Logistics

"We want our logistics to move at the same speed as the cheetah" - this is the word of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi...

As per UN statistics, medicinal and pharmaceutical products were among the top exported commodities in 2020 increasing by 13.2% in value to reach US$271.1...

This is the Annual Review of the shipping and freight industry in 2021 by Shipping and Freight Resource.. This is an in depth look into what transpired in our industry in 2021 in terms of the maritime and global trade, shipping and freight practices, Global Shipping Alliances, Carriers and their profits and mostly about the disruptions surrounding supply chain.. Welcome to The View from the Top..

Recognizing the critical role American ports play in the global economy, President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal includes an unprecedented $17 billion to improve infrastructure at coastal ports, inland ports and waterways, and land ports of entry along the border.

On August 19, a webinar was held to talk about last-mile optimization and the challenges facing the industry today. The webinar was moderated by Cathy Morrow Roberson, President of Logistics, Trends & Insights LLC, with the participation of Neil McEvoy, Senior Management Consultant at C3 Solutions, Walter Heil, Senior Vice President, Business Americas at Locus, and Vishnu Rajamanickam, Head of Market Intelligence at Charlie Pesti.

Here is the link to the Webinar and also some of the discussion points below.

If you use shipping services often, price may definitely be a very important factor for you. Especially if you own a business that includes regular shipments using freight forwarders.

Customers often think that the way freight forwarders arrange shipments is pretty much fixed and cannot change.

But just because everyone is used to the standard ways of shipping and expenses associated with it, it doesn’t mean that is the only way.

Luckily for you, there are a few to reduce freight forwarding expenses.

Here are 8 tips to reduce freight forwarding expenses. Follow these steps and start implementing the changes that will help you today.

Port Congestion, equipment and space capacity crunch are impacting businesses with supply chains and consumers heavily impacted..

In a webinar, Rachel Premack, Senior Investigations Reporter at Business Insider, Michael J Gordon, Senior FMC Advisor (retd), and Adam Compain, SVP of Global Growth at project44 discuss how rising freight prices have set off a domino effect, manifesting across supply chains through port congestion, drayage holdups, dropping inventories, inflation and lengthening lead times..

They reference insights from a market survey of over 200 supply chain professionals and talk through a possible timeline to a freight market cool down, when it can potentially happen and the circumstances that will lead us there..

Join Tim Crumley, Vice President of Global Logistics at Sysco International Food Group, Robin Jaacks, Chief Commercial Officer at Ocean Insights and Sarah Barnes-Humphrey, Founder and Host of Lets Talk Supply Chain in a webinar on "How Visibility adds Value to Food Logistics" where they will discuss issues facing the food logistics industry such as port congestion, carrier capacity, equipment shortage and lack of transparency on shipment statuses and how to manage them.

COVAXX and Maersk enter partnership to supply COVID-19 vaccines globally.

The goal is to bring a much needed COVID-19 vaccine to emerging and developing nations. The agreement establishes integrated logistics to enable efficient worldwide distribution of COVAXX’s COVID-19 vaccine. The aim is to distribute up to a billion doses of the COVAXX synthetic vaccine worldwide in 2021. 

In anything that we do in life, the first time is a scary thought - first time on a bike, first time driving a car, first time swimming, first date, first kiss .................... etc..

So why should shipping your first container be any different..??

It could be a scary thought if you are a first-time exporter or importing for the first time, but like everything else, if done and handled correctly, shipping your first container can be a good experience as well..

Here are some tips to assist you in shipping your first container..

With a view to promoting the growth of the logistics sector in India, the commerce ministry is considering replacing the multimodal transportation of goods act with a full-fledged national logistics law. The announcement was made during a webinar organised by industry chamber PHDCCI . This move comes in the background of the fragmented nature of the sector, which has been an area of concern for a long time. A Press Release dated July 4th stated, “Digitization of Logistic Sector will help bring efficiency and realize the vision of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India).”

Shipping damage is a massive threat to any products that travel on the supply chain.

As per a Statista survey, eighty per cent of consumers say they’d return a product they received that was damaged in shipping.

