When it comes to managing freight transportation, mid-market manufacturers and suppliers face a unique set of challenges.

The world’s first fully electric, emission-free and potentially crewless container barges are to operate from the ports of Antwerp, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam from this summer.

China is Africa’s biggest investor by far, and it is reshaping the continent, particularly in manufacturing.

The automobile of the future isn’t just about batteries and self-driving computers. For ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, that evolution could determine whether the metal retains a century-long role as the primary material in most new cars and trucks.

Science-oriented 3M is a $30bn global company with a portfolio that includes around 55,000 products. On the consumer side, 3M makes products like Post-It Notes, Scotch Magic Tape and Filtrete Air Filters, but the company has four other business groups for energy and electronics, industrial, safety and graphics and healthcare solutions.

Inside General Motors Co’s vehicle assembly plant in this southern China city, many workers wear the red-and-yellow uniforms of DHL, the logistics company.