When disaster strikes, aid workers and NGOs are on the ground within a matter of hours. While governments and charities around the world are arranging the dispatch of humanitarian aid from around the world, the next challenge for those on the ground is where to store it.
Retail organizations are facing a seismic shift in the markets they serve - from multiple channels to international expansion. But are the systems in place to fulfill orders and manage returns across this altered and highly complex landscape?
Statistics show a stabilization of airfreight markets on the back of encouraging growth towards the end of 2012. Compared to the previous year, the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) latest global airfreight demand statistics show demand for airfreight was "apparently very strong" at the start of this January with a rise of 5.0 percent.
A study that polled procurement managers and directors from a range of firms across the UK found that while mid-market firms are often less likely to have robust processes and systems in place to counter bribery risk, companies at both ends of the spectrum appeared complacent when it came to vetting their suppliers for compliance with the Bribery Act.
Tesco is reorganizing its distribution network with new sites in Reading and Dagenham to move products closer to stores and to keep up with its growing convenience business in the South East.
Walmart, already struggling to woo shoppers constrained by higher taxes, is "getting worse" at keeping shelves stocked, the retailer's U.S. chief told executives, according to minutes of an officers' meeting obtained by Bloomberg News.
Global logistics giant Kuehne + Nagel have announced the restructuring of their European operations in the first step of a "comprehensive programme for increases in efficiency". In an online statement released on their website, KN explained it will optimize its regional structure beginning July 2013, beginning by merging the current organisational units of central Europe, northwest Europe and southwest Europe into one central region.
Representatives from the Belarusian and Italian Commission on International Road Transport met in Rome where an agreement was reached to increase bilateral quotas on road haulage in 2013 and 2014. The parties also discussed the subject of intermodal transport and the prospect of increased use of bilateral communication, and increasing the flow of freight between Europe and Asia.
The total capacity of Iranian ports has increased by 80 million tons during the past eight years, reaching 184 million tons, IRNA quoted Iranian roads and urban development Minister Ali Nikzad as saying.
CEVA Logistics has opened a logistics center in Jacksonville, Fla., where services will include solutions design and engineering, managed transportation, global supply chain solutions, transportation procurement, and rail fueling.