Articles

Supply Chain

Straighten Up and Fly Right
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Straighten Up and Fly Right

A logistics maxim holds that "air freight is an ocean shipment gone bad," says Neel Jones Shah, senior vice president and head of global air freight for Flexport Inc., an air and ocean freight forwarder. Many shippers likely can relate: They planned to move their goods using a less expensive but slower transportation mode. Then, […]

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U.S. Seaports Need Multimodal Funding
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U.S. Seaports Need Multimodal Funding

U.S. port authorities identify more than $20 billion in projected multimodal port and rail access needs over the next decade, while one-third cite pressing rail project needs costing at least $50 million for each of their ports, according to a new American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) survey, The State of Freight III. Funding and […]

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Brittain Ladd
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Driverless Trucks: A Different Idea

I admire and respect the individuals and companies working on perfecting driverless trucks. However, I don’t believe driverless trucks are an innovative concept. In fact, I believe just the opposite: Designing driverless trucks is the wrong solution for transportation. There is so much effort and capital being directed at wanting to make trucks driverless that […]

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Disruptive Technologies Shake Up Supply Chains
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Disruptive Technologies Shake Up Supply Chains

When efficiency is the primary focus in integrated supply chain management, every little bit that helps to tighten both front- and back-end processes helps. Increasingly, companies in a variety of verticals are achieving such efficiencies by leaning on disruptive technologies. These envelope-pushing solutions could take the form of artificial intelligence used in automation software, robotics, […]

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Bridging the Gap Between Women and Funding

Thirty women have become small business owners in the trucking industry thanks to the efforts of Expediter Services (ES), in conjunction with the Women in Trucking Association. To bring more women into the transportation industry, ES set a goal of supporting 150 total women-owned small businesses through the 150 Business Challenge within 12 months. Through […]

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Bill Keough
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What Can Humanitarian Supply Chains Learn from the Private Sector? – SCTL at the University of Washington

For-profit corporations have spent the past 20+ years optimizing their supply chains to provide superior customer service, improve responsiveness and cash flow and, ultimately, to boost profits. And a handful of stand-out enterprises like Amazon have actually altered expectations about the sort of results a best-in-class supply chain can deliver. Consumers, in both their personal […]

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Italy’s Ritrama Sticks a Landing in SC

Ritrama, an Italian multinational self-adhesive materials producer, chose Ferretto Group’s technological solutions for its new automated warehouse located in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The structure spans an area of more than 5,000 square meters, and is equipped with six stacker cranes with different pick-up tools. Currently in use for about 70 percent of the warehouse, the […]

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Keith Biondo
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Dual Dynamics

If you are using a third-party logistics (3PL) provider for truck brokerage alone, you are leaving money on the table. I wrote that eight years ago, when commenting on the results of our annual 3PL market research. Why did I say that? Because logistics providers have evolved and developed an array of solutions that bring […]

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Paul A. Myerson
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Are You Ready for Omnichannel Retail?

An omnichannel retail strategy provides a consistent shopping experience across different channels and devices, requiring your supply chain to offer a smooth, positive experience for customers—no matter where and how they interact with your brand. Some supply chain challenges to address when dealing with an omnichannel retail strategy include: Supply chain visibility. Consumer expectations are […]

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Noel Perry
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What’s Driving Truck Regulation?

The trucking industry presents a rich example of the intersection between the public’s demand for safety and consumers’ demand for low-priced goods delivered when they want them. The essence of the trucking intersection is the presence of very large vehicles mixed among the very small vehicles motorists drive. Even the dumbest motorist knows that when […]

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The Supply Chain in Brief

Shovel Ready Work is underway on a multipurpose cargo berth project at Florida’s Port Canaveral that will provide the infrastructure and capabilities to handle a wider range of heavy and oversized cargo, including commercial spacecraft components. Scheduled for completion in mid-2019, North Cargo Berth 8 on the port’s north side is designed and engineered as […]

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Fleet Operators Get No ELD Satisfaction
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Fleet Operators Get No ELD Satisfaction

Slightly fewer than half of fleet operators responding to a Coretex Electronic Logging Device (ELD) satisfaction survey say the mandate is good for the transportation industry. Coretex surveyed 303 U.S. trucking companies of various sizes. More than two-thirds (69 percent) of responding companies say ELDs do not improve driver satisfaction, and 33 percent indicate it […]

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