Logistics

Maersk CEO Predicts 'Modest' Growth in Container Shipping

February 27, 2013

A.P. Moller-Maersk relied on higher freight rates and cost reduction schemes to lift fourth-quarter profit, but modest growth expectations and concerns about pricing has the Danish shipping conglomerate relying increasingly less on mature shipping markets and turning the focus to emerging markets and its oil business.

SAP Announces Plans to Acquire Inventory-Optimization Vendor SmartOps

February 27, 2013

SAP AG

SAP AG is acquiring SmartOps, the vendor of software for inventory and service-level optimization.

Wary of Losing Business Because of Panama Canal, Officials Urge L.A, Long Beach to Upgrade Now

February 27, 2013

Los Angeles Times

Port and city officials have called for expediting planned upgrades at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to stave off the threat of losing cargo traffic when the $5.25bn Panama Canal expansion is completed next year.

Chief Executive of Maersk Focuses on Improving African Infrastructure

February 26, 2013

Supply Chain Digital

The CEO of Maersk Group toured Nigeria, Angola and Ghana in a bid to focus on African infrastructure improvements. As African economies boom, infrastructure improvements become more important to turning the growth into sustainable development, and Maersk is planning to take a role in this transition.

5 Steps to Better Data for Supply Chain Decision-Making

February 26, 2013

Donna Fritz, Director of Product Marketing, TAKE Solutions

In today's environment of Big Data and analytics, effective supply chain decision-making is only as good as the data influencing the decisions. Drawing actionable conclusions based on the best information possible is critical to maintaining a supply chain that is efficient and effective, but also acts as a continual driver of strategic and competitive advantage. But how can your organization ensure that the data used to draw conclusions and make decisions regarding the supply chain is clean, relevant and accurate?

India's Supply Chain Is Improving, But Still Has a Long Way to Go

February 25, 2013

SupplyChainBrain

Analyst Insight: India has one of the world's fastest-growing economies. Based on the country's 12th Five-Year Plan, manufacturing in India is expected to grow at a healthy CAGR of 9.5 percent. However, according to a World Bank Survey, India ranks 46th in global trade logistics performance and 13th in GDP growth worldwide. Despite the generally positive economic outlook, estimates indicate that the country's inefficient supply chain results in an approximately $65bn loss per year. - Neelam Singh, Senior Analyst, and Steve Banker, Service Director, Supply Chain Management, both of ARC Advisory Group

US Airways Appoints General Sales Agent in France for Cargo Operations

February 25, 2013

US Airways

Expanding on its existing relationship in other countries, US Airways has appointed EFIS Air, a subsidiary of ECS Group, as its cargo general sales agent in France. The two already work together in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Supply Chain Disruptions Major Threat to Share Prices of Businesses

February 25, 2013

Forbes

In recent years, supply chains have become longer and more complex, while the severity and frequency of supply chain disruptions seems to be increasing. In close cooperation with Accenture, the World Economic Forum recently presented a report, "Building Resilience in Supply Chains," at the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. It indicates that significant supply chain disruptions reduce the share price of affected companies by as much as seven percent on average.

81 Percent of Surveyed Ocean Shippers Look to Cut Costs Through E-Invoicing This Year

February 25, 2013

Inttra

A global study of high-volume shippers and freight forwarders that included four of the top five global logistics providers found that 81 percent of respondents want to receive invoices electronically in 2013.

Linking the Physical and Financial Supply Chains

February 22, 2013

Supply Chain Europe

Electronic invoicing isn't new, writes Nigel Taylor of GXS. It started over 40 years ago with business-to-business (B2B) electronic data interchange (EDI) within private networks. With the advent of the internet in the '90s, e-procurement portals appeared and sparked a frenzy of investment into online industry communities. The e-procurement portals focused on sourcing and purchasing activities, and this narrow focus inevitably led to internet portals dedicated to payables processing.