IN BRIEF: New Services & Solutions-June 2020

Products

• Air cargo can be safely transported in airplane cabins designed for passengers with the use of cargo seat bags from insulated air cargo cover maker Trip & Co. Produced in collaboration with engineering company SII Netherlands, the bags are watertight, chemical and UV resistant, and able to transfer products in a range of temperatures.
• Toyota Material Handling, a maker of sit-down counterbalance, 4-wheel electric lift trucks, introduced 3,000- and 3,500-pound capacity models designed to boost both productivity and uptime. Operators can also expect improved ergonomics and up to 27% faster travel and lift/lower speeds.
• CaptureTech’s CapCleaner UV-C cleans and sanitizes mobile devices and other warehouse equipment, such as handheld scanners and headsets. Using UV light to disinfect equipment, the CapCleaner kills viruses and bacteria directly, enabling people to avoid coming into contact with the harmful light.

Services

• The Smart Crate system from Averitt Express lets shippers crate their goods at the point of production. Its modular design allows users to transport products of various sizes, ranging from computer servers to mechanical components. The system also provides real-time location tracking and conditioning monitoring.
• Echo Global Logistics partnered with TruckPark, a truck parking service, to add benefits for members of its EchoDrive Preferred rewards program. Members now get access to TruckPark’s network of overnight, commercial truck parking resources at a discounted rate. EchoDrive Preferred complements the EchoDrive web portal and mobile app.
• Ryder System expanded its e-commerce fulfillment network’s food-grade capabilities by opening a facility near Philadelphia and adding food-grade capabilities to two facilities near Los Angeles and Dallas. Ryder’s new e-commerce fulfillment center near Philadelphia integrates automation technology that will let Ryder scale the operation to fulfill more than 70,000 packages daily with future expansion to more than 136,000 packages in a three-shift operation.
• YRC Worldwide expanded its regional next-day freight service to include Fort Worth and Garland, Texas, connecting 10 terminals across the state. San Antonio serves as the hub.
• Infinity Intermodal launched an expedited temperature-controlled intermodal option from Salt Lake City to Chicago, with return service. Transit time is three days door to door. The service provides refrigerated intermodal transportation to shippers throughout greater Salt Lake City, including areas of southern Idaho such as Pocatello, Twin Falls, Heyburn, Burley, American Falls, Jerome, and Idaho Falls. The service provides pricing visibility across a network of asset-based air cargo and passenger carriers.

Technology

• Materials handling automation solution provider MHS launched Helix, a warehouse software solution that supports rapid e-commerce growth. The software consists of template-based modules for equipment control, inventory management, and order fulfillment functions.
• Ensol, a maker of lithium industrial batteries, released the Ensol Smart self-reporting battery and the Ensol Cloud solution. Ensol Cloud is an Internet-of-Things platform for materials handling fleet management that enables fault alerts and tracks equipment utilization benchmarks.
• 3PL Central, a cloud-based warehouse management system provider, released SmartDock, a dock-scheduling solution that allows warehouses to add more control to their receiving and shipping processes by eliminating manual appointment scheduling.
• Transportation management system (TMS) provider Rose Rocket released a solution that provides tracking and order management. The TMS integrates with the Geotab platform, leveraging GPS and hours-of-service data.
• GEODIS and Delta Drone launched the GEODIS Countbot, a warehouse inventory solution that can perform inventory counts quickly and with only one supervising operator. The solution combines a robot, a telescopic mast, and a drone that ensures the quality of the images collected.

Transportation

• American Airlines expanded its cargo schedule to provide 140 weekly flights to 15 cities in Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Caribbean. New services include daily flights between Dallas-Fort Worth and Hong Kong, and weekly flights from Chicago and Paris, and Philadelphia and three cities: Rome, San Juan, and Zurich.
• CMA CGM Group launched SeaPriority Go, a service that offers priority vessel boarding for goods during the loading process.
• Shippers transporting goods to Alaska now have a new option called Arctic On-Demand, an Alaska-specific air charter that delivers cargo to even the most remote Alaskan locations.
• Lufthansa Cargo now offers up to 14 additional cargo flights per week from Shenzhen, China, to Frankfurt, Germany. The first aircraft, an Airbus A330-300 from Lufthansa, took off from Shenzhen on May 18, 2020, carrying three million respiratory masks and other medical protective equipment on behalf of logistics company Fiege.