IN BRIEF: New Services & Solutions-April 2021

Technology

• Shippers with a network of brokers and freight forwarders can benefit from BluJay Solutions’ new Augmented Global Trade platform, which streamlines workflow and accelerates efficiency for international trade operations. The multi-tenant SaaS platform automates end-to-end customs and compliance requirements.
• IFCO Systems, a provider of reusable plastic containers (RPCs) for fresh food packaging, added track-and-trace technology to its RPCs. Partnering with Real Time Intel, IFCO uses embedded RFID technology and barcodes on IFCO RPCs across North America to help customers move food more quickly and efficiently, reduce waste, increase sustainability, and allow quicker collection and processing of each RPC.
• WMS provider 3PL Central launched its enhanced Small Parcel Suite to support high-volume e-commerce and omnichannel fulfillment. Built within 3PL Warehouse Manager WMS, the new Small Parcel Suite helps warehouses consolidate packages for shipment and process high-volume batches by printing up to 1,000 shipping labels per batch for small parcel fulfillment.

• To help supply chain stakeholders predict disruptions before they happen, supply chain software companies Longbow Advantage and AutoScheduler.AI integrated their solutions. AutoScheduler’s AI solution complements Rebus, the real-time supply chain visibility platform built by Longbow, by leveraging harmonized data to avoid disruptions to on-time fulfillment caused by labor, docking, and inventory bottlenecks.
• Honeywell introduced a suite of enhanced supply chain software systems, which offer real-time supply chain visibility, data analytics, and communication tools. The software can be installed on Honeywell mobile computers and works with FarEye, a low-code SaaS platform.
• Shippers can gain visibility into inbound prepaid shipments with project44 Supplier Visibility. The software links real-time information about inbound prepaid shipments from suppliers with orders and inventory coming into the network to help shippers better manage inventory levels and carrying costs.
• Digital freight technology company Loadsmart introduced dynamic pricing and instant booking via API integration for flatbed, simplifying freight booking for a traditionally challenging equipment type. Shippers that require flatbed gain access to guaranteed capacity and real-time tracking.
• Data Gumbo, the provider of GumboNet, a blockchain-based industrial smart contract network, launched GumboNet ESG, the automated sustainability measurement solution that ties a company’s operational data to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards reporting. The tool measures not only a company’s sustainability data but also its tier 2 and 3 suppliers to monitor supply chain sustainability.
• Roger, a technology solution for the dry bulk freight industry, opened its ecosystem to give all dry bulk truck shippers and carriers access to its suite of products. Roger offers efficiency-focused features such as integrated payment submission and hyper-accurate GPS load tracking.
• Warehouse operations can now integrate data generated from a variety of loading dock event data points with 4SIGHT Connect Data from 4SIGHT Logistics Solution. With the new tool, users can generate custom reports and dashboards, as well as KPIs and metrics.
• Nuvocargo, a digital platform for U.S./Mexico trade, added tracking features available in English and Spanish that provide shippers with enhanced visibility and the ability to monitor cargo shipments.
• The PDL Series Loading Dock Scissor lift from Presto ECOA allows users to quickly and safely transfer loads from a variety of truck bed heights to loading docks. Because the lift platform is always level, transferring between truck beds and docks is easier and safer than ramps or other incline devices.
• The CMA CGM Group chose ECS Group to market its new air cargo division. CMA CGM Air Cargo operated its first full-freight flight on March 13, 2021, between Liège in Belgium and Chicago. The carrier plans to soon announce additional destinations in the United States.
• The new Hoist PV-Series pneumatic tire forklift from Toyota Material Handling Heavy Duty Division has a capacity ranging from 22,000 to 30,000 pounds. The PV is engineered to perform heavy-duty materials handling tasks and is designed for companies in the lumber, steel, and automotive industries.

Transportation

• OOCL introduced a China Indonesia Service with port calls to Qingdao and Port Kelang. The CIS port rotation includes Shanghai, Ningbo, Da Chan Bay, Jakarta, and Surabaya.
• Dachser USA, a subsidiary of Dachser, launched an LCL service that offers direct ocean freight from China to the United States. The new service provides two routes: the Port of Yantian/Shenzhen to the Port of Los Angeles and the Ports of Xiamen, Ningbo, and Shanghai to the Port of Long Beach.
• DSV expanded its airfreight capacity by introducing three intercontinental air charter routes: a weekly direct route from Luxembourg to Guarulhos (São Paulo) with 100 tons of capacity between Europe and Brazil; four weekly direct rotations with a combined 150 tons of capacity connecting Europe and South Africa; and a weekly connection from Shanghai to Chicago’s Rockford Airport, with 100 tons of capacity in each direction.
• Maersk North America will offer a service linking ports in Vietnam and China with the U.S. East Coast via the Panama Canal, starting in May 2021. The TP23 string will include eight Maersk vessels and two from ZIM. U.S. calls will include Savannah, Charleston, and Newark.

