South American carriers LAN Airlines and TAM have banded together, forming the LATAM Airlines Group, reportedly the largest airline group in South America. The combined LAN Cargo, which has three smaller affiliate carriers, and TAM Cargo will now be able to offer routings to 169 cities around the world.

Enrique Almanza Hernandez, logistics expert and former central Mexico regional director at Autotransportes de Carga Tresguerras SA de CV, discusses key issues surrounding effective North American supply chain management and explores the state of fully integrated North American logistics - including the evolution of some Mexican carriers into true 3PL providers. Hernandez spoke with Danny Slaton, SMC ³ executive vice president of business and product development.

Wavelink Corp. has released Velocity, a mobile browser which provides fast delivery of Web-based applications to rugged mobile devices.

Swisslog Logistics Inc. is now offering Click+Pick, a high-speed order-fulfillment system designed for the U.S. electronic commerce market.

U.S. ports plan to spend more than $46bn over the next five years in anticipation of fierce global competition for exports and imports, a report by the American Association of Port Authorities shows.

Northeastern U.S. states are sometimes depicted as not particularly business friendly. But that hasn't deterred some major companies from locating in the Keystone State recently, not least of which is Volvo Construction Equipment Americas. For one thing, Pennsylvania's location makes it very attractive for companies that must get product to customers in a huge portion of the country within a day. And a pocket in Franklin County, in the south central part of the state, is helping them do just that.

Purfresh Inc., a developer of technology for maintaining the integrity of fresh product in transit, has joined with Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) to serve worldwide markets.