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Eric Johnson

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology EditormailLinkedin

Eric Johnson is senior editor of technology, where he leads coverage and analysis of technology’s impact on global logistics and trade. He is co-chair of the annual Inland Distribution Conference and founder of TPM Tech, the technology-focused event held in conjunction with TPM. He reports regularly on how shippers, carriers, and logistics companies use software, as well as new concepts impacting core freight processes such as procurement, execution, visibility, and payment.

Read Eric's Latest Coverage

DAT acquires Trucker Tools in move to reduce load board driver churn

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
The acquisition of Trucker Tools will give DAT access to carrier positioning data to arm its truckload broker customers.
Logistics Technology NewsTruckloadTruck brokers

Air cargo payment provider acquires Advent eModal

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Advent eModal, a three-decade landmark provider of fee collection and appointment scheduling at container terminals, has been sold by private equity group Blackstone to air cargo software specialist CargoSprint.
Logistics Technology NewsAir Cargo Forwarder NewsAir Cargo Carriers NewsContainer linesDrayagePort infrastructureNorth American portsMarine terminals

Worldwide Express rejects lawsuit claims of customer theft, hacking

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
A lawsuit filed Thursday in US District Court alleges the fourth-largest US freight broker e Worldwide Express engaged in a campaign of retaliation with a former agent.
Truck brokersLTL

Truckload brokers eye human-technology balance as AI takes hold

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Generative AI is changing the nature of core freight brokerage processes, potentially impacting the amount brokers earn and how employees get paid.
Logistics Technology NewsTruckloadTruck brokers

Broker automation vendor lands funding round in increasingly competitive market

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Freight brokers large and small are testing software, including the tools developed by Vooma, that automate core functions such as quoting, load building and tracking.
Logistics Technology NewsTruckloadTruck brokers

FourKites, project44 resolve legal disputes over defamation, poaching

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
The two biggest transportation visibility vendors in the market have been battling each other in court since 2019 but can now refocus on winning market share.
Logistics Technology News

Smart container vendors create alliance to tackle drug smuggling threat

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
The use cases for sensor-enabled container fleets could expand if shipping lines see such hardware as a legitimate tool to combat the threat of illicit goods movement.
Logistics Technology NewsTransport, Trade and Regulation NewsContainer linesPort infrastructure

Freightos, e2open link up on air freight e-bookings for forwarders

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
By connecting to forwarder-customers of software vendor e2open, Freightos is continuing its push to develop electronic booking capability in the air freight industry.
Air Cargo Forwarder NewsAir Cargo Carriers NewsLogistics Technology News

Lack of consolidation driving freight visibility differentiation, competition

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
A dearth of consolidation means there are still plenty of visibility vendors for shippers to choose from, but it also means the market as a whole is on somewhat unsteady ground.
Logistics Technology NewsContainer linesForwardingNorth American portsInternational portsTruckload

Startup technology vendor takes aim at cargo theft with free tracking service

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
GenLogs, founded by an ex-counterterrorism expert, is offering shippers and brokers a way to track lost trailers and trucks as cargo theft booms in the US.
TruckloadLogistics Technology NewsTruck brokers

NYSHEX says will launch ocean freight rate indexes next year

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
The New York Shipping Exchange’s plan to introduce indexes to support long-term contracts adds to an already crowded field of providers.
Container Shipping NewsLogistics Technology NewsContainer linesTrans-AtlanticForwardingAsia-EuropeTrans-Pacific

Uber Freight opens up truckload capacity network to rival brokers

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
The company sees its new Broker Access product as another channel for brokers to find capacity outside of contracts with truckload carriers and posting spot freight on a load board.
Truck brokersLogistics Technology NewsTruckload

DAT, Keelvar integrate on truckload rate benchmarking for shippers

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Customers of automated freight procurement tool Keelvar will get access to more than $1 trillion in truckload pricing data as part of a new arrangement with DAT Freight & Analytics.
Logistics Technology NewsTruckloadTruck brokers

Payment technology adapting to account for smaller invoice inaccuracies

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Shippers once saw small variances on freight bills as a nuisance too insignificant to dispute, but technology is enabling more efficient scrutiny across transportation modes.
Logistics Technology NewsContainer linesForwardingLTLTruckload

Automation key to improving broker efficiency metrics: experts

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Some freight brokers are increasing the number of loads they can book per day with software that automates repetitive components of the booking process.
Truck brokersLogistics Technology NewsTruckload

WaveBL says eBL test shows faster payments, cargo release

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
The test showed that eBLs sped the transfer of documents from the exporter to the importer using the WaveBL platform as a shared ledger.
Logistics Technology News

Decentralized sourcing plays into MSC’s point-to-point plans: CEO

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
MSC’s departure from the 2M Alliance gives the world’s biggest shipping line the chance to be more operationally flexible to cater to changing supply chain demands, Soren Toft told the International Association of Ports and Harbors’ conference in Hamburg.
MaritimeContainer linesContainer Shipping News

IAPH-led report tackles thorny data quality issue on port call optimization

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Eight ports that are working toward “just-in-time” port calls provided their experiences of improving quality around vessel-terminal data sharing.
MaritimePort NewsInternational ports

Truckload visibility startup lands investment, top broker clients

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
GenLogs, a technology provider aiming to help US brokers track trucks, uses a network of roadside sensors to passively collect truckload carrier locations.
Logistics Technology NewsTruckloadTruck brokers

