As retailers are still trying to work through their new-found infatuation with the idea of same-day deliveries, it's quickly becoming a love-hate relationship. Beyond Amazon's discovery that shoppers loved the concept of same-day but ended up not using it, it now seems that some U.K. retailers are willing to very heavily subsidize same-day delivery charges.

Equipment built for use in oil wells is not only expensive, but often includes many potentially hazardous materials. As such, it must be closely monitored, both on a manufacturer's site and as it leaves the plant, bound for an end user. FMC Technologies, a Scotland-based manufacturer of equipment for the energy industry, is using RFID technology so it knows where every piece of equipment is.

United Parcel Service announced that it would withdraw its $6.9bn takeover offer for TNT Express, a Dutch shipping company, after European antitrust authorities told U.P.S. that they would block the deal.

GENCO ATC, the product of a merger in 2010 between GENCO and ATC Technology Corp., is being rebranded under the GENCO name alone.

GT Nexus Inc. and TradeCard Inc. have announced a merger agreement that will create a single cloud-technology platform for global trade and supply-chain management.

U.S. vessel imports rose a slight 1.2 percent in 2012 over the year before. This was a total of over 17.6 million TEUs imported, or roughly 200,000 more containers than in 2011. Slow and steady growth seems to be the consistent pattern for the year as import volume still has not returned to 2007 or 2008 levels. Zepol has seen a large spike from 2009 to 2010 and then a plateau-like trend for the past three years, although 2012 was an especially unique year for U.S. imports.