The focus on "last-mile" delivery has sharpened significantly in recent years. Henrik Moos, founder and chief business development officer of Swipbox, explains why. And he describes the concept of parcel lockers for consumer pickups.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's annual energy outlook - which was released earlier this spring - anticipated that the industrial sector's energy demand would outpace all other sectors through 2040, and a just-released EIA report projected that bulk chemicals would account for a "large portion of both consumption and anticipated growth," with the value of chemical shipments increasing from $288bn in 2013 to $429bn in 2025.

SeaLand, an arm of the Maersk Group providing intra-Americas ocean carriage, has added the North Atlantic Express (NAE) service to its north-south network.

The people who manage a company's supply chain determine what a company is made of - or at least what its stuff is made of. It's hard to imagine a more important role. And it's a difficult one.