MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics

As rail and intermodal rebound from years of underinvestment, new technology and AI-driven analytics are helping to modernize networks, improve service levels, and restore shipper confidence. With visibility, safety, and fluidity on the rise, industry leaders say rail’s digital transformation is finally catching up—setting the stage for a new era of intelligent, data-driven logistics.

The October cover story highlights rail and intermodal transportation, showing how technology and emerging AI are improving network efficiency, service levels, and visibility for long-haul, high-volume shipments. The column also previews the 2025 Supply Chain Outlook Virtual Summit, where MIT’s Matthias Winkenbach will explain how AI is transforming logistics decision-making and creating smarter, more resilient supply chains.

This is the second of two columns that visits the concept of “index-based variable-rate pricing” as a way to establish more market stability for both shippers and carriers.

It’s about this time every year that the editorial staffs of Logistics Management and sister publication Supply Chain Management Review finalize our list of presenters for our annual virtual conference.

In this podcast, Jeff Berman, Group News Editor for Logistics Management and the Peerless Media Supply Chain Group, interviews Dr. Chris Caplice, Chief Scientist at DAT Freight & Analytics, which operates the largest truckload freight marketplace in North America and DAT iQ, the industry’s most trusted source of market analysis and truckload pricing data.

The report’s authors had expected COVID-19 might dampen companies’ enthusiasm for investing in SCS, but the latest survey shows the opposite occurred.

This year’s summit shows attendees how to kick their company’s digital transformation into overdrive in 2020.

What could be better than a graduate level education from one of the country’s best supply chain management programs? How about a graduate degree with training from two of the country’s best supply chain management programs.

Our latest Virtual Summit tackles the most serious transportation issues facing shippers and explains what companies can do to operate smarter and more efficiently in the tightest freight environment in more than a generation.

When the “3PL Value Creation/North America Summit 2018” convenes in Chicago this month, shippers will hear from a diverse group of industry experts on how to drive the best deals with their lead providers in both the global and domestic arenas.

According to Levi, at the core of this strategy are new, aggressive targets for reducing carbon emissions across its owned-and-operated facilities and global supply chain by 2025.

In his new book, MIT's Sheffi argues that companies need to find the right balance between investments in sustainability and maintaining their competitive advantage. Corporate sustainability, carbon reduction and the supply chain.

Managing shipment visibility, coordinating transit details and enabling efficient management of administrative activities will be key objectives for both shippers and 3PLs this year. Our expert panel provides tips for optimum execution.

Peerless Media’s 2017 Virtual Summit shows how creating a data-rich ecosystem can eliminate borders, establish visibility and optimize logistics and supply chain management operations to meet the digital mandate.

Students who excel in a semester’s worth of graduate-level classes online and who pass a comprehensive proctored exam can earn an MITx MicroMaster’s credential.