IN BRIEF: New Services and Solutions
Origify from Bosch lets manufacturers give sneakers and other high-value products a digital fingerprint as early as the production or packaging phase. The authentication solution photographs each product and converts the image into a binary and non-manipulable data record of a few kilobytes, which is stored in a cloud.
Technology
• JLT Mobile Computers introduced its JLT Insights warehouse productivity software, a monitoring and analysis solution. It monitors devices, vehicles, access points, and workforce productivity through real-time data from sensors embedded in the JLT6012 series of rugged computers.
• Casper Labs launched a tracking, reporting, and transparency tool called Casper Labs Track & Trace. Designed to optimize inventory management and product distribution, it helps manufacturers upgrade workflows and improve transparency.
• AI-powered parcel delivery logistics platform Bettermile is now available for U.S. shippers seeking a last-mile visibility solution. The company’s cloud-based software offers real-time tracking, route optimization, and communication tools to boost efficiency and customer satisfaction.
• Accenture and SAP SE teamed up to offer a supply chain nerve center that can reduce risk, enhance visibility, and support sustainability goals. The companies co-developed new capabilities for the SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain solution to help organizations respond to changes in supply, demand and inventory.
• New route optimization SaaS solution, Logi-IQ, which launched in beta in late 2023, is now available for full implementation. Designed to address inefficiencies in logistics planning, resource waste, and communication challenges, Logi-IQ offers route optimization capabilities as well as driver management, task management, and business intelligence functionality.
• Rotate launched a real-time capacity and market intelligence tool to support decision-making in the air cargo industry. Rotate’s Live Capacity tool offers insight into the supply side of the air cargo market—and is available free of charge. Users gain real-time access to global capacity information based on flight-tracking data covering flights from thousands of airlines at more than 9,000 airports.
• ORO Labs integrated its procurement workflow platform with the SAP Ariba procure-to-pay solution and other SAP products, enabling customers to orchestrate spend and supplier management across enterprise systems and data. The integration helps companies create intake workflows, build a procurement tech stack, and simplify user engagement.
• Designed to help companies ensure compliance with the new U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), Tecsys launched Elite WMS for healthcare distribution. The new warehouse management system contains embedded serialized DSCSA support designed for real-time, continuous compliance. It also streamlines workflows for receiving, putaway, and fulfillment.
Carrier Logistics Inc. (CLI), a provider of freight management software for less-than-truckload fleets, now offers automated departure reports that provide system-generated notifications about freight status. The departure reports are transmitted as soon as the delivery driver leaves a terminal to inform the customer their freight is on the truck and provide an estimated time of arrival.
Products
• Metalcraft, a manufacturer of identification products, now offers the Universal Eco Mini RFID Tag, which is designed for item-level retail tracking on metal surfaces. Made with 40% less material than previous products, it has a read range of up to 25 feet on metal surfaces.
• Cabka’s new reusable, recycled plastic pallets incorporating the Repsol Reciclex polypropylene compound, offer high load capacity, flexural rigidity, and dimensional stability. The pallets are compatible with automated handling and robotic palletizing systems.
• Macfarlane Packaging launched a line of sustainable stock boxes for retailers. Made of single- and double-wall boxes, the new line is 100% Forest Stewardship Council certified.
• Mezzanine Safeti-Gates now offers safety gate designs with product containment netting. The add-on offers high-strength, high-visibility netting on the ledge gate to prevent products from falling from elevated rack systems.
• Specim, Spectral Imaging Ltd. released an upgraded Specim FX50 middle-wave infrared hyperspectral camera for industrial applications, including sorting, quality control, and process optimization. With a high spatial resolution, image speed, and signal-to-noise ratio, the Specim FX50 enables fast and accurate inspection and classification of materials.
• Reelables unveiled its new 5G Smart Labels, a printable 5G label solution that lets retailers and other stakeholders track shipments at the piece level as they move through the supply chain. The label itself functions as the tracking device connected to a cellular network.
