Innovation

Africa Trade & Customs Week Summit the largest customs summit in the region taking place from the 11th -13th of July in Durban comes...

Some good seems to have come out of the COVID-19 pandemic after all.. Global trade has reached record levels, ocean carriers have gained record...

TPM21 is the world’s largest container shipping conference that brings the entire Trans-Pacific and other global players in the International container shipping and logistics...

In 2012 there were less than 2 million blog posts every day and in 2020 just over 10 million blog posts have been published every day across all topics.

And perhaps, the most sobering statistic: five exabytes (or 5 billion billion bytes) of data could store all the words ever spoken by humans between the birth of the world and 2003. In 2011 alone, five exabytes of content were created every two days.

Based on these numbers, we could be excused if we miss out some very important things or salient happenings in our industry due to all the digital clutter that we face every day.

But if you are interested in identifying and consuming information related to shipping and freight that matters, help is at hand in the form of a nifty app that gives you a snapshot of the important information that you need in less than 50 words.

Centersource, a timber trade and technology company has launched Timber Exchange, a comprehensive marketplace and digital toolset for Forwarders, Sawmills, and Importers. Timber Exchange arrives...

Cargo misdeclaration is nothing new to shipping and has been continuing for years especially in containerised shipments for various reasons..

Apart from the loss of millions of dollars worth of goods and assets, such misdeclarations also result in maritime disasters which have a huge impact on the environment and the loss of life (human or otherwise)..

There are enough examples of the consequences due to misdeclarations both in misdeclaration in weight and/or misdeclaration of hazardous content..

To tackle the scourge of weight misdeclaration, IMO and other stakeholders imposed the requirement of SOLAS VGM which came into effect in July 2016..

While life after SOLAS VGM seems to be hunky-dory and no major incidents have directly attributed to weight misdeclarations, hazardous cargo misdeclaration still seems to be rampant and several shipping lines are "gatvol" of these misdeclarations and have imposed severe financial penalties on the defaulters..

ZIM recently developed and implemented an innovative AI-based screening software to detect and identify incidents of misdeclared hazardous cargo before loading to vessel..

Market studies show that 25-30% of all freight invoices issued are erroneous. In a $350 billion ocean freight market, this accrued revenue loss can be quite significant.

Businesses that have been overpaying service providers for years due to incorrect invoices now have a solution in the form of Haven’s automated Freight Invoice Audit Platform.

Haven, Inc., the California-based Software as a Service company that produces the premier Transportation Management System for international shippers, was selected among hundreds of candidates as one of the World Economic Forum’s “Technology Pioneers”.

The World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers are early to growth-stage companies from around the world that are involved in the design, development and deployment of new technologies and innovations, and are poised to have a significant impact on business and society. Technology Pioneers community is an integral part of the larger Global Innovators community of start-ups at the World Economic Forum.

Hospitals made from shipping containers could help tackle COVID-19

• Architects have designed intensive care units built inside shipping containers.
• These mobile hospitals could help ease pressure on health systems.
• The team behind CURA wants to scale rapidly to tackle the spread of COVID-19 in Africa.

An Italian design company has teamed up with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to create prefabricated intensive care units (ICUs), to deal with escalating numbers of coronavirus patients around the world. Coronavirus patients with access to hospital equipment, in particular ICU beds, have a much greater chance of survival. With 377,431 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on 24 March, health systems around the world are groaning under the strain.

When Malcom Mclean an American trucking company owner/trucker turned inventor and Mechanical Engineer Keith Tantlinger got together to create the first shipping container in 1956, they definitely had no idea how viral their creation would go..

Whether as a part of the 23,498,710 TEUs in circulation right now carrying various cargoes across the world or being used as a student accommodation in South Africa or being used as a farm in Maryland, USA the ubiquitous shipping container has come a long way indeed..

But it looks like the simple yet efficient structural design and flexibility of the ubiquitous container continues to inspire people around the world to bring out the best..

I for one, am quite pleased with the many initiatives that the shipping and freight industry has been taking to combat climate change and reduce CO2 emissions..

Implementing IMO 2020 sulphur cap, testing the usage of bio-fuels to run ships, using scrubbers, avoiding north sea route, changing ships technology to use less fuel, etc etc etc.. While what is being done is commendable, there is still a LOT left to do in order to reach the goals set..

For its part, Maersk has announced that it will pilot a battery system to improve power production on board ships..

We may have found a solution for shippers looking for an option between an expensive but quick air freight option and a less expensive but slower sea freight option.. This seems to be the message from Steve Huang, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding China..