New cross-border trucking platform aims to enable brokers

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Brokers looking to tap into the booming US-Mexico trade now have a tool to serve shipper requests to handle cross-border truckload moves.
TruckloadTransport, Trade and Regulation NewsTruck brokers

Gnosis ‘doubling down’ on importer tech with first outside funds

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
The software provider has steered clear of outside investment as it sought to patiently build import management tools for shippers.
Logistics Technology NewsMaritimeSupply chain

SEKO secures fresh financial backing amid prolonged forwarding industry slump

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
The forwarder did not provide financial details, but CEO James Gagne told the Journal of Commerce the transaction puts SEKO on solid financial footing.
Forwarding

White House takes aim at growing threat of ‘de minimis’ imports

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
The Biden administration is targeting textile and apparel goods moving via a duty-free program by proposing tariffs while seeking more data on sub-$800 shipments.
Transport, Trade and Regulation News

Flexport vet lands funding to build truckload procurement tool for shippers

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Investors have put $6.3 million into a startup aiming to provide a procurement and transportation management software alternative to enterprise-focused solutions.
Logistics Technology NewsLTLTruckloadTruck brokers

Tech vendor aims to help forwarders preserve margins in growing LCL market

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Forwarders booking less-than-containerload business from shippers face documentation and pricing challenges that cut into their ability to carve out margin.
Logistics Technology NewsForwardingContainer Shipping News

Supply chain transparency mandate looms over customs brokers’ technology plans

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
A range of supply chain mapping and risk management tools have emerged in the past decade, many aimed at customs brokers and third-party logistics providers.
Transport, Trade and Regulation NewsLogistics Technology News

US CBP increasing scrutiny of customs brokers as e-commerce exposure rises

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
A flood of duty-free shipments from Asia has upped the ante on brokers having broad knowledge of the upstream supply chains used by their importer clients.
Transport, Trade and Regulation NewsLogistics Technology NewsAir CargoSupply chain

Procurement software acquisition gives Freightos deeper contract freight reach

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Most of Freightos’ traction in air and ocean freight procurement has centered around spot pricing, but the purchase of Shipsta will give it access to contract data from enterprise shippers.
Logistics Technology NewsTrucking NewsAsia-EuropeSupply chainContainer Shipping News

Journal of Commerce Rankings: Kerry consolidates top NVO position

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
The overall market share of the top 25 non-vessel-operating common carriers in the eastbound trans-Pacific rose 0.8% year over year from January through May, signaling that the largest NVOs weren’t able to take much volume from mid-market peers.
MaritimeForwarding

Large forwarder acquisition activity, advent of AI puts pressure on midsize NVOs

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Midsize NVOs are always under pressure from an M&A perspective, say market observers, and the current freight rate environment is making it hard to value them accurately.
MaritimeForwarding

Transfix sale highlights VC’s uneasy fit with freight brokerage

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
The uneven success of the digital brokerage model suggests that the foundations of the market were harder to disrupt than venture investors first envisioned a decade ago, and maybe even harder than some of the founders of digital brokerages had foreseen.
Logistics Technology NewsSupply chain

Scheduling automation platform takes aim at truckload appointment inefficiencies

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Amid a range of efforts to automate and standardize truckload appointments, a new provider has launched a neutral platform to reduce manual work and errors associated with the process.
Logistics Technology NewsTrucking NewsTruckloadTruck brokers

FMC clarifies language around ocean carrier-drayage provider billing

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Two weeks before new rules around detention and demurrage billing go into effect, the US Federal Maritime Commission has told ocean carriers that contracts independent of a “through bill of lading” fall outside its jurisdiction.
Transport, Trade and Regulation NewsMaritimeDrayageContainer Shipping News

Expedited freight specialist targets food shippers with new service

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Candor Expedite’s new service is designed to let perishables shippers use lower-cost freight modes and reduce product spoilage.
Cool Cargo NewsSupply chainLTLTruckload

CMA CGM turns to tech provider to boost invoice accuracy for key accounts

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
The auditing initiative between the carrier and software vendor OpenEnvoy was kickstarted by CMA CGM’s ZEBOX technology incubator, which connects startups with entrenched logistics partners.
Container linesLogistics Technology NewsContainer Shipping News

Ex-Slync CEO Urban joins Chain.io board to bolster company’s growth

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
John Urban spent a year as chairman and CEO trying to salvage Slync, the logistics automation platform negatively impacted by the high-profile legal saga of its founder Chris Kirchner.
Logistics Technology News

Breakbulk24: Pressure on capacity will shrink MPV/HL fleet: carriers

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Approximately one-third of the multipurpose and heavy-lift fleet is in position to be scrapped, while the industry demands that larger vessels and carriers weigh which type of fuel will rule the day.
MaritimeBreakbulk carriersProject cargo

Breakbulk24: Shipping should watch for impact of elections on climate rules: S&P

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
The shipping industry is facing a prolonged period of geopolitical instability, attendees at the Journal of Commerce’s Breakbulk & Project Cargo Conference were told Thursday.
MaritimeBreakbulk carriersRo/ro cargoHeavy-haul transportProject cargoBreakbulk News

Hapag-Lloyd widens net amid total shift to electronic bills of lading

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Three years after launching its electronic bill of lading product with WaveBL, the carrier is accelerating its move to eBL by striking a deal with a second vendor.
MaritimeContainer linesContainer Shipping News

Visibility providers attack persistent gaps in intermodal rail milestones

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Shippers have long struggled to get direct access to rail milestone data that matches the depth and accuracy of ocean visibility markers.
Logistics Technology NewsRail NewsNorth American portsNorth-American rail
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