Uncertainty in the global market continues as the latest Stifel Logistics Confidence Index indicates a dip of 0.4 points in the overall measurement to 55.7. While the present situation remained positive, gaining 1.2 points from July to 53.5, the expected situation for the next six months stumbled 2.0 points to 57.9. This decline was particularly noticeable within airfreight expectations, which declined 3.3 points to 54.7. The sea freight expectation component declined 0.7 points to 61.0.
Third-party logistics provider Landair has developed Guaranteed Value Acceleration (GVA), a new service feature designed to give supply-chain managers greater confidence that outsourcing to a 3PL yields measurable financial, operations or customer-service improvements.
It's fair to say that some mouths dropped in some quarters when word got out that the vice president of supply chain for McDonald's in the UK said he had handshakes rather than formal contracts with key suppliers. In dispensing with the written word, the fast-food chain formed long-term relationships with its partners in food, packaging and distribution, and included them in planning – even helping to set prices and volumes. Said Warren Anderson, "We don’t have contracts, but we do have our very assured supply partnerships with our food and paper suppliers," he said. "A gentleman’s handshake is just as powerful here."
Declining in value by 3.3 percent from 2012, the freight forwarding market is facing major challenges as it fights to stay viable in a changing global environment. This is one of the main conclusions of the latest report from Transport Intelligence, Global Freight Forwarding 2014.
