Topic: SMC3

Logistics Management Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently interviewed Jason Seidl, Managing Director, Industrials - Airfreight & Surface Transportation, TD Cowen, at the SMC3 JumpStart 2025 conference in Atlanta.

In a wide-ranging presentation at the SMC3 Connections conference, which was recently held in Colorado Springs, Co., Satish Jindel, principal of Pittsburgh-based SJ Consulting Group, took a deep dive into the current state of the less-than-truckload (LTL) market. Jindel addressed various aspects of the LTL market, including the impact of Yellow’s exit roughly a year ago, industry supply and demand, and opportunities for shippers, carriers, other stakeholders to work together, and changes in the parcel sector posing a threat...

Amid a mixed economic outlook, three less-than-truckload (LTL) executives examined various business drivers, in terms of how they are impacting LTL market and economic conditions, at SMC3 Connections conference, which was recently held in Colorado Springs, Co. The session’s panelists included: Dennis Anderson, Chief Strategy Officer, ArcBest; John Luciani, COO, LTL Solutions, A. Duie Pyle; and Kent Williams, EVP, Sales and Marketing, Averitt.

When looking at inventory-to-sales ratios, Prather stressed that they are typically viewed at a “high level,” for things like total business, manufacturing, retailers, or wholesale trade. But he cautioned that is not enough, because one needs to take a deeper look at individual sector indices, especially when it comes to the less-than-truckload (LTL) sector.

LM Group News Editor interviewed Jay Silberkleit, CIO, for Greenwich, Conn.-based national less-than-truckload (LTL) services provider XPO, in a leadership session at the SMC3 Connections conference in Colorado Springs, Co. this week. Silberkleit provided an overview of how XPO approaches and views the role of technology within LTL operations, including things like using AI, data analytics, and vetting emerging new techologies, among others. 

The state of the freight economy was a key theme at the SMC3 JumpStart 2024 conference held in Atlanta late last month. Avery Vise, vice president of trucking, for freight transportation consultancy FTR, offered up his views on the freight economy, at the moment, and where things could be headed.

When posed the question of if there is really strong product consumption, coupled with consumers spending, why is that not being felt in the freight market, Prather explained that based on looking at data going back multiple decades, at time, freight transportation and the general economy get disconnected from one another.

Bozeman discussed his acclimation to C.H. Robinson, coming over from Amazon, where he served as Vice President of Amazon Transportation Services, and leadership roles at Caterpillar Inc., Harley-Davidson, and Ford Motor Company prior to that. Other topics covered in this wide-ranging interview included: the freight econonomy; various initiatives C.H. Robinson has focused on in recent months, and the increasing role of the supply chain, among others. Their conversation follows below.

Regardless of how many years of experience one has, managing supply chain and logistics operations through periods of risk and challenging times requires equal helpings of resourcefulness and resilience, among other key factors. That was a key theme in a session at this week’s SMC3 Connections conference in Orlando, Fla., which included Tom Nightingale, CEO, AFS Logistics, Tom Schmitt, President, CEO, and Director, Forward Air, and Brad Stewart, Treasurer and SVP-Investor Relations, Knight-Swift.

Logistics Management Group News Editor spoke with Frank Hurst, Executive Vice President, LTL, for Chicago-based third-party logistics and technology-enabled transportation services provider Echo Global Logistics, at this week’s SMC3 Connections conference in Orlando. Hurst addressed various supply chain and logistics trends and themes over the course of their conversation.

The hearing, which is entitled “The State of Transportation Infrastructure and Supply Chain Challenges," features leadership from various national organizations, including: Chris Spear, President and Chief Executive Officer, American Trucking Associations; Ian Jefferies, President and Chief Executive Officer, Association of American Railroads; Jeff Firth, Vice President, Hamilton Construction, on behalf of Associated General Contractors of America; Roger Guenther, Executive Director, Port Houston; and Greg Regan, President, Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO.

When looking at the global supply chain, China’s role and influence on operations and processes cannot be understated. That was made clear by a pair of supply chain experts in a session at last week’s SMC3 JumpStart 2023 conference held in Atlanta.

The possibility of the economy entering a recession, at this point, appears to not be a matter of if it occurs, but when will it occur. That was a key theme in a session this week at the SMC3 JumpStart 2023 conference held in Atlanta.

The session, entitled “Understanding America’s Supply Chain Woes,” featured supply chain stakeholders from three different perspectives: a port operator, Barbara Melvin, COO, South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA); a shipper, Linda Fonkoue, Global Supply Base Manager, Logistics, Deere and Company; and a motor carrier, Charlie Prickett, President & COO, AAA Cooper Transportation. The session was moderated by Logistics Management.

The outlook for Thomasville, NC-based national less-than-truckload carrier Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL) is optimistic. That was the word from Greg Gantt, ODFL President and CEO, speaking at the SMC Jump Start conference in Atlanta this week.

If there’s one immutable truth in the world of logistics, it’s this: LTL is an inherently complex form of transportation.

A trio of freight transportation experts expressed optimism over the possibility of Congress being able to lay down the groundwork to sign a needed long-term federal surface transportation authorization at the recently-concluded SMC3 JumpStart 2021 conference.

Brad Jacobs, Chairman and CEO of Greenwich, Conn.-based freight transportation and logistics services provider XPO Logistics, offered up myriad opinions on a host of industry trends and themes at the opening session of this week’s SMC3 2021 Jumpstart conference, which was held virtually.

A whole host of issues impacting freight transportation and logistics, including tariffs, capacity, market conditions and others, were front and center at the SMC3 Connections CEO panel yesterday in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

For optimistic folks still holding on to the hope of a long-term federal transportation authorization coming to fruition before the next Presidential election, it is likely time to label those hopes as wishful thinking. That’s the word from James H. Burnley, a partner at Washington D.C.-based law firm Vebnable LLP and former Secretary of Transportation under the late President Ronald Reagan.