Articles
Supply Chain
6 Post-M&A Supply Chain Strategies for Success
The high-tech industry has experienced a season of acquisitions, and now it’s time to start thinking about supply chain optimization. According to the 2017 M&A Report, high-tech mergers and acquisitions totaled more than $700 billion in 2016, about 30 percent of the overall M&A market. This reflects a growth rate of 9 percent per year […]
Read MoreNews & Trends Impacting High-Tech & Electronics
it’s a beautiful day in GOOGLE’S neighborhood Toronto spells the site of Google parent company Alphabet’s planned $50 million high-tech neighborhood. Sidewalk Labs—Alphabet’s urban-innovation arm—will develop 12 acres of the city into a high-tech urban environment called Quayside. While the details aren’t yet finalized, a hint at what’s to come may be Sidewalk Labs’ previous […]
Read More
6 Ways to Find Hidden Capacity
As shippers puzzle their way through a record truckload capacity shortage, they have to change how they do business to find the right truck at the right time for the right price.
Read More
Beyond Table Stakes: Freight Payment Clients Hold All the Cards
Advances in technology, increasing globalization, and the growth of e-commerce are upending the traditional freight bill audit and payment industry.
Read More
Good Question: To address the truck driver shortage, should we lower the minimum driver age to 18?
I agree with lowering the age restriction for getting an interstate CDL to 18. Currently, commercial drivers between 18 and 21 can operate with a CDL as long as they don’t cross state borders. Think about that—a 19 year old can legally operate a commercial rig between Miami and Pensacola, Florida (670 miles apart), but […]
Read More
Good News From the Government! (Yes, You Read That Right)
In its second estimate of Q2 2018 Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the U.S. Census Bureau quoted growth at 4.2 percent, the best quarterly figure since Q3 2014. That comparison is important because 2014 was also the last time the truck market was tight. When GDP rises above four percent, freight grows and the truck market […]
Read More
Shipping and Delivery: How to Get it Right
Thanks to the rise of e-commerce and heightening customer expectations, shipping and delivery have become key drivers of overall customer satisfaction. An e-commerce company’s ability to meet customer expectations can be a source of competitive differentiation. Executing against the wrong strategy—or not having a strategy at all—is a recipe for higher costs and lower customer […]
Read More
Conserving a National Resource
Everyone has an opinion about how to combat the truck driver shortage—from boosting pay and benefits to lowering the age for getting a CDL (see Good Question, page 10) to self-driving trucks. But one valuable weapon you don’t hear much about is driver wellness programs. Carriers can implement these programs quickly, and net near immediate […]
Read More
Driver Wellness Programs: The Right Thing to Do
Wellness programs keep drivers healthy, and carriers wealthy and wise.
Read MoreWho’s Running the Ship?
Norway is testing a new way to make ocean freight transportation more sustainable: autonomous electric ships. Norwegian fertilizer manufacturer Yara International has commissioned the Yara Birkeland, which will be the world’s first autonomous electric containership. The company plans to use the freighter between ports to eliminate the use of diesel-powered trucks. The electric ship should […]
Read MoreHoly Mackerel! Oslo Reels in Seafood Center
Norway’s Oslo Airport is positioning itself as a preferred cargo hub by adding seafood transportation to its menu. Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) and Sjømatterminalen AS will operate the new Seafood Center at Oslo Airport, which will handle up to 250,000 tons of seafood annually. The facility is designed to meet industry requirements for cool chain […]
Read MoreEthiopian Airlines Launches Historic Cargo Route at MIA
Thank Ethiopian Airlines for the first-ever cargo-only route between the African continent and Miami International Airport (MIA). On August 29, 2018, Ethiopian launched the first of two weekly freighter flights between the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa and Miami. The scheduled flights operate on a route that includes intermediate stops in Spain, Colombia, and Belgium […]
Read MoreReducing CO2 Emissions: Close But No Cigar
Carbon dioxide emissions from 22 of the world’s leading ocean container carriers, representing 85 percent of global containerized shipping, continued to fall in 2017, but more innovation and collaboration across the value chain are needed to achieve ambitious global climate goals, reports BSR’s Clean Cargo Working Group. The Clean Cargo Working Group compiles its annual […]
Read MoreTrucking Generates $700 Billion
The U.S. trucking industry generated $700.3 billion in economic activity in 2017, a 3.5-percent increase over the $676.2 billion generated in 2016. That’s according to the American Trucking Associations’ trucking industry data report—ATA American Trucking Trends 2018. Among the findings in this year’s edition: Trucks moved 10.77 billion tons of freight, 70.2 percent of all […]
Read MoreThe Gig is Up
In the new gig economy, workers are individual contractors—they are mobile, can work from any place, and save their companies time and resources. The paradigm shift from having full-time workers to individual contractors is not that easy to manage when considering companies that have full-time employees, especially in logistics. To decide if a model like […]
Read MoreTariffs Go Nuts
Almonds are an especially lucrative product for California—the state’s almond industry currently supports more than 100,000 jobs and accounts for approximately $11 billion of the state’s economy. Instead of being roasted and seasoned with salt, however, almonds are being roasted by escalating Chinese tariffs. Earlier in 2018, President Trump implemented steep tariffs against offshore aluminum […]
Read More
Tuning Into Supply Chain Orchestration
In both the B2B and B2C markets, customers demand speedier shipments, greater flexibility, and more transparency in the order lifecycle. Only by innovating to establish real-time visibility with the power to make changes can companies achieve the agility required to meet customer needs and stand out from the competition. Let’s dig into five trends you […]
Read More
Helping Shippers Meet Production Deadlines With Custom Solutions – Celadon Logistics
When the ELD mandate turned next-day deliveries into two-day runs, Celadon Logistics came up with situation-specific supply chain solutions to help shippers in time-sensitive industries.
Read More
TMS Brings the Power
Electronics company Celestica plugs into a TMS solution to cut costs, increase visibility, and power continuous improvements.
Read More