Cosco Shipping's partnership with Alibaba and the group’s finance arm Ant Financial, which will primarily focus on using blockchain to track containerized goods globally, fits into China’s larger goal of creating a digital silk road threading through its Belt and Road initiative.
Monday July 13, 2020
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Logistics Technology Providers
Logistics Technology Providers
Technology is now embedded in the very fabric of the way that freight moves across oceans and land. A major dynamic driving technology in logistics is the rise of e-commerce, which has heightened customer expectations in both consumer and industrial markets, and raised demands placed on logistics teams.
Another major factor is the flood of venture capital funding, underpinning hundreds of logistics technology startups, while serving to accelerate the overall pace of innovation. The dizzying pace of new start-ups, new buzzwords and new information makes it extremely challenging to chart an intelligent, risk-averse path. For shippers, it can be confusing to decide which areas of their business make the most sense to invest in, which specific solutions to use to track their supply chain data and to evaluate their current systems and processes.
The logistics technology choices that ocean carriers make will have a significant impact on the overall direction of the logistics technology sector in the future, because much of the data that shippers need in order to optimize their supply chains originates within the data networks of those carriers. To maximize the benefits of such initiatives, the critical data must be accurate, and must flow through such channels as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) in a timely fashion. In an effort to improve the quality of this data, some ocean carriers are taking steps to collectively harmonize their data standards.
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News & Analysis
09 Jul 2020
Uber Freight has expanded its network of transportation management system integrations by piping its instantly available capacity into the Blue Yonder freight execution system.
08 Jul 2020
London-based digital cargo insurer Loadsure partners with Chicago-based Transship to more fully automate refrigerated containerized exports.
08 Jul 2020
A machine learning software provider is tackling the problem forwarders and customs brokers face in converting the information within core shipping documents into usable data.
07 Jul 2020
The Digital Container Shipping Association is targeting standard vessel schedule publishing to allow ports and cargo interests to get more real-time arrival and departure data.
02 Jul 2020
Transplace has begun providing managed transportation-like services to customers that have their own transportation management system but want to be able to benchmark against the data of the $11 billion of freight the 3PL manages.
29 Jun 2020
On the path from static quotes to instant quotes, a key stepping stone is better connecting forwarders’ rate management tools with the transportation management systems they use.
26 Jun 2020
High-growth retailers have a better sense of their deficiencies in transportation management and other supply chain components than their low-growth peers, a new study has found.
19 Jun 2020
Data2Logistics has been struggling through a system outage this week that is leaving its shipper customers unable to pay carriers through its platform.
16 Jun 2020
TMS and supply chain modeling software providers combine to build an integrated “what if” scenario capability for shippers that normally wouldn’t have the resources to acquire and staff such a solution.
16 Jun 2020
A software startup aiming to be the connective tissue between data from disparate warehousing systems has received venture capital as retailers’ distribution needs get more complex during the COVID-19 pandemic.
11 Jun 2020
Logistics software acquisitions continue to occur amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest being Descartes’ $12 million deal to purchase UK-based online forwarding software provider Kontainers.
11 Jun 2020
The forwarder Flexport is edging toward a broader imprint on the shipping industry through the development of customizable interfaces for its customers and increased access to its systems for agent partners.
10 Jun 2020
E2open customers will get access to free cargo visibility as the software company tries to combat the pull of standalone visibility providers.
04 Jun 2020
Werner is the latest broker to use software from Trucker Tools to tap into the app provider’s reach into the North American small carrier and independent driver population.
04 Jun 2020
More venture capital is being funneled toward logistics automation tools, this time a large early stage round in an Ireland-based software provider that build procurement bots for shippers.
02 Jun 2020
A group of 10 maritime bodies argues for accelerating the pace of port data standardization and adoption of modern, single-window systems, among a list of other initiatives.
02 Jun 2020
Alibaba has tied up with logistics software provider Freightos to provide logistics services on its business-to-business platform while also allowing buyers to extend payment terms to sellers.
01 Jun 2020
London-based digital 3PL Beacon lands a $15 million venture capital investment by focusing on supply chain finance, as the digital forwarder model continues to attract growth funding.
01 Jun 2020
The acquisition of FMIC from Chainalytics helps transform DAT Solutions into a broader freight intelligence business aimed at enabling shippers, brokers, and truckers to understand freight costs and pricing.
01 Jun 2020
A plethora of technology providers have emerged in recent years to arm forwarders with the ability to quote digitally, but not all are in the same category and most are geared to help existing forwarders compete with digitally-minded competitors.
29 May 2020
After spiking in March owing to increased demand for essential goods amid the COVID-19 pandemic, truck detention has receded but remains a disruptive factor for truckers that can backfire on shippers when capacity is needed.
28 May 2020
The addition of DP World to Maersk and IBM’s blockchain platform TradeLens is a feather in the cap of the still nascent container logistics network, bringing a string of more than 80 terminals and associated business into the fold.
27 May 2020
A Salesforce-based logistics software provider has established a critical goods network to link suppliers, buyers, and 3PLs that wouldn’t ordinarily be connected to one another.
26 May 2020
Expeditors has acquired Fleet Logistics, pulling digital forwarding capabilities into the arsenal of the trans-Pacific’s largest non-vessel-operating common carrier.
26 May 2020
Forwarding software providers continue to link up to provide amplified value to logistics companies, the latest example being SimpliShip and Qwyk teaming to provide rating and quoting tools to an Asia-based forwarder alliance.
25 May 2020
Partnerships between digital freight brokers and TMS providers continue to be formalized, which should benefit shippers looking for extra sources of capacity in their core transportation planning and execution systems.
25 May 2020
The Marseille-based startup technology incubator’s newest cohort features a duo of companies aiming to automate the trade compliance and administrative work done by logistics providers on behalf of shippers.
20 May 2020
Digitally-oriented freight broker Loadsmart, backed in part by Maersk’s venture fund, has begun offering a product that stitches together drayage, transload, and truckload operations.
19 May 2020
project44 is ramping up the multi-modal nature of its visibility offering, another signal that shippers are craving single environments that connect all modes and regions.
19 May 2020
Kontainers, which has made inroads in providing forwarders with an online transactional channel, is partnering with Portrix, a longtime supplier of rate management tools to top forwarders.
19 May 2020
A partnership between airfreight software specialist WebCargo and cargo airline management platform IBS will enable carriers to quote more efficiently, and electronically, to forwarders.
19 May 2020
A container line consortium that has tackled a range of shipping standards since launching in April 2019 now plans to drive adoption of electronic bills of lading, a standard that has long evaded adoption.
14 May 2020
Automation software provider RPA Labs has been backed by a group of supply chain-focused investors as it seeks to equip third-party logistics providers with pre-built process “bots.”
13 May 2020
A new technology platform at Werner Enterprises is designed to break down communications barriers between the truckload carrier, its drivers, and customers, and automate more of the truck driver’s workflow.
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Commentary
What does Maersk-IBM’s TradeLens tell us about the future of blockchain-logistics?