Shippers are forever on the lookout for ways to reduce their transportation costs. Brooks Bentz, president of supply chain consulting with Transplace, offers his view of where the most promising opportunities lie.

U.S.-based lessor and asset manager Aviation Capital Group placed a firm order for fifteen 737-800 passenger-to-freighter conversions with Aeronautical Engineers Inc (AEI), with options for fifteen additional conversions. The announcement was made at the Cargo Facts Aircraft Symposium in Miami.

IATA's global head of cargo, Glyn Hughes, said the logistics business is not keeping up with technology - a sentiment that's been expressed before, but one he said cannot be emphasized enough. Hughes also called for more communication across the airfreight supply chain.

Odyssey Logistics & Technology Corp. has launched an international logistics service for the metals industry.

The Stifel Logistics Confidence Index fell into a fifth consecutive month of decline in October. Significantly, the index has now fallen beneath the neutral 50 point mark for the first time since January 2013, with confidence in both the sea freight and airfreight markets plummeting. The Logistics Situation for airfreight was especially bad, declining by 3.2 points to 45.7. The same trends that influenced last month's decline are persisting, with weak emerging market growth, China's financial crisis, and the Chinese shift towards domestic consumption all influencing the trajectory of the index.

You feel the energy soon after disembarking at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. All of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, seems to throb with bustling masses of people. Bridges, expressway overpasses, and major new neighborhoods are continually under construction. Evidence of the country's rising disposable income is on display at crowded shopping malls such as Jamuna Future Park, the largest in South Asia, and new billboards, which seem to cover every available space, advertise products as varied as packaged foods and smartphones.

American Airlines Cargo has developed a new leasing program for the temperature-controlled unit load device known as CSafe Global RKN. The high-tech units are capable of maintaining a temperature of four to 25 degrees Celsius through long flights and extended hold times.