The Panama Canal Authority, or ACP, says the $5.2bn widening of the Panama Canal is more than 60 percent complete. The first four of 16 gates for the canal's third set of locks marked a construction milestone. Locks are nearly 50 percent finished; concrete work is two-thirds done; and water-saving basins are about 40 percent complete.

With every crisis comes opportunity. The Great Recession, which choked off access to capital and placed suppliers around the world in economic jeopardy, triggered the growth of supply-chain finance programs, benefiting suppliers and buyers alike.

UTi Worldwide Inc., a provider of transportation, logistics and supply-chain services, has commenced London operations at a new location near Heathrow International Airport in the U.K.

FedEx Corp. is offering a cold-shipping packaging option for shippers that require a refrigerated environment of 2-8 degrees Celsius to be maintained for up to 96 hours.

Mercedes-Benz has been saying for some time now the fuel cell vehicles are coming, and while eyes are on that potential a few years hence, the company is actually investing heavily now in fuel cells for more ordinary purposes in its own logistics operations.

The global market for warehouse management systems grew by 8 percent in 2012. Growth was broad-based, occurring in both well-established and emerging market segments. The WMS replacement cycle is responsible for much of the recent growth in the mature segments. As this dynamic diminishes, more enduring factors will propel future market growth. These factors include expanded adoption of WMS add-on modules, additional upgrades due to the benefits delivered by supply chain execution platforms, and increased demand driven by the omni-channel retail paradigm.

RFID start-up Senitron has installed a fixed RFID solution at two American Apparel stores, enabling the retailer to view the real-time locations of all tagged items within predetermined zones throughout both sites.