Zepol Corp. has introduced a pair of enhancements to its flagship trade-intelligence tool, TradeIQ. The changes make it easier to search for and extract precise trade data for U.S. importers and shippers, and to notify parties.

Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to increase 3.2 percent in April compared with the same month last year, and year-over-year gains should continue through the end of summer, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Livingston International has completed the acquisition of the customs and trade-compliance services of the Global Trade business of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.

Damco, the freight-forwarding and supply-chain management division of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, has joined the Cargo 2000 quality-management system for international air cargo.

Managers of information technology systems in both the private and public sectors have had their hands full dealing with security breaches that come from hackers invading IT systems. Increasingly, however, IT systems are becoming vulnerable from another channel - the actual supply chain sources of both hardware equipment and software programs.

Ten ships were hijacked by Somali pirates in March, making this the most attacks in one month since December 2010. Four of the seized ships were used to make more attacks, rather than the usual holding for ransom acts. Maritime security experts believe that pirate groups will be encouraged by the latest hijackings and will be moved on organizing more attacks over the next several weeks.

Crossbeam, a provider of enterprise network security solutions, found it struggled with meeting same-day and next-day delivery requirements mandated in its service-level agreements, says Jim Curley, director, manufacturing & technical operations. It needed automated export compliance from a company with a global footprint, says John Miller, senior vice president, global business development, Flash Global Logistics.

Half of global trade professionals are optimistic about the global economy in 2012 and nearly three quarters plan to spend at or above 2011 levels, according to The State of Global Trade in 2012, a joint report from global trade intelligence company Panjiva and The Global Sourcing Council, a non-profit organization that fosters dialog on critical issues in global sourcing and supply chain management.

Kuehne + Nagel International AG has created KN PharmaChain, a new service tailored to the needs of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry.