Topic: Global Logistics

Figuring out how to emerge from this ongoing maelstrom will remain a challenge for shippers everywhere in 2024. With that in mind, let’s focus a few areas around the globe where extra care and diligent logistics management will need to be applied to keep operations—and budgets—in check.

Global shippers are now implementing a “China plus” strategy that includes more than 40 countries in Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. Accenture experts take a look at the contenders that are most relevant to logistics and supply chain managers in the United States.

Do you think you already have enough to worry about with the obvious and known risks and have no time to address hidden risks? Rethink that approach. The risk of doing nothing could be disastrous to your business.

Supply chains worldwide will continue to be caught between politics, economics and ecology in the future. Whether there will be more regionalization or nearshoring remains to be seen. The question will linger: Who will win and who will lose in this increasingly tense competition?

Downers Grove, Ill.-based Roadrunner, a national less-than-truckload (LTL) services provider, with a focus on long-haul metro-to-metro shipping, said it has added five additional direct lanes to its service network. And it also noted that it has improved transit times by at least one day in 66 of its major lanes.

Rail carloads—at 232,338—eked out a 0.9% annual gain, and intermodal containers and trailers—at 263,746—saw a 9.1% annual decline.

A combination of rising global interest rates and ongoing trade protectionism will continue to create unexpected turbulence for logistics managers over the course of 2019, say analysts. Meanwhile emerging markets will provide opportunities for faster growth—yet each faces its own set of operational challenges.

Leading industry analysts observe that there’s a host of new technologies opening up fresh emerging market opportunities for U.S. shippers. How to properly harness these solutions and third-party partners now becomes the chief challenge. When Gartner released its annual “Supply Chain Top 25” report last May, it did more than simply identify global industry leaders and best practices.

The endeavor, which is comprised of expanded service into 57 countries and territories, including Brazil, India, and South Korea, and five new countries receiving Express service, including Bangladesh and Madagascar, said UPS.

Global GDP has been revised upward to 3.7% in 2018, and this news of expanding economies will surely open new opportunities for U.S.-based organizations in areas of the world where many have never done business, yet alone established carriers and service networks.

The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) notes that the solid expansion in international air cargo markets continues unabated.

Today’s freight forwarders now need to ramp up their value-added visibility services in an effort to boost revenues and put shippers at ease.

In an award-winning collaboration effort with a 3PL and TL partner, this global performance nutrition company has drastically reduced costs—all while improving service through and innovative “embedded” arrangement.

Transport infrastructure and frequency of ocean and air connections drive the competitiveness of emerging markets again this year, as analysts rate “market connectedness” as a key economic indicator for expansion.

We take a deep dive into the 23-year-old NAFTA agreement, look at the impact it has made on logistics operations in the United States, Mexico and Canada, and then hear what the experts suggest Washington should—and should not—do.

New political developments from both sides of the Channel and the Atlantic still have shippers and logistics services providers scratching their heads. But where some see an element of uncertainly and discord, others see bright new opportunity.

Kewill and LeanLogistics today announced that the companies have rebranded as BluJay Solutions. In conjunction with the rebranding, the company has also unveiled the BluJay Global Trade Network, a fundamentally new model designed to go beyond automation.

There’s a dawning awareness of the importance of a reverse logistics strategy—especially in light of the critical role it now plays in e-commerce. Our experts say that level of thinking will not only help improve customer service, but will contribute significantly to an organization’s bottom line.

While we’re all getting sick of hearing the term “uncertainty,” in the vitally important global logistics arena there’s always been—and always will be—a cloud of doubt hanging over the head of the logistic professional charged with moving freight to, from and throughout distant lands

Global shippers need to keep in mind that supply chain management capabilities—even those managed by the most expansive global 3PLs—vary greatly between countries