Friday, January 26, 2018
GlobalTranz News4 Guidelines for Navigating Cargo Freight Claims
GlobalTranz.com, Jan 25
Today’s freight industry runs at rapid speeds to meet customer delivery demands. One event that can disrupt the flow of your freight management operations and supply chain is damaged or lost cargo. The majority of shipments are picked-up and delivered on-time and intact, but knowing what to do and who to contact if you need to file a freight claim can be a key differentiator to minimizing downtime.
GlobalTranz Acquires AJR Transportation
Transport Topics, Jan 22
Phoenix-based logistics firm GlobalTranz Enterprises Inc. completed another acquisition, it’s fifth in the past 12 months, with the purchase of AJR Transportation on Jan. 10. Based in Houston, AJR Transportation offers truckload, LTL and expedited freight brokerage and transportation management services and has worked with GlobalTranz as an independent freight agent.
Opinion: Trends Affecting Logistics in 2018
Transport Topics, Jan 22
The logistics industry is evolving, bringing both risk and opportunity to corporate supply chains. Last year, natural disasters, government regulations and a healthy Gross Domestic Product created challenging capacity and rate conditions. This year (and beyond), the booming e-commerce space and demand for operational efficiency will amplify the need for more automation and technology within the supply chain.
Logistics Industry
Shippers Plan to Move More Freight in 2018
Transport Topics, Jan 24
Three out of every four shippers plan to route more freight in 2018 than last year, according to the annual State of the North American Supply Chain survey. Researchers asked the shippers a series of questions about this year’s freight plans, including truckload, intermodal rail, less-than-truckload, airfreight and less-than-containerload ocean transportation. They also asked shippers what their top concerns were in 2017.
How consumers think about shipping
Digital Commerce 360, Jan 23
Pick a survey, any survey, about e-commerce delivery and there is one constant: Free shipping matters to consumers. When Internet Retailer surveyed consumers in late December about what matters to them when shopping online, 52.8% said free shipping was most important, 9.4% said fast shipping was their primary concern and 37.8% said free and fast shipping are equally important. The survey of 510 U.S. consumers was conducted by digital insights firm Toluna.
CEOs touch upon various industry issues at SMC3 Jump Start
Logistics Management, Jan 24
Given the myriad moving parts-such as economic, regulatory, or trade-based ones, among others, the current supply chain, freight transportation, and logistics markets, are moving at a rapid pace, with more than a lot going on at any given time. That was made clear in a CEO panel featuring YRC CEO James Welch and Jason Hess, vice president and general manager premium at Union Pacific.
Forget the Perfect Storm…This Is Looking Like A Full-Fledged Frankenstorm!
Logistics Management, Jan 24
I began to refer to what was coming down the pike in the transportation marketplace as “The Perfect Storm” in early 2017. But I’ve realized that term may have become so common now that we’ve lost perspective on what’s really happening. So, realistically, a better word for our current situation might be a full-fledged Frankenstorm.
Shrinking truck capacity becomes a major issue for shippers
SupplyChainDive, Jan 23
Capacity is believed to be shrinking due to three main factors: the ELD mandate, the seemingly endless driver shortage, and manufacturing growth that is putting more pressure on truckload capacity throughout the U.S.
Transportation Markets
Spot Market Demand Slows Seasonally
Jan 14 - 20 - A decline in spot market freight last week was followed by lower national averages for both van and flatbed rates. So far, the rate of decline has been slow compared to the rapid rate increases that followed the ELD mandate in mid-December, so prices remain elevated. Last week's national average van rate dipped 1¢, flatbed rates fell 2¢, and reefer rates were unchanged.
National average spot market rates for the past four weeks, including fuel surcharges, are shown in the above graph. Weekly rate snapshots reflect averages for the month to-date, from DAT RateView.
Source: DAT Trendlines™
Trucking Economy Forecast Looks Good for 2018
Truckinginfo.com, Jan 24
Truckable Economic Activity is expected to continue at its current pace, according to Dr. Bob Dieli, president and founder of RDLB Inc., speaking at Heavy Duty Aftermarket Dialogue in Las Vegas. TEA is a measure developed by MacKay and Co. to measure the part of the Gross Domestic Product that spends time in trucks. Before looking ahead to what the trucking industry can expect for 2018, Dielitook a look back to what he had forecast for trucking at last year’s meeting.
