MarketWatch

March 7, 2007

Kuehne & Nagel Increases Presence in Russia, Relocates Northeast Europe Regional Headquarters to Moscow
Kuehne & Nagel, a global provider of logistics services, is expanding its presence in the Russian market. The company has relocated the headquarters for its Northeast Europe region from Warsaw to Moscow. Debuting in Russia in 1992, Kuehne & Nagel currently manages 7,000 square meters of warehouse space in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don. Services are focused on the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), retail and consumer goods/electronics industries. Kuehne & Nagel said it plans significantly to expand its warehousing and logistics presence in Russia, to more than 300,000 square meters, over the next three years. New facilities slated to go into operation before the end of 2007 include St. Petersburg, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Samara and Vladivostok. The company's Russian market comprises Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia and Ukraine. Clements Abt is national manager for Russia, and responsible for Kuehne & Nagel's Northeast Europe region.
http://www.kn-portal.com

Silverjet Launches Daily Cargo Route Between London, New York
Silverjet, a British all-business-class airline, is now offering cargo services on its daily scheduled passenger service between London and Newark, N.J. Launching operations in January of this year, Silverjet claims to be the world's first carbon-neutral airline. The extra fuel burn required to transport cargo will be factored into freight rates, it said. The airline's daily Boeing 767 between London Luton and Newark offers 10 metric tons of payload outbound to the U.S., and 15 tons inbound. Longer runways at Newark, along with shorter flying times, allow for higher take-off weights, Silverjet said. Cargo capacity will be managed by Silverjet Cargo, a commercial partnership between Silverjet plc and Silverjet Cargo Ltd. Silverjet has appointed Platinum Air Cargo as general sales agent in the U.S., and CargoOne in the U.K. The agents plan to fill the aircraft with general air cargo, consumer goods, electronics and excess luggage, as well as perishables and high-value goods.
www.silverjetcargo.com

Eqos Opens Hong Kong Office for Retail Supplier Management
Eqos, Inc., a vendor of global sourcing and supplier-management technology for the retail supply chain, has opened an office in Hong Kong. The action reflects a growing number of sourcing offices established by retailers in the region, the company said. It is intended to help organizations strengthen relationships with agents and strategic suppliers throughout Asia. The new office provides retailers and their trading partners support in Chinese and English, reaching across multiple time zones and geographic regions. Chris Foulkes, Eqos's chief product officer, is heading up Hong Kong operations for the company. Eqos today claims to support customers in more than 40 countries, with more than 4,000 users in China alone. Globally, the company manages more than 5,000 transactions a day and 100,000 user logins a month, supporting the management of nearly $20bn worth of inventory annually. In addition to software support, Eqos provides hosting, user community management and applications management services.
http://www.eqos.com

CRST International Forms New Units for Dedicated, Capacity
CRST International, Inc., a nationwide provider of trucking, brokerage and other transportation services, has formed two new operating companies. They are CRST Dedicated Services, Inc. and CRST Capacity Solutions, Inc. Dedicated Services will provide services ranging from a pure dedicated fleet to single-source dedicated truck capacity and a transportation network in the van and flatbed markets. It will be headquartered in Eldridge, Iowa. Capacity Solutions will offer one source for truck capacity through its affiliation with the three CRST asset-based trucking companies, as well as the company's network of more than 8,000 contract carriers and multimodal capacity providers. Solutions will be based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Both of the new operating companies will become part of the CRST Carrier Group, which oversees the company's three asset-based trucking companies: CRST Van Expedited, CRST Malone and CRST Premier Transport.
http://www.crst.com

A. Duie Pyle Introduces Advance Delivery Notification
A. Duie Pyle, the diversified provider of trucking, warehousing, pool distribution and other transportation services, is now offering shippers access to advance delivery notices (ADNs) that can be communicated up to two hours prior to a shipment's delivery. The move is intended to give customers perpetual visibility of their freight, as well as the ability to access information immediately, the company said. The ADN service features two options, Systematic and Transactional, which are activated via www.pyleco.com or by e-mailing adn@pyleco.com. Systematic ADNs allow customers to request that permanent flags be set on their accounts, so that they can receive ADNs for each delivery. Transactional ADNs are one-time notifications that are triggered for select shipments. The customer selects the preferred method of ADN delivery from a list of options, including e-mail, fax and phone call.
http://www.pyleco.com

