Articles
Global Logistics
Outsourced Manufacturing: Ethical and Environmental Concerns Grow
Some interesting trends around the ongoing trade war between the United States and China, as well as continuing challenges with environmental issues and health and safety, have emerged. That’s according to AsiaInspection’s (AI) quarterly barometer of outsourced manufacturing and the quality control services industry for Q1 2018. Highlights of the report include: As many as […]
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Good Start for Air Cargo? Too Early to Tell
2018 looks to be off to a flying start for the air cargo industry, according to World ACD, but it may be too early to celebrate. Worldwide air cargo yield dropped to USD $1.89 (U.S. dollars) in January 2018, 7.8 percent below December, but 16.8 percent higher than January 2017. MORE TO THE STORY: World […]
Read MoreLeveling the Ocean Shipping Playing Field
Participating beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) can benefit from enhanced purchasing power, service monitoring, and cost transparency as a result of a new partnership between supply chain consulting company Chainalytics and global shipping consultancy Drewry. The companies have joined forces to launch an innovative ocean freight procurement solution for shippers. The Chainalytics Ocean Buying Group will […]
Read MoreSmall Businesses Face Import Overhead
Freightos research sheds light on rampant inefficiencies within the global freight sector, trends impacting the growing import/export industry in the United States. While importing continues to grow across both small and enterprise companies, almost 50 percent of the 300,000+ American businesses that import still use spreadsheets to manage their international supply chain. Global trade is […]
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German Trucks: It’s a Steal
Growing cargo thefts across Germany, resulting in product losses valued at $1.3 billion annually, have prompted business associations in the country to launch a joint initiative to tackle the problem. Physical cargo carried onboard almost 26,000 trucks is stolen in Germany every year, averaging a new attack on a truck every 20 minutes, according to […]
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Imports, E-Commerce Drive Industrial Real Estate Demand
Seaports are a vital economic engine for the United States and a huge driver of demand for industrial real estate. Imports represented 63 percent of the total loaded cargo volume in 2017 for the top 13 ports in the United States. As imports continue to rise steadily in many ports across the country, and e-commerce […]
Read MoreFTAs Top Concern of Importers/Exporters
To gauge shipper perspectives on trade in today’s world, and particularly about the shift in free trade agreement (FTA) focus, global logistics and transportation solutions company BDP polled U.S. importers and exporters attending its 29th Annual Regulatory Compliance Seminar in Houston in late February. The results confirms that FTAs remain in the forefront of the […]
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Coping With Trade Compliance Challenges
The Thomson Reuters-KPMG International Third Annual Global Trade Report reveals leading practices from top global trade practitioners in the following areas: Centralization Centralizing the governance of global trade is a good starting point, report many large and experienced multinationals. They find that once one area is centralized, companies tend to centralize more trade processes than […]
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Long Beach Port Goes With the Flow
As cargo volumes and the complexity of port operations continue to increase, the Port of Long Beach and GE Transportation are collaborating on a pilot project to improve cargo flow, increase visibility, and enhance real-time decision-making. After a successful pilot with the Port of Los Angeles that increased visibility of incoming cargo from two days […]
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U.S. Manufacturers Brace for Tariff Backlash
Shortly after the Trump administration announced the United States would impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, Harley-Davidson was among the companies expressing concern. The U.S. motorcycle manufacturer stated it would suffer a severe impact on sales if other countries countered by imposing a punitive or retaliatory tariff on its bikes. If President Trump follows […]
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The Model Port of the Future
The Port of Rotterdam, Europe’s largest port, is working with IBM on a long-term digitization strategy that will transform the port—not only to improve safety and efficiency today, but also to accommodate autonomous ships, as well as process and ship metal 3D-printed ship components on demand in the future. Key elements of the digitization strategy […]
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Airline Confidence Stays High
Airline management confidence remains high, despite concerns about higher fuel costs, and an expectation that profits will fall from 2017, according to the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) latest Airline Business Confidence Index. Among the index highlights: Nearly 75 percent of airline CFOs and heads of cargo indicate an improvement in year-on-year profitability in Q4 […]
Read MoreH&M Tries on Supply Chain Improvements
The world’s second-largest fashion company, Sweden’s Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), says it will increase supply chain investments and continue cost control measures to address slow growth in 2017, and keep pace with e-commerce rivals. After a supply chain reorganization in 2016, H&M’s new focus includes investing in data analytics and intelligence to enhance retail assortment […]
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UPS Ups Cross-Border Investment
To support commercial and residential commerce in the growing North America Borderplex, UPS will develop a new package operations center there. The strategic investment serves a manufacturing region that stretches across Texas, New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. The North American Borderplex area is home to 2.5 million people and one of the world’s […]
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Taking the Measure of Global Trade
Cross-border trade of intermediate goods and early-cycle commodities point to a moderate increase in world trade through March 2018, according to the DHL Global Trade Barometer for January 2018. On its initial release, the index scored 64, which is slightly below the values calculated for previous months (see chart). That means that world trade is […]
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Raising the GPA
Georgia ports authority (GPA) has developed a strategic plan that allows for 10 million twenty-foot equivalent container units, one million rail lifts, and more than one million auto and machinery units per year, GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch told attendees at the 50th annual Georgia Foreign Trade Conference in early February. Lynch provided an overview […]
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U.S. Economy Going Strong and Steady
The U.S. economy continues to experience robust growth supported by real wage increases, lower unemployment, and easy access to credit, which all support stronger private consumption, according to the Atradius December Economic Update report. The report’s key takeaways for the U.S. economy include: World trade will see five-percent growth in 2017 and 3.5 percent in […]
Read MoreFunding High-Tech Supply Chain Startups
Singapore-based investment company, Temasek and Kuehne Nagel International AG, a global logistics group, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a joint venture to invest globally in early stage companies developing cutting-edge technology for logistics and supply chains. The joint venture targets investments in early stage companies developing technologies and services with the potential […]
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Venezuela Crisis Surpasses Great Depression
The collapse of Venezuela’s economy has reached historic proportions, equal to or surpassing the 1929 and 1939 U.S. Great Depressions. That’s according to economist Gerver Torres, a researcher at the Gallup Company and senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in a recent lecture at the University of Miami’s Robert and Judi […]
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