Products

• The PalletPal Walkie from Southworth Products is an automatic pallet load leveler that mounts onto pallet trucks to make order picking faster and safer.It uses a calibrated spring mechanism to automatically adjust the height of a pallet load as boxes are added or removed, with the top layer of the load at a comfortable working height for employees to load or offload items.
• Rapid Aid, which makes hot and cold therapy products and temperature-controlled solutions, established a new business unit to help companies maintain the temperature stability of their products while in shipment or storage. The new division, called TempAid, offers gel packs, phase change materials, and insulated coolers.
• DHL’s new bulk liquid transporter solution, a system of Flexitanks called DHL Reefertanks, can transport bulk liquids like citrus juice, which require temperature control while in transit. The three-tank system leaves less residue or heel in the tanks, which means less product loss.
• Mallard Manufacturing, which makes gravity flow storage products, introduced a wireless control pneumatic pallet separator and Ergo Cell lift table. The pneumatic separator holds back rear pallets in a pallet flow lane so that order pickers can safely pick cases from the front pallet. The lift table creates an ideal pick height, limiting the range of motion stresses for workers.
• Temperature-controlled packaging provider Pelican BioThermal expanded its dry ice shipper options for cell and gene therapy shipments as well as pandemic payloads. The expanded range of dry ice parcels can replace liquid nitrogen systems on short journeys that include a courier.
• Toshiba’s BV400D series of direct thermal transfer printers provides fast and crisp labeling for producing shipping, shelving, and asset tags at speeds up to 7 inches per second with clarity up to 300 dots per inch. Toshiba’s compact label makers accommodate varied space requirements for logistics, healthcare, and retail labeling applications.
• Saddle Creek Logistics Services is set to open a 544,320-square-foot e-commerce fulfillment distribution center in Walton, Kentucky, in summer 2021. Designed for e-commerce fulfillment with high ceilings and 110 dock doors, the facility is located near the intersection of Interstates 71 and 75 as well as a major parcel hub.
• The new PowerLINE Series 55 generators from Carrier Transicold provide an uninterrupted electrical source for refrigerated containers and are designed to comply with European Union Stage V standards for diesel engines, offering greater sustainability. The two-speed controller automatically switches based on conditions corresponding to refrigeration system load and requires no user interaction.

Services

• Lineage Logistics added cold storage capacity for importers and exporters by expanding its North Charleston, South Carolina, facility, located close to the Port of Charleston. The facility expansion adds more than 18,000 pallet positions, bringing its total to nearly 38,000 pallet positions.
• Woodland Group opened a new fulfillment and distribution facility in Doncaster, UK. The 195,000-square-foot facility is located at iPort, an advanced multimodal logistics hub.
• Odyssey Logistics & Technology Corporation launched an operation in Laredo, Texas—a major truck crossing point between the United States and Mexico. Odyssey’s Laredo site will serve as a bonded container freight station, a hub for customs transactions, and a warehouse to hold goods that haven’t cleared customs on the U.S. side.
• Transport management technology vendor 3T Logistics and Technology Group introduced a customs clearance service to support UK exporters and importers. Aiming to minimize border customs delays, the new service offers customs clearance expertise and generates auditable and reportable data to ease documentation burdens.
• ClearMetal partnered with insurance provider Munich Re Group to guarantee international ocean freight shippers complete and timely delivery of data on ocean container movements during transit. ClearMetal guarantees that after the first year of engagement, it will offer completeness of data for container shipments at least 90% of the time.
• East Coast Warehouse & Distribution leased 500,000 square feet of new warehouse space at the Port of Savannah. It will offer temperature-controlled warehousing, container drayage, local and regional trucking, and national freight brokerage services at the port, expecting to open its doors on Aug. 1, 2021.
• RK Logistics Group, a provider of warehousing, e-commerce fulfillment, and supply chain management services, expanded its operations in the Silicon Valley with the opening of two facilities in Newark, California. Its new Morton Avenue warehouse is now the primary location for its e-commerce and retail fulfillment operations, which manage inventories, and pull, pack, and ship online orders for multiple retail products businesses.