Three councils in the North of Scotland say they hope by combining their procurement operations, they can incentivise key suppliers to invest in local supply chains. Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council and Highland Council will be encouraging primary suppliers to increase their local footprint and help deliver social value.

Hanjin Shipping's European routes services have completely halted, the company said last week, and a Seoul court overseeing its receivership process has approved winding down four of its European units.

Of the three major American carriers to publish third-quarter results so far, only Alaska Airlines Cargo saw its cargo revenues increase, up 3 percent, year-over-year, to $31m - a fraction of its growing passenger revenue, according to earnings reports. Meanwhile, United registered a 4.7 percent decline in revenues, y-o-y, to $224m and, as previously reported, Delta continued its losing streak into the quarter, with revenues falling 15 percent, y-o-y, to $167m.

The message at Gartner's recent Symposium/ITxpo was to prepare for a fast move to augmented reality, the decline of mobile apps, a major shift away from web browsing and more. Many users will expect businesses, universities and governments to respond to these shifts, the market research firm said at its annual conference.

Gearbulk and Grieg Star have announced that they will be combining their efforts to form a single dry bulk shipping company. They say the joint venture will operate the parties' combined fleet of open hatch, semi open hatch and conventional bulk vessels.