Demand for spot truckload capacity slows seasonally
Fleet Management, Jan 24
National average spot van and flatbed rates fell slightly and the refrigerated rate was unchanged during the week ending Jan. 20 despite 3.5% fewer loads and a 4.6% increase in trucks posted, according to DAT Solutions, which operates the DAT network of load boards.
Today’s Pickup: Seasonality hits rates as van, flatbed retreat from highs
FreightWaves, Jan 24
At least for one week, seasonality has impacted rates, according to the latest data from DAT Solutions. Spot rates for dry vans and flatbeds fell for the week ending Jan. 20. The national average spot rate for vans dropped 1 cent to $2.27 per mile as van loads fell 5% and trucks posted increased 4%. DAT noted that rates fell on most of the top 100 van lanes, although a few markets saw increase. Notable increase include Dallas, up 2 cents to $2.05 per mile; Philadelphia, up 11 cents to $2.43 per mile; Chicago, up 5 cents to $3.05 per mile; and Memphis, which was up 6 cents to $2.61 per mile.
ATA reports annual gains in 2017 truck tonnage
Logistics Management, Jan 24
For all of 2017 SA tonnage was up 3.7% annually, marking its largest annual increase going back to 2013’s 6.1% increase. Trucking volumes finished 2017 with annual gains, according to the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) Truck Tonnage Index. Seasonally-adjusted (SA) for-hire truck tonnage at 142.9 (2000=100) in December was down 5.7% compared to November’s 151.6, falling for the first time since September.
Trucking Capacity Crunch Leading to Record Freight Rates
Fleet Management, Jan 25
There is increasing evidence that the supply of trucks available to move freight is outpacing demand, based on a flurry of recently released reports – but it’s also helping push freight rates higher. ACT Research reported this week that its For-Hire Trucking Index rose faster than the capacity index in each of the last 12 months, allowing the supply-demand balance to climb to the highest reading this index has ever recorded.
Economy & Supply Chain
Store closures overshadow strength of physical retail
RetailDive, Jan 24
The "retail apocalypse" headlines of last year (and continuing this year despite healthy holiday retail sales) were driven primarily by store closures; major U.S. chains announced 6,955 store closures in 2017, according to a report from consulting firm FGRT emailed to Retail Dive. Factoring in small and independent retailers, the total U.S. store number last year fell for the first time since 2009, according to the report, citing statistics from Euromonitor International.
Why businesses must look for more than supply chain visibility
SupplyChainDive, Jan 24
Businesses today have more resources and technology than ever to manage their logistics processes. So why did a recent Business Continuity Institute report state that two-thirds of them lack end-to-end visibility into their supply chains? Juggling logistics providers, inaccurate data and outdated processes are all prime culprits behind poor visibility. As more global shippers rely on multiple carriers to mitigate risks and costs, establishing a single source of truth for all logistics information is a challenge.
Mergers and acquisitions soar 109% over 2016
RetailDive, Jan 25
While there's no singular path for growth, one thing is clear: In the new era of retailing, companies are embracing M&A. The average deal size hit $547 million in 2017, versus $293 million in 2016 and retail deal value specifically grew from 28% of total deal value in 2016 to 47% in 2017, according to the report.
The Gurus Are Back! 2018 Supply Chain Predictions
Supply Chain Digest, Jan 25
We're back as we have done for many years running with predictions for the year 2018 in supply from a virtual panel of supply chain gurus. In fact, most of our prognosticators are back from 2017, selected again for this great honor - well, something of an honor - because in the past they have made insightful predictions and (very importantly) are able to get them emailed in before the deadline.
Technology & Innovation
How Warehouse Automation is Enabling the E-Commerce Explosion
Logistics Viewpoints, Jan 24
It is a well-known fact that e-commerce is growing rapidly around the globe, and this is causing a significant shift in the retail landscape. It’s changing fulfillment paths and requiring retailers, distributors, logistics services providers, and manufacturers to expand and reconfigure their fulfillment operations. These changes are in turn driving growth in sales of warehouse automation systems. All of this I knew from general interest in business and prior research into the global warehouse automation market.
