IATA's latest Airline Industry Forecast predicts average international freight growth of three percent per year over the next five years. That would mean volumes will total 34.5 million tonnes by 2016, 4.8 million tonnes more than the 2011 total.

Based on its modeling and country risk analytics, D+B predicts sluggish global growth will continue in many markets right into 2013.

Some of the biggest names in private equity are racing to set up shop in Southeast Asia, drawn by the region's rapid economic development and abundance of natural resources, according to The Boston Consulting Group's report, Private Equity in Southeast Asia: Increasing Success, Rising Competition.

JF Hillebrand, a logistics provider to the global beverage industry, has named Menlo Worldwide to provide logistics and customs brokerage in Singapore for whiskey distiller William Grant and Sons.

The DHL Global Connectedness Index, a comprehensive analysis of the state of globalization around the world, concludes that the world is less globally connected today than it was in 2007. The report, drawing on over one million data points from 2005 to 2011, documents how global connectedness, measured by international flows of trade, capital, information and people, grew robustly from the report's baseline year of 2005 to 2007, and then dropped sharply at the onset of the financial crisis. Despite modest gains since 2009, global connectedness has yet to recapture its pre-crisis peak.

China is transforming itself from a source of low-cost manufacturing for western consumers to a potentially huge market for domestic production. Ron Tarter, senior vice president and general manager of Flextronics, discusses how his company and others are adjusting to the shift.

DB Schenker has expanded its logistics capability in two locations.

The shift by manufacturers from offshore locations in Asia back to the U.S., Mexico and other parts of the western hemisphere is more than anecdotal, says David Kilzer, senior vice president of supply chain solutions with Idhasoft. He outlines the factors that are causing companies to rethink their supply networks.