The more your products get damaged in shipping, the more money your company loses and the effects of that loss can spread throughout your organization, causing both direct and indirect expenses and affecting sales.

Here are 4 tips to reduce cargo damage and save money on shipping costs.

To the uninitiated (which included me at one stage), these industries are same or similar and it might come across that there is no difference between Maritime, Shipping, Freight, Logistics and Supply Chain ..

But once you are involved in the business or know about these businesses, you will very soon understand that these are very different industries with different workings, assets, architecture, requiring very different sets of qualifications, experience, expertise, knowledge and attitudes..

In this article I unpack the difference between Maritime, Shipping, Freight, Logistics and Supply Chain and how it is all connected..

For businesses that ship internationally, return of goods due to damage in transit can be a huge burden in terms of time and money.

Here are six tips on how to prepare your cargo for part or full load shipments and prevent lost revenues when using worldwide parcel delivery services.

Logistics, a word widely said to have originated from the military ranks centuries ago is currently on the cusp of technological and digital changes with solutions that promise to transform every sector in logistics, be it driver-less trucks, automated warehouses, blockchain enabled documentation etc..

However there is a grouping of people handling logistics distribution that does not seem to require these advances and have been handling logistics in the same effective way since 1890..

This service has been given a Six Sigma rating by Harvard Business School which means the service makes fewer than 3.4 mistakes per million transactions which translates to around 400 delayed or missing deliveries in a year..

First question you need to ask yourself is WHY..?? 

It is important that you understand the purpose of wanting to become a freight forwarder.. What is the objective..??

1. Maybe its your intrigue or love of the industry and your ability to connect people and businesses ;
2. Maybe because you are tired of the current forwarders in terms of their service offering and their attitude towards business and you think you can do it better ;
3. Maybe you think you have a set of loyal customers who would support you if you ventured out on your own ;
4. Maybe its the glitz and glamour that you see some of the freight forwarders exhibiting especially the new startups who the venture capitalists are fawning over ; or
5. Maybe you are truly well versed in the business and you decided it is time for you to strike out on your own..

Whatever the reasons for you wanting to become a freight freight forwarder, here are 6 points you need to consider and a few things you need to get right first..

Whenever you think of ecommerce, you will have to naturally think about warehousing, shipping, and fulfillment providers as these go hand in hand.

But finding a fulfillment provider that suits your requirement may not be as easy as expected. So if you are ready to make the leap and outsource the fulfillment of your orders, carefully consider below points on who you partner with.

There are lots of challenges when selecting a fulfillment provider, but they aren’t insurmountable. Choosing the right fulfillment house does require great deal of due diligence. After all, these companies will receive, store, pick, pack and ship your products and have an enormous impact on the customer purchase experience.

To protect the integrity of your brand you need a trusted partner. To determine who that should be, put them through the paces with these six key questions.

Cargo theft can occur anywhere along the supply chain affecting local logistics, transporters, storage yards, groupage operators, LCL consolidators, ports, depots, terminals, insurance, carriers and freight forwarders equally..

BSI Supply Chain Services and Solutions assesses that companies lose more than an estimated $76 million in UK alone due to cargo theft highlighting the seriousness of this issue..

TT Club one of the leading providers of insurance and related risk management services to the international transport and logistics industry and BSI have come together yet again to release the second edition of their report on global cargo theft covering the full year of 2018..

The Digital Era is really and truly upon the shipping and freight industry..

Investors are showing great interest in funding the digital capabilities displayed by the role players in this industry and one of the main role players who seem to be capitalising most on this seems to be the Digital Freight Forwarders..

One such digital freight forwarder, FreightHub founded in Berlin in 2016, is the latest beneficiary of such investment..

FreightHub, who have been termed as Europe’s first digital freight forwarder, announced today that they have raised USD30 million in its Series B financing round..

They get us, They get us not, They get us, They get us not, They get us............................. and thus ends the saga of Panalpina's buy out by DSV..

After months of speculation and back and forth, the Danish forwarder DSV will finally have their hands on their Swiss rival logistics group Panalpina through a $4.6 billion deal, making them one of the leading global transport and logistics companies in the industry with significant growth opportunities and potential..