What comes to mind when you hear "transportation costs"? For many, the immediate thought will be "carrier rates". It's a valid response, but, unfortunately, it is also one that can reveal a limited point of view about the best way to manage those costs.

How close is Amazon to same-day delivery for most U.S. customers? Maybe not as close as we thought. While a report in May said that by the end of 2013 Amazon will have a distribution center within five miles of most major U.S. cities, a new calculation by supply-chain consultant Marc Wulfraat suggests Amazon has a lot farther to go before it can even reach 20 percent of U.S. shoppers.

Increasing confidence in the outlook for the transport and logistics sector helped raise the overall Stifel Logistics Confidence Index 0.6 points to 53.0. This is the eighth consecutive month the index registered above the 50 threshold, indicating improving conditions in the overall European freight forwarding market.

Sharjah-based Gulftainer is expected to record a volume increase of 30 percent in 2013. The group is continuing to expand its global footprint, with the June takeover of the Gulf Stevedoring Contracting Company (GSCCO) in Saudi Arabia acting as the major driver.

Packaging and paper products manufacturer Boise has cut CO2 emissions by 60 percent by switching from road to rail and packing its products more efficiently in rail containers, says a case study from Environmental Defense Fund.

Airclic has announced new capabilities in its Perform supply chain and logistics management software.

Emerging Southeast Asian nations need to pour $300bn into transport links to help ease freight bottlenecks. That just got harder as the prospect of reduced Federal Reserve monetary stimulus pushes up borrowing costs.

Remember the early days of cell phones when a new model seemed to appear every week and each one looked dramatically different? This is typical of a new product market. Initially, wildly different variants are released and tested in the market, but eventually they converge on a common core set of features. That is, a dominant design emerges from the pack that becomes the de facto standard. Is a similar process redefining logistics in the US?

HP is using a railroad to ship electronics manufactured in China to European markets, cutting its travel time, costs and carbon footprint in the process.