigger benefits.

Adani Group bolsters its already significant presence in India by acquiring a controlling stake in the deepwater Krishnapatnam port and a large interest in cold chain logistics leader Snowman.

A pesar de que los volúmenes de carga que se mueven a través de los puertos mexicanos y por carretera se han desacelerado debido a la economía lenta del país, la aprobación prevista del Tratado entre México, Estados Unidos y Canadá (T-MEC) ofrece posibilidades de un impulso al sector logístico mexicano. La Conferencia Comercio de México de JOC evaluará todos los aspectos del sector logístico.

Confronting cyber threats and trying to minimize their risk is the focus of a new coalition of port stakeholders at the Port of New York and New Jersey.

It took decades to break up shipping conferences’ control and fixing of shipping rates, but now freight forwarders face a new threat from the carrier-backed TradeLens, a group that has already taken control of much of the world's container cargo data.

Gaining visibility into truckload movements allows shippers to improve transportation execution and efficiency, as well as accurately benchmark carrier performance and enforce minimum service standards for providers.

The high-profile financial failings of so-called disruptors like Uber, Lyft, Grubhub, Blue Apron, and WeWork should serve as a warning to investors in the budding digital freight brokerage space.

With true end-to-end shipment visibility unlikely to come from a single provider, shippers and 3PLs are thinking about visibility as something that needs to be pulled together using data from multiple sources.

With the US-China trade war still unresolved and demand growth waning, developers in 2020 will be more cautious in bringing new logistics space online than they have been during the boom times of the past six years.

Seaports on the US West Coast aim to regain some of the market share they have lost over the past five years to the East and Gulf coasts by building infrastructure and implementing technology needed to move cargo cheaper and faster.

The Mexican trucking sector is now a buyer’s market, with diminished demand allowing shippers to squeeze truckers for better rates, as the economy slows and the sector still adjusts to hours of service regulations that went into effect in mid-2018.

Virtually every notable new domestic freight broker in the US tied up at least one direct integration with a major transportation management system (TMS) provider in 2019, a trend that will likely continue in the coming years.

Customs officials and brokers in the United States are both being challenged by constantly changing tariff levels and a continued influx of smaller e-commerce parcels.

Shippers and non-vessel-operating carriers are now seeing electronic quotes on par with those offered through long-term contracts, a clear signal that certain container lines see instant quoting as a key part of their future strategies.

Landlord ports like New York and New Jersey, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, the Northwest Seaport Alliance, and Vancouver, B.C., are bringing together terminal operators, ocean carriers, shippers, truckers, railroads, and equipment providers to share data via port information portals.

New authorization for the US Ex-Im Bank resolves its quorum quandary for the time being and readies it to face off with China in developing markets.

Third-party logistics providers increasingly view technology as a way to make their services "stickier" and more valuable to their customers, rather than as a competitive threat.

The ELD era has seen a big reduction in truck driver hours of service violations, but accidents and fatalities keep rising. That long-term trend isn’t necessarily related to the ELD.

A tendency of port community systems to optimize operations only within the boundaries of that port and resistance due to competitive concerns are slowing digitization and data sharing efforts in container shipping.

The JOC.com editorial team has identified 10 trends every shipper, carrier, and third-party logistics provider should be watching in the upcoming year.

The survey found that 63 percent of quotes provided by forwarders were not instant, with manually generated quotes taking an average of 122 hours from the time a request was made.

Changes in package delivery market are leading FedEx to rethink its air express and ground strategies, as it struggles with a slowdown in global trade.

Submissions for and against the four-year extension of the carrier exemption from competition laws are beginning to land in the European Commission’s inbox.

Cargo no-shows are down 75 percent on freight booked via the Maersk Spot guaranteed online booking platform, according to the container carrier.

Seattle-based Convoy is challenging freight brokerage incumbents by saying it has developed capability to automate freight matching and pricing in widely-used US truckload lanes.

A four-year-old logistics technology platform founded in India sees itself as the digital connective thread between the country’s long-haul freight market and the disorganized urban delivery sector.

The UK election result has introduced more certainty around Brexit, although the much-needed trade details of the withdrawal agreement have yet to be thrashed out.

Hapag-Lloyd has turned to Blume Global, which supplies a range of industry brand names, to help digitally manage its North American door moves.