The market for RFID transponders, readers, software and services will generate $70.5bn from 2012 to the end of 2017. The market was boosted by a growth of $900m in 2011 and the market is expected to grow 20 percent year over year per annum. Government, retail, and transportation and logistics have been identified as the most valuable sectors, accounting for 60 percent of accumulated revenue over the next five years.

Following the announcement by President Barack Obama and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk that the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement will enter into force May 15, the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) said the benefits of the pact will be huge.

One of the most common mistakes that companies make when they enter into cloud and SaaS contracts is failing to negotiate exits from the contract as fully as they negotiate entries.

Zepol Corp. has introduced a pair of enhancements to its flagship trade-intelligence tool, TradeIQ. The changes make it easier to search for and extract precise trade data for U.S. importers and shippers, and to notify parties.

Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to increase 3.2 percent in April compared with the same month last year, and year-over-year gains should continue through the end of summer, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Livingston International has completed the acquisition of the customs and trade-compliance services of the Global Trade business of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.

Damco, the freight-forwarding and supply-chain management division of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, has joined the Cargo 2000 quality-management system for international air cargo.

Managers of information technology systems in both the private and public sectors have had their hands full dealing with security breaches that come from hackers invading IT systems. Increasingly, however, IT systems are becoming vulnerable from another channel - the actual supply chain sources of both hardware equipment and software programs.

Ten ships were hijacked by Somali pirates in March, making this the most attacks in one month since December 2010. Four of the seized ships were used to make more attacks, rather than the usual holding for ransom acts. Maritime security experts believe that pirate groups will be encouraged by the latest hijackings and will be moved on organizing more attacks over the next several weeks.