While more peak-season shopping will likely be done online this year than ever before in North America, one of the most important factors in a shopper's decision to use the web will be cost rather than speed of delivery, according to a consumer survey conducted by Canadian parcel and freight service Purolator International, along with the Stony Brook University Center for Survey Research.
Even before the events in Paris on Friday Nov. 13, unrest in several geographic areas of the world has contributed to major disruption in the supply chain.
IATA's global head of cargo, Glyn Hughes, said the logistics business is not keeping up with technology - a sentiment that's been expressed before, but one he said cannot be emphasized enough. Hughes also called for more communication across the airfreight supply chain.
Today, the Silk Road is just as active a trade route as it was 700 years ago, but there's a certain "back to the future" feel to the most recent projects linking Europe and China. The mode of choice being talked about now is not ocean or air cargo but rail freight.
What seemed like a sure deal may not be a slam-dunk after all. Regulators in the European Union have said they may consider demanding concessions, including the selling off of some assets, with regard to the proposed takeover of TNT Express by FedEx Corp.
As we head deeper into autumn and ever closer toward peak season, the airfreight traffic numbers for August provided some pockets of good news, but offered little encouragement that the current air cargo stagnation has abated. According to reports from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), WorldACD and Drewry, August 2015 provided only the slimmest of indications of hope for better performance at the end of the year.
Upon mention of the Caribbean, most people think of idyllic white-sand beaches, Hollywood pirates, the magical sound of steel drums, a handsomely crafted rum cocktail. But the region ringed by Central America, the northern coast of South America and an arc of island nations stretching toward the tip of South Florida – is more than a picturesque vacation spot. It is becoming a key jumping-off point for cargo flights between the Americas and the rest of the world, including Europe, Africa and now the Middle East.
For the second straight year, Dubai-based Emirates reigned as the champions of scheduled international airfreight tonnage, with 2.29 million tonnes carried on the main decks of its freighters and in the belly holds of its vast passenger fleet, according to Air Cargo World's annual Top 50 Air Cargo Carriers.
Even as North America is getting up to speed economically, a cyclical slowdown in emerging markets is squelching the prospects for significant advances in the global airfreight market, according to the Airports Council International half-year report. The council also predicted limited global growth for the remainder of 2015. Airfreight volume worldwide grew in June at 2.1 percent, year-over-year, with domestic traffic increasing 4.8 percent, yet international freight volume only increased 0.9 percent.
A rash of "mega-deals" during the second quarter of 2015 have made transportation and logistics one of the hottest mergers and acquisitions sectors, boosting the average deal value to $564m, according to a recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
