Plans to increase coal rail freight rates by 5.7 percent across India have been outlined in the national Railway Budget 2013-14. India's Railways Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal published proposals to raise the freight rate on coal from Rs 685.10 per tonne to Rs 724.80 - a jump of 5.79 percent.

The latest communication from the Global Air Cargo Advisory Group (GACAG), a body which packs in all the heavy hitters involved in the supply chain, from forwarding agents to airlines, makes very plain the views of the air cargo industry regarding the recently stalled Doha Round of trade negotiations held under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and specifically designed to lower trade barriers and simplify processes, particularly to allow two way market access to developing countries.

China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) made a preliminary estimation that China's social logistics value, the collective value of all logistics operations in the country, and the industry's added value, will be growing at a rate of 10 percent in 2013, and that there's little chance that the percentage logistics costs take up in the gross domestic product will drop.

According to a new survey of 600 executives from Deloitte "” "The Ripple Effect: How Manufacturing and Retail Executives View the Growing Challenge of Supply Chain Risk" "” global executives are increasingly concerned about the growing risks to their supply chains and costly negative impacts such as margin erosion and inability to keep up with demand.

American International Group (AIG) has introduced a new product under its NextGen Protection family to address requirements of transportation and logistics industry. Over £73 million has been awarded from Round 2 of the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI) to 12 national supply chain projects, and a further £140 million will be invested by business.

DHL Supply Chain will invest $52.5m over the next few years to further strengthen its position in Indonesia. By 2015, the company plans to increase its transportation fleet by over 100 percent up from its fleet of 370 vehicles at present and grow its staff strength by over 70 percent from its current base of some 2,250 employees.

Most high-performing companies will manage their business processes using real-time predictive analytics or "extreme collaboration" by 2016.

Jason Denmon, apparel industry executive with Fortna, offers advice on how companies can utilize a common distribution center for servicing multiple brands or channels - and why it's so tough to get it right.