Matt Yearling, chief executive officer with PINC Solutions, discusses the complexities surrounding today's supply-chain execution systems and processes.
Today's supply chains form the arteries and veins that keep global trade alive, connecting a largely borderless, always-on world economy. New innovations offer disruptive possibilities for the future of global trade. It's easy to hypothesize that Star Trek-style teleportation, drones, 3-D printing, and space logistics, will change trading. But the biggest shift to the supply chain will see it digitally connected and becoming part of the Internet of Things.
Despite positive growth momentum, the container shipping industry continues to suffer new, big ship deliveries with no let-up to the ordering frenzy according to the Container Forecaster, published by Drewry Maritime Research. Drewry forecasts another year of excess growth in relation to demand in 2015. This will make it harder for carriers to repeat the estimated 92 percent load factors across the main headhaul East-West trade lanes achieved in 2014.
Currently, only Seaway-max size ships (2,500 TEU) can sail between the Port of Montreal and the Port of Toronto on Lake Ontario, the biggest container port on the Great Lakes. However, research is underway in the U.S. and elsewhere that offers the promise of oceanic tug-barge combinations that could be suited to this shipping route.
CaroTrans, a non-vessel operating common carrier and ocean freight consolidator, has added an expedited service for less-than-containerload (LCL) import cargoes from Le Havre, France to Charleston, S.C.
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has just published its fifth South Asia Quarterly Update re-igniting the on-going debate about the practice of breaking ships on beaches in Southern Asia. In it, China looks pretty good.
Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to rise 8 percent this month over the same time last year as West Coast ports continue to recover from a backlog of cargo that built up before a tentative new labor agreement was signed, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
The latest news, analysis, services and systems regarding global logistics and freight and their impact on global supply chains. Today’s companies are transporting and delivering perishables and manufactured goods faster and farther around the world than ever before through global logistics solutions. New technologies that provide information during global shipments are transforming the way companies do business - and allowing them to stay ahead of the competition in their industries. As transportation and distribution services continue to evolve, businesses are discovering new ways to increase efficiency and cut costs. Learn how companies are using global logistics solutions to power their supply chains.
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!
Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.