Services
Florida’s Port Everglades received three additional Super Post-Panamax container gantry cranes as part of its $471-million project to expand its deepwater turn-around area for cargo ships. The three 175-foot-high ship-to-shore cranes, valued at $15.1 million each, can handle containers stacked eight high from a ship’s deck and reach 22 containers across the ship’s deck.
• Dayton Freight Lines relocated its Detroit service center to a new facility double in size. Located northwest of Detroit in Waterford Township, the new center has 132 dock doors.
Estes opened a new terminal in its headquarter city of Richmond, Virginia. One of the largest terminals in the carrier’s network, the facility features 98 doors, more than 41,000 square feet of dock space, and 4,900 square feet of office space across 20 acres.
• Armada opened a new warehouse facility located at 101 Enterprise Drive in Flower Mound, Texas. The facility offers 357,069 square feet of ambient space, serviced by 72 dock doors. Temperature-controlled capacity includes 33,678 square feet of refrigerated space and a 54,630-square-foot freezer supported by a 16,723-square-foot cool dock and 16 dock doors.
• PL Cold, the new corporate division of Progressive Logistics (PL), opened a 300,000-square-foot, deep-frozen (-10°F) storage facility east of Indianapolis. In collaboration with development partner Ambrose Property Group, PL Cold integrated technology and design features to ensure Safe Quality Foods (SQF), organic, and American Institute of Baking (AIB) certification, offering its customers flexible cold storage options within one day’s drive of most of the U.S. population.
• Qatar Airways Cargo launched the Drive service, which transports various types of automobiles by air. Drive accommodates high-value vehicles on the airline’s freighters and passenger flights, delivering them to more than 160 belly-hold and more than 70 freighter destinations as well as other destinations that are not part of its scheduled services.
Averitt opened a new facility in the South Alabama Logistics Park in Mobile, Alabama. Equipped with electric forklifts and energy-efficient LED lighting with motion sensors, the facility features a 120,000-square-foot warehouse and a 35,000-square-foot cross-dock.
Transportation
cargo-partner launched cross-border road solutions connecting the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Its U.S. team is located in four cargo-partner offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Clarksville.
• Lufthansa Cargo welcomed a fourth Airbus A321 freighter to its fleet and continued to expand its route network by adding Stockholm, Amman, and Stavanger to its winter flight schedule. With 14 pallet and container positions on the main deck and 10 on the lower deck, the twin-engine medium-haul aircraft has a total payload of 28 tons.
• OOCL launched a new Japan-Philippines service called KTX4. The new offering enhances the network coverage between Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South China, and the Philippines. KTX4 directly connects multiple ports in Japan with the Philippines.
Cargo airline One Air took delivery of its second Boeing 747-400 freighter. The additional aircraft supports the new airline’s regular charter services connecting Hong Kong and London Heathrow, as well as provides ad hoc capacity for global charter services.
• ZIM started a short sea service linking Mexico to the Port of Brunswick in Georgia, with the first shipment of more than 1,000 vehicles delivered through the gateway in November 2023. The Gold Star service offering from ZIM provides delivery of roll-on/roll-off cargo for automakers.
• J.B. Hunt Transport Services and BNSF Railway launched Quantum, a premium intermodal offering. The offering cuts delivery times by one day from standard intermodal service. The shipments are assigned priority drayage and rail positions.
• Atlas Air, a subsidiary of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, took delivery of a Boeing 777 Freighter on behalf of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company SA. Atlas Air now operates four 777 Freighters for MSC. The aircraft supports MSC’s weekly global services, including a route from Hong Kong to Dallas/Fort Worth.
A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) is set to launch the first of its 18 large methanol-enabled vessels currently on order. On February 9, 2024, the new vessel enters service on the Asia-Europe lane, which includes port calls in Shanghai, Tanjung Pelepas, Colombo, and Hamburg, with Ningbo, China, as its first destination. The container vessel built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea is equipped with a dual-fuel engine, enabling operations on methanol as well as biodiesel and conventional bunker fuel.