Logistics technology

A weakening freight market and growing investor unease with holding companies designed to take early stage companies public have led Transfix to put a public listing on ice.

project44 and the Global Shipping Business Network are working together to tie cargo tracking and bill of lading data to unearth trade finance opportunities in Asia.

Software vendor Portchain will help a DP World-operated terminal in the Port of Antwerp to automate communication from shipping lines to better coordinate berth plans, the companies said Wednesday.

Shippers need to rethink the entire truckload procurement process, not just use technology that marginally decreases costs by relying too much on predictive pricing, according to a trio of procurement technology experts.

Supplier risk is becoming a bigger hurdle for shippers, notably around forced labor regulations, prompting venture capital firms to plunge $100 million into technology provider Altana.

Overhaul has joined a growing group of visibility providers aiming to connect real-time shipment data to cargo insurance solutions.

The less-than-truckload industry is reaching its technology inflection point, which it will need to capture rising demand from shippers seeking operators that are easy to do business with.

A trio of technology providers want to give shippers the ability to tie sensor-based container data to in-transit cargo insurance decisions.

A consortium of liner carriers and terminals aiming to speed the sharing of shipment data with banks believes it can overcome a chronic consent hurdle in the process.

Tive has been piloting its new pharma product, which meets a variety of requirements around data security and storage, with 34 companies over the past two months.

Shippers are seeking unified data across the modes they use, something that has prompted project44 to integrate data into a single platform it released Tuesday.

A shift from a focus on freight procurement to international transportation management has yielded growth in several regions for transportation management software vendor Cargobase.

Convoy is attempting to differentiate itself within the competitive freight broker landscape by using data gathered from its driver-mandated app to provide more execution-focused visibility insights.

NYSHEX has landed its third funding round in 24 months, a $25 million investment that supports the notion the shipping industry is starting to embrace mutually enforceable contracts.

Linking ocean and air freight visibility has been an elusive challenge for shippers and logistics providers, which has led Vizion and BlueBox to combine their respective data products in a commercial partnership.

MyCarrier has created automation partnerships with 15 less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers and will handle more than $1 billion in shipper freight spend, factors that induced venture firms to invest $22 million in the company.

Demand for rate benchmarking tools grew during the pandemic’s wild pricing swings in ocean shipping, which has helped fuel a new $80 million investment in Oslo-based software provider Xeneta.

A mandated “container available” data element related to demurrage fees is largely not being complied with yet as the shipping industry grapples with the immediate implications of OSRA-22.

Technology intended to help shippers and forwarders manage arrival notice information might be the solution that federal regulators are seeking to bridge data gaps from carriers and terminals.

NYSHEX is expanding the reach of its mutually enforceable contract technology to ocean freight agreements outside of its platform as it widens its focus beyond the trans-Pacific trade lane.

Political pressure has increased recently to help US agricultural exporters, who have lost billions due to an inability to access sufficient numbers of export containers.

Shippers in sectors such as aerospace, pharmaceuticals, and IT saw an average hit of $182 million from supply chain disruptions on an annualized basis, which technology provider Interos said will compel many companies to explore nearshoring options.

Incumbent third-party logistics providers that manage an array of services are being challenged by digitally native upstarts who can provide single, unified platforms to shippers.

CargoWise said its growing list of direct container line connections means 95 percent of ocean freight managed by its forwarder customers can be booked through direct carrier feeds.

Investors into logistics technology providers are focusing more on long-term profitability than growth at all costs, leading FourKites to join a growing list of companies to lay off employees to cut costs.

While the FMC seeks input over whether to declare an emergency need for information sharing by container lines, the agency’s advisory committee has suggested setting up a parallel carrier group to improve dialogue.

Slync.io’s widely reported payroll woes and the departure of its CEO last week have had a minor impact on the broader logistics industry due to the technology provider’s relatively small customer base.

Convoy’s counterpunching approach to being sued by load board provider DAT Freight & Analytics is as much about winning the battle of public opinion as it is about winning in court, a transportation attorney told JOC.com.

An FMC data initiative that launched late last year involved industry stakeholder meetings with participants from container lines, shippers, forwarders, longshore unions, railroads, and technology solutions providers.

Expeditors International said its revenue grew in the second quarter despite a drop in volumes as supply chain uncertainty kept freight rates at a premium.

Scoular, one of the US’ top exporters, discovered significant duplicate invoices from its ocean transportation providers in recent months, an issue likely to become more pervasive as regulators scrutinize carrier and terminal billing.

Load board provider DAT and freight broker Convoy have sued one another over Convoy’s development of a product that DAT says is competitive with its own, violating a contract Convoy signed with DAT.

The latest integration is a sign of continued strategic partnerships between logistics software vendors as they seek to amplify the value their solutions offer.

End-to-end visibility of the freight flowing across oceans and moving across the US is the goal of the partnership between Flexport and Nolan Transportation Group, giving shippers more control over modal choices and costs.

German state-owned railroad Deutsche Bahn fell deep into the red during the pandemic, but the huge profitability generated by forwarding subsidiary DB Schenker has turned around two years of losses.

The cost of physical devices to monitor freight shipments has always been a hurdle for providers, one that Tive is addressing through a new — and cheaper — shipping label-sized product that measures location and temperature.

Multi-year contracts signed by shippers at the height of the ocean freight bull run may be less attractive as the market begins to soften, according to forwarder DSV.

Deciding whether to outsource key logistics functions is an existential question for shippers, one made harder by external dynamics being out of whack during the pandemic.

Kuehne + Nagel shrugged off weakening air and ocean markets to post a record first-half result and expects its profitable run to continue through the next two quarters.

ExFreight’s transactional focus on pricing each leg of a container and air shipment has allowed the forwarder to navigate chaotic international markets over the past two years.