Chris Schrage, instructor of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa, describes a unique global trade-practices project that involved students from the U.S. and Brazil, and artisans from Latin America.

Synchronet Intermodal Services Inc. (SIS) has expanded its North American street-turn service to include both beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) and non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOs).

Truckload pricing remained constant from July to August according to the Cass Truckload Linehaul Index, which for the second month in a row registered a value of 109.5. On a year-over-year basis, truckload rates are up 1.0 percent. After seeing substantial year-over-year growth rates last year and early in 2012, truckload pricing has continued to see its rate of growth move down over the last few months, according to Avondale Partners' recent report.

Transplace, the North American-based third-party logistics provider, is integrating its truckload benchmarking data into the Supply Chain Guru software of LLamasoft.

Drewry Maritime Research's latest Container Leasing Industry report indicates that the rental container fleet grew by 10.6 percent during 2011, improving on the 9 percent returned in 2010 and giving a compounded rate of 9.5 percent for the two years combined. Up to 9.5 percent is also being forecasted for 2012, as lease demand is again holding up well.

Jeeves Information Systems AB, a developer of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems for small and medium-sized businesses, has established a new headquarters for its North American operations in Chicago.

Trimble, a vendor of applications to aid field and mobile workers in business and government, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire TMW Systems Inc.

Acumatica, a provider of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software in the cloud, has integrated its product with the AccellosOne Cloud WMS (warehouse management system).

Without trucks, the supply chain would screech to a halt. Yet, the rising cost of fueling these workhorses, not to mention the toll truck emissions take on the environment and public health, are forcing shippers and carriers alike to retool their fleets.

Diogo Lobo, head of international logistics with JBS USA, examines the various technology tools that are available for planning, analyzing and managing transportation.