IN BRIEF: New Services and Solutions

Services

• cargo-partner launched less-than-container-load services from Asia to Western Europe via the port of Rotterdam. Its new weekly sea freight consolidation services from China and India to Rotterdam call on various destinations in Western Europe.
• TLI, a provider of transportation and logistics services, expanded into Houston, Texas, bringing managed LTL solutions to shippers in the area. Its staff specializes in routing LTL, dry van, refrigerated, flatbed, and hotshot freight.
• 3PL MD Logistics, a Nippon Express Group Company, opened its first warehouse in Garner, North Carolina, to serve life science and pharmaceutical companies. This new facility is located close to the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina, a research and science park.
• Aeronet Worldwide’s San Francisco operation moved to a nearly 84,000-square-foot facility to increase space for services such as storage, transloading, ecommerce fulfillment, and distribution. The new facility is located within two miles of San Francisco International Airport and within 25 miles from the Port of Oakland.
• Perishable goods shippers now have same-day and next-day direct store delivery with a new service from WARP, a freight network specializing in middle-mile solutions. Available across the United States and Canada, DirectFresh offers shippers an end-to-end solution for fresh freight including manufacturer-to-cold-storage transfers and high-touch, in-store deliveries.

Products

• The AIRplus 50% recycled air cushion from Storopack is a protective packaging product made with a recycled film with at least 50% post-consumer and post-industrial waste. The lightweight air pillows offer the same protective properties as conventional engineered air cushions.
• SpotSee introduced the SpotBot 4G Plus, its newest connected recorder which monitors the impact, temperature, humidity, and location of a shipment. This data is sent to the SpotSee Cloud via the 4G LTE-M cellular network or through known Wi-Fi connections. The device combines GPS technology with proximity sensing of Wi-Fi signals and cellular towers to track shipments.
• The redesigned paletpac from the BEUMER Group is a high-performance palletizing solution for bagged bulk material. The paletpac has either a clamping or double-belt turning device to match product requirements. The device quickly brings the bags into the required position and keeps them dimensionally stable.

Technology

• FourKites launched Data Connector, an offering that allows customers to automatically access and leverage FourKites data directly within their existing business intelligence tool. The integration lets organizations access supply chain insights to expedite decision-making.
• Two new capabilities in the yard management system from cloud-based provider Kaleris improve gate velocity and operations. The features include a driver pre-check-in app and gate kiosk that can reduce wait time at the gate, and an Enterprise Visibility Suite, which provides a consolidated view of operations across an organization’s yards so it can better manage capacity and exceptions.
• Freight coordination platform Leaf Logistics now offers Flex Fleets to provide shippers with dedicated trucking fleets without the financial commitment. Shippers can access a flexible dedicated service in several regions across the United States. The program leverages the company’s Leaf Adapt technology to analyze data and coordinate multi-shipper moves.
• ToolsGroup, a provider of supply chain optimization software, released the latest version of its Service Optimizer 99+ software, introducing advancements in its forecasting and demand sensing capabilities. One new feature is probabilistic forecasting, which combines historical, real-time, and other demand-relevant data into a model that determines the possibility of a range of outcomes.
• Financial services technology provider Fiserv introduced Delivery Optimization to help companies with last-mile delivery, fulfillment, and returns. The solution, which is enabled by Carat, a global commerce operating system, lets businesses connect their digital commerce operations to more than 40 delivery providers and access functionality that simplifies multi-party settlement.
• Ambi Robotics, a provider of artificial intelligence-driven robotic parcel sorting systems, introduced AmbiAccess, a cloud-based business intelligence platform that lets warehouse operators get more out of their Robots-as-a-Service investment. The platform helps companies optimize sorting operations with advanced analytics and real-time robot performance monitoring.
• HyperTrack unveiled new features for its last-mile logistics platform, including a logistics map that can streamline the order fulfillment process and enhancements to its Orders API to help logistics teams plan, assign, and track orders.
• ArcBest launched Vaux, a suite of hardware and software that manages how freight is loaded, unloaded, and transferred. The freight movement solution can enable the entire contents of a trailer to be unloaded in under five minutes and offers visibility into freight movement within warehouse facilities, on the dock, and over the road.
• HUBTEX’s new PhoeniX 2829-XS and 2821-S series are designed for use in narrow-aisle warehouses. The electric multidirectional sideloaders handle long goods and come equipped with rack guidance systems to ensure operator safety.

Transportation

• ZIM started a route from the South America West Coast to the U.S. East Coast. The new ZIM Colibri Xpress offers an expedited connection with an emphasis on refrigerated cargo, calling on Philadelphia as a first port of call in the U.S. East Coast and including Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia in its rotation.
• Qatar Airways Cargo reinstated Penang, Malaysia, to its belly-hold network, offering more than 77 tons a week of cargo capacity to Malaysia’s second-busiest cargo airport. Qatar Airways Cargo operates an A330 passenger freighter to Penang via Qatar Airways’ passenger flights to Phuket, four times a week. This feeds into Qatar Airways Cargo’s international network via its Doha hub.
• OOCL added a fifth ship to its Gateway Express 1 (GEX1) service, which calls on North Europe and Montreal. The GEX1 rotation includes Antwerp, Bremerhaven, Le Havre, and Liverpool.
• time:matters extended its network for same-day transport to include North Africa, connecting the continent to its Sameday Air network, which also covers Europe, Israel, the United States, and Mexico. With Casablanca now being served 17 times a week with direct connections from Frankfurt and Paris, customers with urgent shipments gain increased service frequency to North Africa.
• Cathay launched Cathay Cargo, a rebrand of its cargo business, and a change of name from Cathay Pacific Cargo. Cathay Cargo offers tech-enabled solutions such as Cathay Priority and Cathay Pharma—temperature-sensitive services which provide shippers with visibility.
• The Georgia Ports Authority is set to spend $170 million on 55 hybrid-engine rubber-tired gantry cranes to outfit the Port of Savannah’s Ocean Terminal, as it is redeveloped into an all-container facility. The hybrid machines reduce emissions by half compared to conventional diesel cranes. Crane 237 (pictured) is a hybrid-engine rubber-tired gantry crane working container stacks at the Port of Savannah’s Garden City Terminal.
• Hiab USA’s MOFFETT M8 NX truck mounted forklifts now feature MICHELIN’s airless tires. As the sole supplier of airless tires for the new forklifts, MICHELIN will begin providing the MICHELIN X TWEEL TMF airless radial tires on new equipment deliveries in mid-2023. The 31.5-inch tire provides a smooth ride and load stability, with no air pressure to maintain.
• Conveyco’s new 32K dual-lane shoe sorter is designed to sort small parcels, poly bags, envelopes, jiffy packs, and boxes. Because of the dual-lane sorter’s high speed, dual conveyor, integrated induction, and high-density chute angle, organizations can save floor space when compared to other sortation systems.