Global Logistics

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

February 27, 2013

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.

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

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.

BizSlate Launches Small Business Supply Chain Assistant

February 22, 2013

Venture Beat

New York-based BizSlate is launching its cloud-based resource planning tool to give small business a hand with their supply chain challenges. Unlike legacy vendors in that sector, including SAP and Netsuite, the technology is specifically designed for department stores, retail chains, small boutiques and the like. Chief executive Marc Kalman says BizSlate is ideal for companies that have "outgrown QuickBooks" but don't have ample resources at their disposal for IT.

Evolving the 3PL-Shipper Relationship

February 22, 2013

SupplyChainBrain

Analyst Insight: The talk in outsource circles these days continues to revolve around the need for bigger and better collaboration and innovation. Some articles talk about the end of outsourcing, but what they mean - and a better way to put it - is to think about the end of outsourcing relationships as we know them. - Kate Vitasek, faculty, University of Tennessee's Center for Executive Education. and Founder, Supply Chain Visions

UK Freight Forwarding Sector Annoyed by Trade Negotiations

February 21, 2013

Handy Shipping Guide

As talks are announced regarding a potential free-trade agreement between the two continental powers, which could simplify and revolutionize the â‚¬450 per annum trans-Atlantic trade there are rumblings in UK freight forwarding circles that another agreement, potentially a precursor to the main agreement and involving the security concerns when shipping goods between the partners, does not appear to hold all that it originally seemed to promise.

UPS and Jabil Will Provide Reverse Logistics Services

February 21, 2013

TransReporter

United Parcel Service of America (UPS) has formed a partnership with electronic circuit boards manufacturer, Jabil Circuit, to provide reverse logistics services globally. Under the partnership, UPS's logistics and distribution business unit and Jabil's aftermarket services division will provide optimized reverse logistics solutions for return and repair programs to original equipment manufacturers, service providers and enterprises.

USDA Funds NC State Study to Develop Global Food Supply Chain

February 21, 2013

North Carolina State University

The Supply Chain Resource Cooperative (SCRC) in North Carolina State University's Poole College of Management is one of several partners in a five- year, $3.9m grant-funded project to build and evaluate supply chains for local farmers and fishers to supply large-scale markets in North Carolina. The project is led by the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) in NC State's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), which has been awarded the first year's funding of the grant by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

UNDP Joins Shipping Industry Initiative in Somalia

February 21, 2013

Supply Chain Asia

Shell, BP, Maersk, Stena and the Japanese shipping companies NYK, MOL and "K" Line have announced their joint collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to support job creation and capacity building projects in Somalia.