Many shippers and 3PLs want a warehouse management solution - and one that is quipped with such capabilities as electronic data interchange - yet more than a third of businesses still use paper, pen or spreadsheets as their WMS.
The freight logistics sector slowed in July, following a seasonal trend, with both freight shipments and freight payments down 3.9 percent from the previous month. This drop was consistent with previous summers' drops, so should not be seen as the start of a decline in freight for the second half of 2014.
Transportation capacity is tightening up, and carriers can afford to be pickier about which shippers they favor. Ben Cubitt, senior vice president of engineering and consulting with Transplace, offers some tips on how to be that preferred customer.
Third-party logistics provider Landair has developed Guaranteed Value Acceleration (GVA), a new service feature designed to give supply-chain managers greater confidence that outsourcing to a 3PL yields measurable financial, operations or customer-service improvements.
The trade relationship between the United States and Africa, as well as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) - which provides exporters duty-free access to the lucrative U.S. market - was recently put under the microscope at the U.S.-Sub Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum, which coincided with President Barack Obama's U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, both held in Washington last week.
The nascent transportation and logistics market in Oman is expected to see steady growth over the next five to seven years due to planned investments in logistics infrastructure and industrial development in the country. Widespread opportunities for integrated logistics service providers that offer end-to-end logistics solutions will arise in certain industries such as chemicals.