Supply chain

As blank sailings pile up on the major east-west trades, the forwarder Kuehne + Nagel updated its Sea Explorer to offer more detailed information on ocean freight service schedules and predicted port arrivals.

The container shipping industry will undoubtedly do more business electronically as a result of the corona­virus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but will digitalization be a force for solving longstanding problems, set the stage for disruption, or both?

The new functionality is designed to help drivers make more informed decisions about which loads they accept by making the pricing more transparent.

XPO Logistics CEO Bradley S. Jacobs believes the US and global economies will recover in “fits and starts” in the second half of 2020, and supply chains will become more resilient.

Logistics startups are facing a new reality in which funding rounds are likely to be smaller, recurring revenue expectations will be higher and valuations will be greater for subscription-based software than for digital brokers and forwarders.

The world's second biggest container line was slowing resolving a four-day server outage at its Geneva headquarters, a disruption that has affected online processes but not the flow of its customers cargo.

It is a matter of both national security and economic necessity that the flow of goods to end-markets is preserved. In turn, this requires identifying in detail the critical roles required for the transportation system to function.

Nothing highlights the need for freight visibility like a crisis, but is a crisis like the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) the right time for shippers to accelerate investments in such technology?

Online platforms to check rates, procure capacity, and track freight are not new, but forwarder Kuehne + Nagel is testing whether an intra-Asia-specific platform will accelerate uptake of such an approach.

Youredi is the second integration specialist is providing connectivity to a new track and trace container standard developed by the DCSA, a consortium of liner carriers pushing for common protocols and processes in the container shipping.

Supply chain risk monitoring tools have largely been seen as a luxury, not necessity, but COVID-19 is likely to change the industry’s thinking about their ability to adapt to massive disruption.

The pandemic adds impetus to the rush to develop more sophisticated tools that can give shippers better insight into future truck rates, and eventually “forward-looking visibility.”

Surging e-commerce volumes continued to drive growth among the 50 largest global logistics providers in 2019, but excluding Amazon, revenue not only decelerated, it actually fell from the previous year.

Singapore-based carrier ONE plans to roll out globally an electronic bill of lading through its customer portal starting in the second quarter of 2020.

The lengthy apparel supply chain, with its multitude of raw material suppliers, is struggling to cope with a collapse in retail sales and canceled orders.

Slync has made quick progress in landing large forwarders as customers for its automation software, securing an $11 million funding round to fuel its growth despite COVID-19 making investors more conservative.

A $10 million investment into US-Mexico broker Forager could set the company on a path away from its brokerage roots to a more expansive view of cross-border commerce.

Digital truck brokers have found it hard to confidently provide an accurate guaranteed rate to shippers 14 or 21 days in advance because of the unpredictable developments of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), causing one-off quotes to be higher than normal.

While there is some upside in dynamic pricing for the freight forwarder, it is the shipping line where Mizzen sees the true value, and it is tied to the lines' cost structure and business model.

The Trump administration may be celebrating its “phase one” trade deal with China as a success, but the collateral damage on Europe will be costly.

CBP issued a statement saying it will no longer accept requests to delay duty payments, after notifying the trade community on Friday that it would consider such requests on “case-by-case basis.”

JNPT, which handles the majority of Indian containerized freight, has been hit hard by severe truck driver scarcity and drayage capacity issues.

The difficulty in fulfilling cargo contracts amid an increasingly chaotic supply chain and a spreading pandemic is driving forwarders to drastic steps to limit their liability.

The ability to competently assist in challenging conditions is where shipping lines and logistics providers can differentiate their services in an environment where digital tools will take over the standard processes.

Disappointment and criticism from users of container shipping services and their service providers has followed the European Commission’s decision to extend the carrier block exemption for another four years.

FourKites’ acquisition of the yard management visibility solutions of Denver-based TrackX indicates an intent to build broader freight network visibility for its shipper customers.

Importers can apply to CBP to request an extension to pay applicable duties and taxes due to disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

The lessons learned from logistics managers, carriers, shippers, and high-technology companies — such as inventory backstops and redundancy in the network — will create the groundwork of a new way of approaching mitigating sourcing risk.

A significant number of truck drivers serving India’s major public port have not been reporting to work in recent days because of fears over the coronavirus outbreak and related government restrictions.

DHL Global Forwarding on Thursday warned customers of a potential inability to fulfill its ocean and air freight contracts, echoing warnings from other forwarders that spoke with JOC.com.

The 10-year US economic expansion is over, killed by the response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019), and the recovery will be slow, IHS Markit chief economist Nariman Behravesh warns.

While truck activity is rampant for essential goods, US fashion footwear freight movement is slowing to a halt as department stores shut down, according to supply chain executives.

A trio of prominent logistics technology CEOs told shippers that navigating the coronavirus crisis comes down to decentralizing inventory and avoiding investment in fixed assets.

The response to the new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is dominating business at FedEx, as global air and domestic ground supply needs swing and the firm looks to prioritize test kits and relief supplies.

FedEx expands use of its US ground unit to deliver more air express packages, as e-commerce volumes swell and Amazon ups the competitive ante.

Forwarders facing the task of continuing operations while under work-from-home mandates are getting a boost from software providers offering free versions of their products to help companies cope with the new distributed environment.

The coronavirus is creating new opportunities for cargo thieves, and demands better “continuity planning” from businesses that ship freight, BSI says.

The MSC Joanna has only burned compliant fuel since the IMO 2020 mandate was imposed Jan. 1, the carrier maintained, but the vessel was found to be carrying high-sulfur fuel oil apparently meant for scrubber testing.

The logistics software provider Freightos is the latest to react to an uncertain freight market by cutting staff, a move the company attributes to the effect the coronavirus disease is having on supply chains and the financial ecosystem.

Denver-based freight broker Archerhub is taking a driver profitability approach to building a successful technology-based business in a market flush with new digital entrants.