Supply chain

The ongoing trend toward online shopping that accelerated due to COVID-19 lockdowns in the second quarter could be a death knell for thousands of retailers unable handle the growing e-commerce volume.

The number of freight marketplaces for international shippers and forwarders continues to expand with Canada-based Shipz now providing a platform for mid-market cargo owners and the forwarders that serve them.

The FMC will look into whether ocean carriers are incorrectly holding truckers, third-party logistics, and freight forwarders responsible for penalties that should be paid by the shipper.

A widely-used drayage management solutions provider has added the truck parking marketplace SecurSpace to help drivers find parking and equipment storage options directly in their transportation management systems.

The freight broker Transfix is providing small carriers with free standalone operational technology to align their capacity availability with needs from the company’s shipper customers.

A private equity group has plunged $500 million into Uber Freight, signaling that longer-term investors believe the business model of digital freight matching will gain traction in the years ahead.

After focusing on understanding the systems of carriers and ensuring that NYSHEX fits into their systems, the focus is shifting toward making its platform more attractive to shippers, specifically retailers.

Forwarding software providers continue to partner in ways that create broader value than single applications are able to, the latest example being Portrix and Freightender connecting rate and tender management solutions.

Retailers are partnering with gig delivery platforms to compete against Amazon and secure additional last-mile capacity during the holiday season.

Forwarders, shippers and software providers connected to CMA CGM’s systems continued on Tuesday to sort through the effects of a malware attack on the Marseille-based container line.

A freight payment vendor catering to international logistics providers has snared $35 million in funding to enable freight bills to be paid online and improve payment accuracy.

Criticism of the truckload broker Convoy for using venture capital to expand its market share reached a fever pitch this week based on a new offering that helps shippers sidestep the annual bid process, a product incumbent brokers claim is not as innovative as Convoy suggests.

Speaking at the virtual 2020 CSCMP Edge conference, Target’s Arthur L Valdez, Jr., forecasts a reinvention of retailing based on logistics and increasingly precise and rapid transportation.

A new service from C.H. Robinson could replace the annual truckload bidding process with a more dynamic approach to procuring trucks and increasing savings across networks of freight lanes.

Despite the decline in forwarder market share, more than half of the top 25 non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOs) in the eastbound trans-Pacific trade handled more volume in the first eight months of 2020, with six recording double-digit percentage increases.

While much of the wholesale and institutional food business remains depressed, foodservice distributors are finding new opportunities to add value to the food supply chain, such as helping restaurant customers open pop-up shops and online marketplaces.

Lawyers representing ocean carriers, OCEMA, and CCM have asked the FMC to dismiss ATA’s complaint into chassis, arguing the regulatory body lacks jurisdiction and only cargo owners can bring such a case.

Food logistics providers increasing their offerings in the "new" last-mile — from restaurants and grocery stores to consumers' homes — as demand for online grocery shopping and direct-to-consumer food delivery skyrockets due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With cargo volumes and spot rates out of Asia surging as the United States and other countries begin to climb out of the COVID‑19 recession, US importers are increasingly turning to non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOs) to secure capacity.

Shippers using third-party vendors to help them manage auditing and paying their freight bills see a sizable advantage in process costs versus those that manage the function in-house, new research has found.

Forwarders can use logistics marketplaces to cater to small shippers that want to be able to secure international freight capacity, a group that is expanding during the COVID-19 pandemic, the head of Freightos’ marketplace told JOC Uncharted this week.

Convoy is providing shippers an avenue to avoid what it considers unnecessary procurement costs associated with negotiating annual truckload bids that aren’t generally honored by either the shipper or carrier.

The acquisition of CLW Delivery gives expedited trucking operator Forward Air custom final-mile delivery services and new territory, as its LTL and final-mile businesses converge.

German digital broker Sennder has scooped up Uber Freight’s European operations for an undisclosed amount, consolidating its position in a market defined by small carriers with employee drivers, not independent owner-operators.

Visibility software provider FourKites has unveiled a product designed to help shippers better track arrival times and delays associated with individual purchase orders rather than entire shipments.

A technology-focused forwarder in New York is using bots from automation startup RPA Labs to automate document management and response workflow for its customers, a signal that robotic process automation is making progress in logistics.

In what is still very much an evolving scenario, carriers are digesting what they were told by the Chinese government and how it will impact their businesses going forward.

Two Australia-based software providers, Mizzen and Maxamation, have developed a product that will enable container lines to strategize around profitability of dynamically quoted ocean spot pricing.

CEVA will use widely used forwarding software CargoWise to replace legacy systems across its global network of offices as it attempts to match new customer-facing digital capability with a more streamlined back-end system.

Uber Freight on Tuesday said it is providing large shippers with tools meant to complement their existing transportation management systems (TMSs), products that might signal an evolution from broker to software provider.

Logistics software startup Terminal 49 is aiming to arm forwarders and other software providers with an API to more easily convey its container visibility data to shippers.

Venture capital investors have come up with $4 million for TradeLanes, a software provider that helps exporters manage the logistics and compliance elements of trades to increase profit margin per shipment.

Uptake in digital quoting tools at top container lines suggests every carrier will need that capability even if the usage and benefits of such tools aren’t yet clearly defined.

Retail inventories declined during the second quarter and are expected to continue falling into the third quarter.

Third-party logistics provider Transplace looks to expand its shipper customer base through the acquisition of LeanCor, a supply-chain company focused on lean manufacturing.

Logistics software providers Qwyk and SimpliShip have jointly landed their second forwarding network as customers, signaling how small and medium 3PLs need technology to keep pace with larger competitors.

A proposed Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration pilot project would let truck drivers stop the hours of service clock for up to three hours and then resume driving, giving them more control over their schedules, but a longer day.

Research into finding a zero-carbon fuel capable of powering international shipping has continued even as navigating the COVID-19 pandemic consumed much of the industry’s attention in 2020.

Growth of Maersk Spot indicates the industry is past the point of no return on adoption of instant quoting tools, with container lines not having this capability lagging behind.

Li & Fung moves to transform its business model as the loss of large retailers, rise in e-commerce, trade wars, and COVID-19 change the sourcing game.