Chris Schrage, instructor of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa, describes a unique global trade-practices project that involved students from the U.S. and Brazil, and artisans from Latin America.

APL Logistics has introduced AutoDirect, a service that uses flexible, secure racks to transport finished vehicles from door to door.

DHL Express has obtained a multi-site quality-management certification from the International Standards Organization (ISO).

Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to increase 8.5 percent in September compared with the same month last year, and strong increases are expected into the holiday season despite talk of a possible strike at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Webgistix Corp., a vendor of software tools for electronic commerce order fulfillment, has opened distribution centers in Bedford, U.K. and Zurich, Switzerland.

North American freight volumes continued to drop off, and on a year-over-year basis, shipment volumes were down 1.1 percent from last August. This is the third time this year freight shipments have fallen below the level for the same month in 2011. Freight volumes grew 9.9 percent during the first half of the year, but after two months of consecutive contraction, the annual growth has fallen to 8.0 percent.

Drewry Maritime Research's latest Container Leasing Industry report indicates that the rental container fleet grew by 10.6 percent during 2011, improving on the 9 percent returned in 2010 and giving a compounded rate of 9.5 percent for the two years combined. Up to 9.5 percent is also being forecasted for 2012, as lease demand is again holding up well.

Stanford University's Graduate School of Business will host a one-day conference on socially and environmentally responsible supply chains. Entitled "Shared Value and Supply Chains - Strategies for Success," the event will take place on Oct. 10, 2012 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:20 p.m., and be followed by a networking reception.

FedEx is changing its aircraft on the route between Memphis and Queretaro, Mexico to a Boeing 757-200 and will operate five times weekly, increasing its capacity in the market by 50 percent. Jorge Torres, recently named president of FedEx in Mexico, stated: "The decision to increase our cargo capacity is in response to our strategy to become a real business partner with the business in the region, offering competitive services at very reasonable prices ... The decision to increase our cargo capacity responds to our strategy of listening to our clients and their solicitation in a quick way."