Logistics Technology News

FourKites’ acquisition of European trucking and rail data provider NIC-place enhances its ability to get granular data on shipments in an increasingly competitive landscape for visibility.

Transporeon is adding a transportation management software provider focused on automation and a tool for carriers to optimize truckload capacity, the latest acquisitions in a run that started in fall 2020.

Customer growth, geographic expansion, and supply chain disruptions in 2021 helped multi-modal visibility provider project44 secure $420 million in new investment, its third multi-million-dollar funding round in 13 months.

Expansion in the Netherlands follows a $1.7 billion funding round that will propel growth as Lineage Logistics builds its global food chain.

Blume Global’s acquisition of a sourcing collaboration platform gives it more upstream visibility into manufacturing activity after a year in which component shortages hampered international supply chains.

Logistics providers are largely embracing a buy-and-build approach to serve their shipper and carrier ecosystems, realizing that internal development resources aren’t usually enough to cater for all their software needs.

Shippers and forwarders under pressure to pay freight surcharges have an option to apply for credit through a new offering by payment vendor PayCargo’s working capital solutions group.

TradeLens has continued progress in building its network in Asia by securing Pakistan Customs and its single window initiative as a new member, bookending its existing investment in India.

Demand for less-than-container load (LCL) services has driven a customs technology company catering to small US shippers to launch a service from two Chinese ports to New York-New Jersey.

A sea change in ocean freight rate volatility has precipitated new efforts to drive usage of derivatives, with index providers suggesting there is previously unseen appetite from shippers and forwarders for hedging tools.

The Port of Long Beach’s foray into providing cargo data for shippers has to be viewed within a confusing landscape of data providers, including the neighboring Port of Los Angeles.

Convoy’s recent foray into developing technology for use by other brokers hints at a future where freight procurement is centered around platforms where companies complement and compete with one another.

Redwood CEO Mark Yeager said the company’s acquisition by a new private equity firm gives the Chicago-based 3PL ammunition to compete in a market that has seen “dramatic consolidation” in 2021.

Investors continue to pour money into technology addressing long-neglected import drayage at US ports, with Dray Alliance nabbing a $40 million funding round Tuesday.

KlearNow has landed a funding round to build its model of automating customs entries and trade compliance filings, a digital alternative to traditional customs brokerage options.

Venture capital firms have boosted the coffers of two startups aiming to empower the domestic and cross-border trucking industry in Mexico as investment into logistics technology providers continues.

An electronic connection between CargoWise and Singapore Airlines is another sign that digital management of bookings and shipment modifications is gaining momentum in the air cargo market.

Transporeon has acquired ocean visibility provider Logit One, another bit of consolidation in a cargo visibility market that has already seen project44 and FourKites collectively roll up three competitors.

Technology systems used to identify first available empty return appointments at Los Angeles and Long Beach container terminals may be a key in unlocking congestion in the key import gateway.

Low-code digital platform Voyager Portal is focused on reducing complexity and cost in non-containerized global shipping operations.

CloudTrucks, which provides independent drivers with software to manage their businesses, has landed a massive funding round from prominent venture capital investors.

Redwood Logistics’ focus on system integration has extended to partnerships with international and domestic freight management systems providers E2open and Freightos.

Searoutes, a startup focusing on calculation of freight transportation carbon emissions, has raised $2.7 million through venture capital and an environmental grant from the European Union in recent months.

Turvo has embedded ocean data from visibility provider OpenTrack to help shippers track container movements in a market where predictive insight into ocean is much in demand.

The US Federal Maritime Commission is looking at how all the segments of the container supply chain trade off data in a bid to get greater efficiency.

Southeastern Freight Lines is working with Relay Payments to automate accessorial payment processes such as “lumper fees” as LTL firms look to digitize more aspects of their business.

project44 is continuing its venture capital-fueled offensive to build a global, multimodal footprint by expanding in the Latin American market, where it currently has a limited footprint.

Forwarder uptake of application programming interfaces (APIs) has been hindered by data quality issues and a perception that existing EDI infrastructure needs to be discarded, a new report has found.

Shippers distracted by a messy ocean freight environment are not focusing on correcting inaccurate invoices, often due to a reliance on general-purpose tools such as Excel and SharePoint to manage rates and tenders.

Tight LTL capacity and rates that have climbed by double digits are creating opportunities for more dynamic LTL pricing, if it can be shown to benefit shippers and carriers.

DP World continues to expand its basket of digital services to complement investments it’s made in physical assets, all designed to funnel volume into its terminal operating network.

Kuehne + Nagel and Blume Global are partnering to provide the forwarder a way to manage existing and potential drayage partners in a more efficient manner as shippers focus on their needs at destination.

FourKites is helping its customers tackle the management of detention and demurrage charges through a dashboard that help them prioritize containers likely to incur free time fees.

Flock Freight is the latest logistics technology company to reach so-called unicorn status after landing a $215 million funding round led by SoftBank to expand its pooled truckload model.

Forwarding software vendor Magaya sees potential in providing forwarders the ability to better manage allocations on behalf of their shipper customers.

A funding round into Paris-based Wakeo is further evidence that investors believe the market for multimodal visibility isn’t slowing down, and that there is room for multiple players.

A partnership between Transporeon and Roambee to marry telematics data with sensor-visibility data is a sign of the growing need for shippers to manage condition-sensitive shipments amid a congested global environment.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) has standardized the code for all the container facilities it uses globally, the first carrier to use a facility code format developed in part by the Digital Container Shipping Association.

project44 is moving beyond freight visibility into booking through a new product that uses carrier location data to identify when truckload capacity is soon to be available for freight brokers to book.

Vendorflow, a new platform to harmonize communications between logistics providers and the carriers they use, has secured funding from a range of venture capital investors with previous logistics expertise.