Innovation

Four industry experts Daniel Cotti, Shalini Lall, Michael Vrontamitis, and Frank Wendt who are renowned in the world of trade finance and treasury have...

If the pulse of supply chain and logistics innovation is your thing, you should mark your calendars for the ultimate supply chain and logistics...

With the shift to green methanol-powered vessels and the increasing safety requirements by the International Maritime Organization, various shipping products are now being subjected...

In a recent webinar hosted by C3 Solutions, podcast extraordinaire and award-winning host Timothy Dooner sat down to have a conversation with freight tech...

The Africa Trade and Customs Week Summit is upon us. Starting on the 11th of July 2022, the summit will serve as the global...

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...