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Wednesday, October 06, 2010

The memorandum of understanding will establish a strategic partnership to promote international commerce and logistic activities

Recent projections from the National Retail Federation indicates that 2010 holiday retail sales will hit $447.1 billion for a 2.3 percent gain over 2009. NRF officials said that while this increase is slightly lower than its ten-year average holiday sales increase of 2.5 percent, it still represents a significant improvement from 2009’s 0.4 percent increase and 2008’s 3.9 percent decline.

Speaking at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals Annual Conference in San Diego last week, Chuck Taylor said that for the first time in its history the United States will be forced to increase economic growth while decreasing oil consumption, which, he said, is something that has never happened before.

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

The Institute of Supply Management’s (ISM) Non-Manufacturing Report on Business recovered some of its losses from its previous report, with a 1.7 percent gain from August to September.

After an 18-week respite, the average price per gallon of diesel gasoline is back in $3 per gallon territory, according to data released this week by the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration. For the week of October 4, the EIA reported that average diesel prices are exactly $3 per gallon, representing a 4.9 percent increase from the week of September 27.

After growing faster than the overall economy during the first year of the recovery, manufacturing has clearly downshifted into low gear, noted spokesmen for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

Businesses that scaled back on supply during the recession may find themselves or their suppliers suddenly unable to accommodate increased demand as the economy begins to recover, some experts warn.

Monday, October 04, 2010

Ocean vessel operators threatened by the recent Federal Maritime Commission’s mandate to investigate pricing practices of cartels are responding by bringing shippers into the fold

Recently-introduced legislation by Representative Laura Richardson (D-Calif.) addresses efficient ways for goods to move in and out of the United States. Entitled The Freight is the Future of Commerce Act in the United States Act of 2010 (Freight FOCUS Act, H.R. 6291), the bill offers up myriad ways to address options for more efficient goods movement at a time when meaningful progress towards U.S. surface transportation authorization is seemingly stalled.

In a recent interview with LM, three senior executives shared their views on the current state of the cold chain industry.