Everyone knows that the economic downturn has struck the transportation industry hard, and now some of the world’s largest ocean carriers will be getting government bailouts from their home countries. Logistics Today is reporting that Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd will receive €1.2 billion ($1.8 billion) in state guarantees, and French CMA CGM is in talks to restructure its [...]
When the economy rebounds, we may be seeing a significant rise in air freight shipments. Deutsche Post DHL and the London School of Economics recently published a study that predicted air express industry to get a boost from rising demand for individualized health care, demand for documents transfer in international services industry and spare parts [...]
Today, the Journal of Commerce reported that last week, Hyundai took an order for the first container ship in over a year, anywhere in the world! Middle East oil tanker operator, Abu Dhabi National Tanker Company placed an order for two gearless box ships of 1,060 20-foot equivalent units capacity, the first order since October [...]
The results of the 2009 3PL Provider CEO Perspective, a survey of 35 3PL chief executive officers in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions, indicate that the top concerns of 3PLs right now are: the impact of the recession on their business, environmental sustainability issues, and the fact that 3PL customers are taking steps to [...]
According to the 18th Annual Tends and Issues in Transportation and Logistics Study, sponsored by Capgemini Consulting and JDA Software, there’s been a significant increase in the number of shippers who ranked cost-cutting as their top priority: 44% in 2009, compared to 35.5% in 2008 (not too surprising, given the state of the economy). Meanwhile, [...]
Business has picked up a bit for 3PLs in the second quarter. According to a market report done by the Transportation Intermediaries Association, total billings by third-party logistics providers were up about 7% in Q2 from what they were in Q1. Additionally, average volume was up in Q2. Hopefully this trend will continue in months [...]
American Shipper has released the 2009 results of their annual Top 20 Container Lines study. Below are a few highlights from the report: Top three continue to put distance between themselves and the pack, though MSC and CMA CGM gain on Maersk. APL breaks into the Top 5, but capacity gains are tempered by layups. Historic [...]
Traditional ISO tanks, used to transport bulk quantities of liquid, have recently faced some competition from what’s known as a “flexitank.” Essentially, a flexitank is a large plastic bag that goes inside a standard 20-foot dry box, similar to the design of a box of wine. After the liquid is transported, there is no clean-up [...]
A report in International Freighting Weekly claims that certain forwarders have lowered their rates to un-necessarily low levels, in order to increase their market share. This can be problematic because it drives down margins for the entire industry, and makes it difficult for carriers to raise the revenue necessary to maintain their services. Meanwhile, the accused [...]
For the first time in six years, U.S. logistics costs dropped last year, according to a report released this week by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP). In 2008, total spending on U.S. logistics dropped $49 billion from what it was in 2007. In an article from Supply Chain Management Review, the author [...]