ADVERTISEMENT

SciQuest, Xign Team Up to Bring E-Procurement to Settlements
SciQuest, Inc. has joined with Xign Corp. to extend electronic procurement to the settlement process. SciQuest is a provider of on-demand supplier management and procurement automation. Xign operates a settlement network for business. The deal involves the integration of Xign's electronic settlement service with SciQuest's suite of e-procurement modules. The intent is to speed up implementation of a secure, global business settlement network, the partners said. They will target larger companies with sizeable invoice-processing volumes. Electronic procurement and payment for suppliers yields cost savings of 50 percent or more when compared with traditional paper-based processes, the companies claimed. Their partnership is intended to automate "the last mile" of an organization's supply chain, resulting in an end-to-end suite for procurement management. Xign's settlement network has processed more than $100bn in transactions, involving tens of thousands of global suppliers, the company said.
http://www.xign.com

WebMethods Publishes Japanese Edition of Guide to SOA
Webmethods, Inc. has announced publication of the Japanese edition of a guide to service-oriented architecture (SOA), authored by webMethods' Gary So and Beth Gold-Bernstein of ebizQ. "Integration and SOA: Concepts, Technologies, and Best Practices" addresses companies' need to create more integrated, adaptive and transparent business processes. It offers business managers and I.T. practitioners practical recommendations for using SOA and business integration to improve efficiency and business agility. The book focuses on how companies can apply integration and SOA to address common business scenarios. Case studies help users to create their own business cases, illuminating the real-world benefits that such approaches have yielded across multiple industries. The book also serves as a primer to the key technologies involved, offering best practices for maximizing success. Complimentary copies of the Japanese version are available in an electronic eBook, and can be downloaded from webMethods' Japanese website (www.webmethods.co.jp/). In a related company development, webMethods has joined with ZapThink, an SOA analyst firm, to launch the SOA Master Class Online. The offering creates an educational resource designed to foster expertise in SOA concepts, techniques and skills. Users get a formalized curriculum, as well as access to an online community for sharing best practices and solving problems collectively.
Japanese SOA Book: http://www.webmethods.com
Master Class Online: http://www.webmethods.com

NRS Starts Work on Savannah Transload, Distribution Center
National Retail Systems Inc. (NRS) has broken ground on a container transload and special project distribution facility in Savannah, Ga. Scheduled to open in September of this year, the 140,000-square-foot operation will be one of the largest retail logistics facilities near the Port of Savannah, able to process several hundred thousand containers a year, NRS said. Located four miles from the port, the facility is part of the company's ongoing Gateway Ports Strategy, which aims to extend NRS's national distribution network to every major retail import gateway in the country. The company already has import logistics operations in the New York and Los Angeles areas. The latter includes several crossdocks, transload facilities, warehouses and an automated distribution center. NRS operates multiple facilities in the Los Angeles area, including an automated D.C. and more than one million square feet of distribution space within 10 miles of the Port of Long Beach. In the U.S. Southeast, NRS has distribution facilities in Greensboro, N.C.; Tampa, Fla. and Miami, Fla.
http://www.nrsonline.com

Inttra Unveils Tool for Transferring Shipping Instructions
Inttra, an electronic-commerce platform for the ocean-shipping industry, has developed a software tool to streamline the submission of electronic shipping instructions to ocean carriers. Inttra's Desktop File Master for Shipping Instructions allows shippers and forwarders to transfer information from a company's own system into Inttra Desktop, a PC-based application for standardizing the submission of shipping instructions to multiple carriers. Users can create multiple shipping instructions from a single file. Source data is checked against Inttra Desktop's validation rules to ensure accuracy. In addition, users can merge data with an existing shipping-instructions template to reduce the re-keying of data. Desktop File Master for Shipping Instructions will shortly be available in CD format, or downloadable from Inttra.com
http://www.inttra.com

SkyeTek Partners With ACC to Bring RFID Apps to Battlefield
SkyeTek, Inc., a provider of embedded radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, has entered into a partnership with ACC Systems, Inc., a defense systems integrator. The two companies will delivery ruggedized, wirelessly connected RFID handheld readers for identifying, locating and tracking casualties and medical resources using RFID and satellite technology. The readers are designed for use with the Tactical Medical Coordination System (TacMedCS), deployed by military medical personnel and civilian emergency responders in conventional warfare, humanitarian assistance, peacekeeping, disaster relief and homeland defense settings. TacMedCS is a wireless communication system that uses RFID technology to capture and display real-time casualty data in the field. SkyeTek's embedded RFID technology will support wirelessly connected RFID handhelds used to read information on RFID medical wristbands placed on casualties or refugees, and electronic dogtags worn by personnel in the field.
http://www.skyetek.com


Click here to subscribe or renew your subscription to Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies magazine