A joint initiative between DHL Global Forwarding and Xi'an International Inland Port Investment & Development Group Co. Ltd will see container freight being shipped from Xi'an in China to Hamburg and Neuss in Germany, a distance of around 7,861 kms in a record setting transit time of 10-12 days..

Previously I wrote that apart from dealing with digital shipping lines, digital freight forwarders will also need to contend with traditional freight forwarders, not just from a service perspective but from a digital perspective as well.

DB Schenker recently joined the ranks of traditional freight forwarders now offering digital solutions with the launch of their connect 4.0 platform.

In a recent interview with Jeff Barrie, CEO of DB Schenker US, we had an opportunity to discuss the launch of the company’s connect 4.0 platform and why the company believes it will define success in freight forwarding and global shipping.

Shipping lines are evolving digitally day by day.. I wrote previously how digital shipping lines are countering the advances of digital freight forwarders..

In its latest digital offering, Maersk Line, the world's largest container line has introduced an online product aimed at making the booking process for containers simpler and more efficient..

Apart from being fully digitally enabled, what makes this product "Maersk Spot" stand out is that it comes with a cargo loading guarantee at a fixed price upfront..

Innovation, creativity and digitalisation is in full flow within the shipping and freight industry.. The ubiquitous freight container has remained the same in terms of...

While traditional freight forwarder networks creates transparency, better connections and safe collaborations, the business model has not been a breakthrough by any means.. The way members conduct their businesses has remained the same, and the industry has been labelled antiquated and outdated..

If one looks at it objectively, it is easy to understand that it is the Freight Forwarder’s lack of digital resources and technological capability that has been restraining competitive growth in this volatile and digital market conditions..

Naturally, this has been noticed and the industry is seen by innovators in the technology space as a prime candidate for disruption.. They say that a paradigm shift is required if a freight forwarder aims to remain relevant, competitive and achieve greater efficiency..

The digital era for supply chain is well under way.. Technology and supply chain having seemingly become inseparable..

Technologies such as Blockchain, IoT, Big Data, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence are all finding their niche in the whole process of supply chain..

Whether it is in terms of issuing a smart bill of lading to a customer miles away or ensuring quick delivery of mandarins to China, technology has found its place in supply chain and its influence is growing..

Digital freight forwarders are leveraging these technologies and offering instant solutions as required by BCOs and others involved in the industry.. These technologies also seem to have spawned Digital Shipping Lines who are seen as serious competition to the digital freight forwarders..

There have been and are many discussions, arguments, disagreements surrounding these technologies..But one thing is clear and that is the fact that there needs to be lots of effective and productive discussions about the use of technology, the innovations that has already happened and their future..

If you are interested in such discussions, Microsoft New York Headquarters, 11 Times Square, New York is the place you want to be, on the 19th and 20th of June 2019..

DP World who are well known for their container terminal operations around the world has come up with an innovative solution which is designed to transform the way containers are handled in container terminals - whether greenfield or brownfield..

A greenfield terminal is a newly built terminal built from scratch for the purpose of container terminal operations, whereas a brownfield terminal is an already existing container terminal which needs to be modified or upgraded and has several infrastructure or development constraints such as space..

In this day and age where the urban world is facing space constraints in terms of land, whether it is buildings or container terminal storage, the only way seems to be UP..

A new joint venture between global trade enabler DP World and industrial engineering specialists, SMS Group has done just that by launching BOXBAY - a new high bay container storage system that will transform the way containers are handled in the ports it operates in..

Maritime transport (sea transport) accounts for around 90% of the global trade.. While the greenhouse gas emissions from shipping is much lower than other modes of transport at around 2.6% of total global emissions, this share could more than triple by 2050 if additional measures are not taken to reduce these emissions..

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has been working to reduce the harmful impacts of shipping on the environment since the 1960's and in 2016 adopted a new regulation commonly termed IMO 2020..

In line with this requirement and in an effort to reach its net zero CO₂ target by 2050, Maersk Line will be teaming up with a group known as Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition (DSGC) consisting of Dutch multinationals – Friesland Campina, Heineken, Philips, DSM, Shell and Unilever (many of them Maersk Line’s customers) on a pilot project to test the use of second-generation biofuels.

In 2017, global seaborne trade reached 10.7 billion tons.. Of this, containerised trade accounted for 1.82 billion tons..

Containerised shipping is an important component of global trade and currently there are over 22 million containers operating around the world..

The humble and ubiquitous container which was created in 1956 is universally hailed as one of the greatest inventions of the modern world, one that completely changed the way in which business has been done since the 20th century and really and truly made the world a smaller place and the one true architect of Globalisation..

But, as much as it is important in the global trade, to many ports around the world, empty containers seem to have also become an annoying fact of life..

There may be a solution to this empty container crisis..