Articles
Trends
Trends-Jan 2008
Trucking will increase its share of the nation’s freight pool and continue to dominate domestic freight movement into the next decade, according to the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) U.S. Freight Transportation Forecast to 2018. Despite recent bumps in the road, the forecast, which reports on the present and future of the entire U.S. freight transportation […]
Read MoreTrends-December 2007
Greening the supply chain isn’t just good for the environment, it’s also good for business. Efforts to create a more sustainable and efficient footprint for freight transportation in the United States and around the world are becoming more transparent thanks to the stewardship of supply chain visionaries. In recent news: FedEx will introduce 10 hybrid-electric/diesel vehicles […]
Read MoreTrends-November 2007
Traffic at the nation’s major retail container ports dropped below last year’s levels late this summer, and the peak monthly volume for 2007 is now expected to fall slightly below last year’s peak, according to the National Retail Federation and Global Insight’s recent Port Tracker report. “These figures reflect the weakened U.S. economy and retailers’ cautious outlook […]
Read MoreTrends-Sep
Long adopted by Europe, short-sea shipping – defined as the shipping of cargo for moderately short distances or to nearby coastal ports – is making waves in North America as a viable alternative to ground and air transportation. As highways and airports grow closer to bursting at the seams, short-sea vessels, which typically follow a […]
Read MoreTrends-July 2007
The biggest news of 2006 was what didn’t happen, not what did. A year of relative calm, however, isn’t giving way to complacency. Instead, businesses are proactively, if privately, tinkering with and tightening supply chains to streamline processes and build additional scalability into their networks, observed Rosalyn Wilson at the Council of Supply Chain Management […]
Read MoreTrends-June 2007
Regardless of their political affiliations or opinions on the Iraq war, logistics and transportation professionals paid close attention to the compromise Iraqi war appropriations supplemental bill signed into law by President Bush in May. The bill contained two provisions impacting supply chain security: funding for port security measures, and further details on the hotly debated […]
Read MoreTrends-April 2007
As shippers know all too well, finding capacity to move goods throughout the United States is not always easy. To avoid over-the-road congestion, shippers may opt to use rail, but rail transportation comes with its own litany of challenges, including a lack of available track and a dearth of infrastructure improvements made over the years. […]
Read MoreTrends-Mar 2007
To prepare for the much hyped and debated Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program, the Department of Homeland Security has issued a final rule for rolling out the initiative. The TWIC program, expected to begin this month, attempts to enhance port security by checking the background of workers before they are granted unescorted access to […]
Read MoreTrends-February 2007
While DHL is a fixture on airport runways around the world, the company debuted on a different kind of runway earlier this month, as the official express carrier and logistics provider for IMG Fashion’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City. As part of its deal with IMG Fashion, DHL operated shipping service kiosks for […]
Read MoreTrends-Jan
Every January begins anew with equal amounts retrospection and anticipation. The logistics and supply chain segment is no exception, and so we offer the following predictions for 2007. 1. ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS As housing prices begin to drop, interest rates rise, and high energy costs remain static, many observers place the United States economy on the […]
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