Logistics Management Magazine Archives

March 2024 Logistics Management

In this Issue:

  • E-commerce Logistics: An endless array of challenges
  • WMS: Intelligence intertwined
  • Organize reverse logistics
  • Warehouse/DC Management Outlook Survey
  • Transportation Market Update: LTL
  • Top 30 U.S. Ports
March 4, 2024 · While this year may be a close copy of 2023 in terms of supply chain execution as it relates to e-commerce moves, forecasting is more precarious. The instability and conflict have no upside, only more disruption—which inevitably leads to service and cost impacts across the board.
March 1, 2024 · If you thought our annual survey on the outlook for warehouse and DC equipment and systems spending would indicate off-the-charts spending plans, think again. However, you will find interest in goods-to-person robotics, labor management, as well as more respondents tapping third-parties for maintenance analytics as companies look for more efficiencies.
March 1, 2024 · The cessation of Yellow continues to have repercussions throughout the $58 billion LTL market. Now, a shuffling of the capacity equation is causing strategic changes, and shippers need to adapt to the new alignment of resources to find operational success.
March 1, 2024 · While managing significant volume swings driven by the pandemic and ongoing geopolitical issues, U.S. seaports continue to press forward with efforts to improve infrastructure and build in efficiencies an unwavering attitude that bodes well for the future.
March 1, 2024 · Whether manual, automated or somewhere in between, reverse logistics operations deliver maximum return only with an organized and efficient process. Don’t wait any longer to make your move.
March 1, 2024 · We explore the role that WMS plays in today’s e-commerce fulfillment centers and how it will continue to drive these busy operations in the future as it becomes more intelligent—and, in some cases, intertwined with other applications within the warehouse’s four walls.
March 1, 2024 · This is the first of two columns that visits the concept of “index-based variable-rate pricing” as a way to establish more market stability for both shippers and carriers.
March 1, 2024 · We’re running out of ways to describe how e-commerce has reshaped the logistics landscape. Nearly every feature we assign over the editorial year contains advice for logistics professionals on how to fine-tune operations through strategy or technology to meet these new, pressing demands.
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Latest in Logistics Management

Expensive, lengthy delays expected before Port of Baltimore can re-open to vessels following Key Bridge collapse
The collapse of the 47-year-old, 1.6-mile Francis Scott Key Bridge is going to have supply chain repercussions for months, if not longer, supply chain experts are saying.

DAT Truckload Volume Index sees February declines after a strong January
The van TVI, at 245, down 4% compared to January, with the reefer TVI, at 193, down 4% compared to January, and the flatbed TVI, at 242, increased 3% compared to January.

In Pyrrhic victory, Teamsters win as judge tosses Yellow’s $137 million lawsuit
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has won what the union calls “a major victory” in a breach of contract lawsuit against Yellow Corp. Unfortunately for about 24,000 Teamsters who lost their jobs when Yellow ceased operations last August, the victory arrives about nine months too late.

project44 and Everstream offer up analysis on Port of Baltimore situation
Chicago-based supply chain visibility services provider project44 noted that in addition to the Dali, there are also three other container vessels currently moored in the Port of Baltimore. And for container vessels that were scheduled to arrive at the Port of Baltimore now re-routing to alternative ports, Everstream Analytics reported the following: four at the Port of New York and New Jersey; three at the Port of Norfolk; one at the Port of Philadelphia; and one unconfirmed.

Industry experts examine the impact of Baltimore bridge collapse on supply chains
Following yesterday’s bridge collision in Baltimore, when the 32,000-ton container ship, Dali, collided into the 1.6-mile Francis Scott Key bridge over the Patapsco River in Baltimore, causing it to collapse and stopping ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore, for an indefinite period, it has created yet another uncertain situation for supply chains.

Port of Baltimore closed indefinitely to ships after 1.6-mile Key Bridge collapses following maritime accident
The most severe U.S. bridge collision since the Tampa Skyway Bridge disaster in 1980 happened at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday near Baltimore where a 32,000-ton cargo ship Dali rammed a bridge over the Patapsco River in Baltimore, causing it to collapse. The collapse of the 47-year-old, 1.6-mile Francis Scott Key Bridge has brought ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore, an important East Coast trade hub, to a halt. The port said maritime traffic is suspended “until further notice.”

UPS presents updated financial goals and strategic targets at its investor day
Atlanta-based global freight transportation and logistics services provider UPS unveiled details regarding its strategic growth and productivity initiatives and its three-year financial targets at its Investor Day. Company officials stated that through its ongoing “Customer First, People Led, Innovation Driven” strategy, UPS is focused on setting up to the company to be the “premium small package provider and logistics partner in the world.”

Q&A: Mike Burkhart, VP of Mexico, C.H. Robinson
LM Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently spoke with Mike Burkhart, VP of Mexico, for Minneapolis-based based global logistics services provider and freight forwarder C.H. Robinson, about the ongoing nearshoring push into Mexico and what shippers need to know and be prepared for in order to establish cross-border supply chain and logistics operations south of the border.

National diesel average heads up for second straight week, reports EIA
The weekly average, at $4.034, saw a 0.006-cent increase, following a 2.4-cent increase, to $4.028, for the week of March 18.

February and year-to-date U.S. import growth is solid, reports S&P Global Market Intelligence
February imports, at 2.44 million TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units) increased 21% compared to February 2023. And when taking into account the timing of the Lunar New Year, coupled with the impact of ongoing Red Sea and Panama Canal disruptions, the firm explained that U.S.-bound imports over the first two months of 2024, at 5.04 million TEU, posted a 14% annual increase over 2023’s 4.40 million TEU, with 2022 and 2021, at 5.21 million TEU and 5.09 million TEU, respectively.

LM Podcast Series: 3PL market update with Evan Armstrong
Themes focused on over the course of this podcast included: the state of the market; ways in which the pandemic affected 3PL operations; M&A; how 3PLs are adjusting to and leveraging nearshoring; and the economy, among other topics. 

CPOs shift focus on AI from what’s possible to implementation
Annual Voices of Sourcing survey from Keelvar also finds technology use is ramping up as the workforce shrinks

FedEx fiscal third quarter earnings see gains amid ongoing volume declines
Quarterly revenue, at $21.7 billion, was off 2.3% annually, and operating income, at $1.24 billion, rose 16% annually. Earnings per share, at $3.51, topped the $3.05 from a year ago, topping Wall Street expectations of $3.30. Net income, at $879 million, was up 12% annually.

U.S. rail carload and intermodal volumes are mixed, for week ending March 16, reports AAR
Rail carloads, at 219,586, fell 0.6% annually, and intermodal containers and trailers, at 255,010, saw a 13.8% annual increase.

White House and DOT issue progress update on FLOW efforts
Two years after the White House and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) formally announced the rollout of Freight Logistics Optimization Works (FLOW), which it describes as an information sharing initiative to pilot key freight information exchange between parts of the goods movement supply chain, it provided an update this week on the progress it has made since its inception.


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