Supply chain

The head of the International Maritime Organization has urged all players in the global supply chain to communicate with each other to ensure a successful implementation of the container weight verification regulation that comes into force July 1.

Amid the massive protests of long-haul truckers and transport companies, the Russian government has made the unprecedented decision to freeze for several months the planned increase of a controversial highway tariff opponents say could shrink Russia’s domestic transportation market by 30 percent.

Gross profit at Kuenhe + Nagel slipped 0.6 percent to $6.25 billion year-over-year for 2015, as a strong Swiss franc, which is currently even with the U.S. dollar, and weak container traffic offset a rise in air cargo volume.

The National Industrial Transportation League has named Jennifer Hedrick as executive director, replacing president and CEO Bruce Carlton who is retiring, but will remain involved with the largest U.S. shipper group as a consultant.

Chinese industrial overcapacity and a global commodity collapse will contribute to economic growth being stuck in low gear this year at about 2.5 percent, IHS Chief Economist Nariman Behravesh told the 2016 TPM Conference in Long Beach on Monday. He warned trade won't recover this year, and when it does in the next two years, it will not recover to the rates seen in the 1990s and 2000s when the growth was double that.

Why is venture capital flooding into the transportation and logistics industry faster than ever before? Because the industry needs it, former venture capitalists and now logistics industry insiders told the 2016 TPM Conference here on Tuesday.

Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL Group, gave the 16th annual TPM Conference keynote speech to more than 2,000 attendees and outlined how new sources of economic growth aside from the traditional means of population and productivity increases are needed, and how transportation and logistics firms can unleash their potential.

Transportation intermediaries are likely to play an important role in verifying container weights for international shippers and shipping lines, a UPS Supply Chain Solutions executive said at the 16th Annual TPM Conference here Tuesday.

The SOLAS guidelines on container weight verification that will be implemented from July 1 are not mandatory, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Paul Thomas told a packed TPM Conference here Tuesday.

CEVA Logistics’ decision to revamp its organizational structure has paid off, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rising 22.2 percent for all of 2015 at the world’s sixth-largest third-party logistics provider.

New sources of efficiency and productivity are needed to spur greater economic growth and higher volumes of international trade, Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL Group, said here Monday at JOC’s 16th Annual TPM Conference.

Orbcomm, which tracks shipper and carrier assets, is pivoting to remote asset management via a new security solution that provides visibility and control over assets anywhere in the supply chain.

The world is not headed toward recession, despite turmoil in global stock markets and falling commodities prices, the head of one of the largest global logistics companies said Sunday.

A working group made up of major non-vessel-operating common carriers is urging the International Maritime Organization to issue status updates of how the 162 contracting states to the SOLAS convention will implement the container weight mandate.

Panalpina’s operating profit crept slightly higher in 2015 even as the Swiss global forwarding and logistics group handled slightly fewer ocean containers and less air freight.

U.S. exporters are being told to resist some guidance from carriers on how to meet the SOLAS container weight mandate, with the Agriculture Transportation Coalition saying the notifications from liners are “contradictory” to the Coast Guard’s hands-off stance on the rule.

Despite slowing U.S. economy, the industrial real estate sector in 2016 will experience disciplined but broad-based expansion as retailers seek quality warehouse and distribution space for both their brick-and-mortar and e-commerce fulfillment needs, according to developer Prologis.

Backers of U.S. highway and freight projects looking for a little help from Uncle Sam are eyeing $800 million in federal grants made available Friday through the government’s first-ever program dedicated to speeding up the flow of cargo.

Big Pharma is getting even bigger, and cold chain support, including packaging, is all the more critical as the industry grows from an estimated global worth of $300 billion currently to $400 billion by 2020, according to the World Health Organization.

Start thinking differently, potentially a lot differently, about how to comply with the new container weight rule that enters force July 1.

Downturn? Recession? They're not in XPO Logistics' sights this year. The $7.6 billion logistics and transportation company sees e-commerce fueling many of its asset-based and non-asset business segments in North American and Europe.

Expeditors International of Washington saw profit grow in the fourth quarter despite tough year-over-year comparisons and two global trade headwinds: weak air cargo and ocean freight.

Satellite-based asset-management company Orbcomm is expanding its cellular options, offering a cellular-only SkyWave tracking device. The company is rolling out dual-use satellite/cellular services globally.

A solution to the challenges confronting the industry by the SOLAS container weights rule proposed by the head of the Port of Charleston could be workable in practice and not disrupt trade, according to a key player in the development of the rule, which enters force July 1.

U.S. ports and backers of other freight projects have another shot at some help from Uncle Sam to help pay for repair, maintenance and expansion projects, after the U.S. government said Tuesday that $500 million will be available in the latest round of a popular federal grant program.

World forwarding body FIATA added its weighty voice to the growing discussion over container weight verification, calling for container lines to better communicate how they expect to receive the verified gross mass data.

Deutsche Post DHL has vigorously denied reports it is mulling the sale of its freight forwarding unit.

Brazilian chicken exporters are making the most of a cheap and devalued currency to boost worldwide sales by attending a number of food and beverage expositions with a view to increasing exports by more than 10 percent by the end of this year, according to industry association ABPA.

The federal government has limited ability to fight port congestion, but an advisory committee to the Commerce Department has come up with some ways it can help prevent supply-chain bottlenecks.

The U.S. Coast Guard Thursday said it will not consider delaying the International Maritime Organization’s controversial new container weight rule and the agency cannot, and will not, hold shippers responsible for not providing container weight documentation to carriers.

There’s little chance that Canada will ask the International Maritime Organization to delay the SOLAS container weight mandate or even give shippers a “soft start” when the rule takes effect July 1, said Bob Ballantyne, president of the Freight Management Association of Canada.

The election of Mauricio Macri as president of Argentina could see the the long-diminished Mercosur trading bloc once again become a serious force and help its members forge successful trade pacts with the EU and the North American Free Trade Agreement member nations, and possibly even its west coast of South America rival, the Pacific Alliance.

INTTRA, an ocean shipping e-marketplace, has promoted logistics technology veteran Inna Kuznetsova to president and chief operating officer.

An 0.9 percent increase in industrial production reported by the Federal Reserve this week, following several months of contraction, may signal an end to the "industrial recession" and an eventual uptick in shipments.

Among U.S. ports pursuing major harbor deepening projects, there were decidedly more losers than winners in President Obama’s 2017 budget request unveiled earlier this month. For some, the $4.1 trillion proposal came with a mix of good and bad news. For others, there was no news at all.

Brazil seems to have most things in place for the new Safety of Life at Sea, or SOLAS, container weight mandate of the International Maritime Organization, according to several terminal managers and trade and maritime commentators in the South American country.

Global warehouse provider GLP and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board have poured almost $1 billion into expanding their Japanese joint venture fund to capitalize on growing demand for logistics facilities in the country.

Russia plans to later this month ask the International Maritime Organization to delay the container weight mandate by one year to July 1, 2017, even as it continues to prepare for the global rule. Any country that is a signatory to the Safety of Life at Sea convention, under which the verified gross mass mandate draws authority, may delay implementation as long as they formally request an extension from the IMO before the July 1 implementation.

TNT Express returned to the black in the fourth quarter of 2015 as strong growth in European revenues more than offset declines in Brazil and China and its restructuring program gained momentum.

Fifteen leading ocean container carriers, including Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co. and CMA CGM, have offered to change their practices for setting freight rates to settle an antitrust probe, the European Commission said Tuesday