Warehousing

Acquired in 2021 and enhanced since, Zebra's mobile robot collaborative order picking solution may be sold off.

The November LMI reading came in at 55.7 (a reading above 50 indicates growth is occurring), following matching 57.4 readings, for both September and October. This represents the ninth straight month the LMI has been below the all-time overall average of 61.4.

Taking steps to further expand its United States-Mexico border operations and presence, Eden Prairie, Minn.-based global third-party logistics (3PL) services provider and freight forwarder C.H. Robinson said this week it has added more than 450,000 square-feet of warehousing and cross-border docking space in El Paso, Texas, which it said brings the company’s U.S.-Mexico logistics footprint to more than 2 million square-feet.

The September reading, at 57.4 (a reading above 50 indicates growth is occurring), trailed August’s 59.3 by 1.9%, coming in at its lowest level since March and its second-lowest this year—and it is the seventh consecutive month the LMI reading has been below the all-time overall average of 61.5.

Logistics Management Group News Editor Jeff Berman spoke with Jeff Tafel, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones. Topics covered included: the impact of the recent removal of the de minimis exemption on Foreign Trade-Zone activity, the mission of the NAFTZ, and the impact of tariffs, among others.

The June LMI reading, at 60.7, increased by 1.3% over May’s 59.4, while representing only the third time going back to July 2022 it has cracked the 60 mark—all of which have occurred in 2025, with 2023 and 2024 not making it to that level.

The company explained that these acquisitions are a continuation of Outpost’s expansion from providing shippers with standalone fleet yards to full-service, shared-use terminals, with each property comprised of a mix of cross-docks, maintenance facilities, warehouses, office space, and drop yard acreage.

The report, entitled “Working through the Uncertainty—Latest Third-Party Logistics Market Results and Outlook,” said that U.S. 3PL Market net revenues, which Armstrong defines as gross revenues less purchased transportation, increased 1.8%, to $131.5 billion in 2024, coming off of a 12.8% annual decline, to $129 billion, in 2023.

The May LMI reading, at 59.4, marked a 0.6% increase over April’s 55.8, while posting a 5.8% annual gain, as well as a 12.3% increase over May 2023’s 47.3. The impact of the aforementioned increased costs was evident in the report, as its authors explained inventory movements “slowed significantly compared to observations from earlier in the year.

Along with acquiring Drexel’s 3PL business, Kenco said this acquisition also includes Drexel’s four London, Ontario-area physical locations—which are equidistant from Toronto, Detroit, and Buffalo and operate as multi-client distribution spaces in a campus-like environment, and enable Drexel’s resource sharing and more flexible operations, coupled with 100 Drexel associates becoming Kenco employees.

Stephanie Rodriguez, National Director of Industrial Services at Colliers, shares how she’s helping clients make smart decisions in what she calls a VUCA era—short for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.

The companies said that through this agreement Blue Yonder will become one of GXO’s preferred off-the-shelf software solution providers for warehouse management systems (WMS).

A number of declining data points addressing logistics sector growth patterns, driven by ongoing tariff-driven uncertainty, was apparent in the March 2025 edition of the Logistics Manager’s Index (LMI), which was released this week.

The report, entitled “The E-Commerce Boom Isn’t Over: Implications for Logistics Real Estate,” examines how more than five years after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent re-opening of the economy, recent consumer behavior is showing a return to value, convenience, and choice, while examining retailers, supply chains, and logistics real estate, as it relates to e-commerce going forward.

Forget the latest shiny new humanoids for a second, the established vendors in warehouse robotics are by no means standing still, and they had the new systems and enhancements to prove it at ProMat 2025.