Why Every Company Will Be Using Blockchain By 2027
SupplyChain247, Jan 24
In this article, we discuss five different ways blockchain will fit into your company in less than ten years from now, and the businesses who don’t adapt to the decentralized world of the future will soon become businesses of the past. Almost a decade ago, Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, silently disrupted trust-providing organizations, like banks, with an eight-page long research paper describing how money can be decentralized (through Bitcoin). At the time, not many people understood the potential that those eight pages concealed within themselves.
Will Digital Freight Apps Kill Truck Brokers?
MorningStar.com, Jan 24
Some mobile tech marketplaces will gain traction, but stealing freight from traditional providers will be a challenge. Digital freight-matching companies, or DFMs, such as Uber Freight have entered asset-light truck brokerage over the past few years. It’s early in their evolution, but most DFMs hope to reinvent the truckload shipping process via highly automated marketplaces that can match shippers and truckers on demand. At times, this has caused investor trepidation over the potential threat to traditional providers, and that is likely to recur, creating buying opportunities for the informed.
HackTheIndustry highlights innovation at Transparency18
FreightWaves, Jan 25
Industry hacking event will give winner chance to present solution to top industry executives. Hackathons have become an interesting way for industries to seek out new concepts to solve age-old problems. Events bring together thousands of programmers and others involved in software design, including graphic and interface designers, project managers and subject-matter experts working individually or as teams in search of coding glory.
The most overlooked result of the ELD mandate
FreightWaves, Jan 24
Funny how the ELD mandate is already coming to mean something more significant to the industry than few were discussing in the year-long 2017 ELD strife and speculation building up to the December 18 deadline. Turns out, possibly the single-most important aspect of the ELD mandate is not safety, but the beginning of a necessary technological shift to the blockchain revolution.
Government, Regulation & Safety
Drug testing and trucking
FleetOwner, Jan 24
The industry is racing towards a crossroads that could potentially sideline more workers as a number of factors begin to converge. There is no doubt we’re well past a crisis point when it comes to drug use in this country – especially due to the abuse of prescription opioids (which is having direct highway safety repercussions) and efforts to “decriminalize” marijuana.
Republicans Lament Absence of Trucking Policy in Autonomous Bill
Transport Topics, Jan 24
WASHINGTON — Key Republicans on the Senate Commerce Committee, including the panel’s chairman, expressed concern over the absence of trucking policy provisions in legislation on autonomous vehicles awaiting a vote in the chamber. Sens. Todd Young of Indiana and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, both Republicans, argued the lack of inclusion of trucks in the committee-passed legislation failed to provide a full framework of self-driving vehicle guidelines.
Teamsters Union Seeks to Prevent UPS Drone Usage, Self-Driving Vehicles
Fleet Management, Jan 24
The Teamsters union is seeking to prevent UPS from using driverless vehicles or drones to deliver packages, the latter of which the parcel delivery company had already performed a number of tests on, reports the Wall Street Journal. The labor union also wants UPS to ban deliveries after 9 p.m. and add an additional 10,000 workers, according to the Wall Street Journal.
ATA presses for fuel tax bump as fix for highway funding, calls tolls ‘massive waste’
Commercial Carrier Journal, Jan 24
The American Trucking Associations has issued a bulletin lobbying Congress to raise per-gallon gas and diesel taxes to stabilize U.S. funding for roads and bridges. ATA’s Build America Fund plan calls for bumping up the per-mile tax on gas and diesel a nickel per year over four years as a means “to fund the modernization of our deteriorating network of roads and bridges,” the trucking trade group and lobbyist said in an announcement on Tuesday.
Supplements
- November 2017 Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) – Posted Jan 10
- DATTrendlines™
- Cass Freight Index – (November Report Attached)
- Cass Truckload Linehaul Index™
- Cass Intermodal Price Index™
- Supply Chain Dive
- Logistics Management
- FreightWaves
- Transport Topics
- The Journal of Commerce
- Digital Commerce 360
- RetailDive.com
- DC Velocity
- Trucks.com
- CCJ Digital
- Truckinginfo.com
- WSJ Logistics Report
- DAT Industry Trends