IN BRIEF: New Services and Solutions
CIRRO E-Commerce launched a hybrid delivery service which blends direct-to-consumer deliveries in densely populated areas with postal deliveries to rural regions, providing faster transit times, reduced shipping costs, nationwide coverage, and tracking from origin to doorstep.
Services
• Sweden’s Stockholm Norvik Port added a new automated container loader to increase its transshipment capacity, creating more efficient cargo loading processes for industries such as forestry and steel.
• Armlogi’s newly expanded warehouse at the Port of Savannah is now fully operational. The warehouse provides storage and distribution as well as complex logistics solutions.
• Norfolk Southern deployed INFORM’s Syncrotess Optimization Plus solution—for stack management and yard and crane optimization—at its Austell terminal in Atlanta, Georgia. Working with Norfolk Southern’s existing terminal operating system, the solution provides visibility and boosts the efficiency of stack operations, yard storage, and crane movements.
Products
↑ The ETV (Elevating Transfer Vehicle) from DIMOS Maschinenbau GmbH transports unit load devices (ULDs) at airports. Users can store goods at high lift heights with the ETV to optimize storage space utilization. They can control the ETV manually, semi-automatically, or fully automatically via a warehouse management system.
← The new vertical conveyor from Qimarox—the Prorunner PR2—offers a compact footprint. Able to transport loads up to 220 pounds, the PR2 has adjustable infeed and outfeed heights and is suitable for multi-level transport applications, allowing it to function as a vertical sorter.
• Beontag’s new Flare tags are compact and designed for item-level retail, logistics, and supply chain applications. The tags offer high read reliability, orientation sensitivity, and reliable performance even when stacked closely together.
• Industrial door manufacturer Albany introduced Rapid Slide (RS) Series High-Speed Doors, which can provide full-width opening access in less than one second. The RS Series doors are available in single, bi-parting, and vertical designs to meet cold storage requirements.
• The new Vector 8811MT, a multi-temperature refrigeration unit from Carrier Transicold, part of Carrier Global Corporation, offers fuel efficiency and compliance under the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) latest regulations for transport refrigeration units. The unit is designed for trailers split lengthwise with a center-dividing wall, creating two refrigerated compartments.
← JLT Mobile Computers introduced its upgraded JLT1214 Series rugged forklift computers. The new devices come with a faster processor, larger memory, and Windows 11 for improved data handling, connectivity, and coverage.
• Megadyne, a brand of AMMEGA Group, unveiled the MEGALINEAR Live Roller Belt (MLRE-45) for automated warehouses. The MLRE-45 stands up to the rigorous demands of roller conveyors in automated warehouse systems with a specially engineered material that mitigates ozone and temperature degradation, which can cause cracking over time.
• Avery Dennison launched AD Dura 2.0, a reinforced reusable label solution offering resistance to water, heat, vibration, and shock. Designed for harsh environments, the AD Dura 2.0 can be used with Avery Dennison RFID UHF and HF/NFC inlay designs for dry and wet label formats to support inventory accuracy.
Technology
← Trucker Tools launched fraud identification features in its freight tracking platform. The new Fraud Toolkit includes six features, including proactive location verification and geotagged document scanning, that run in the background, notifying the user when a potential threat is identified.
• Cleo released Cleo Retailer Relationship Manager, a software solution designed to strengthen supplier-retailer relationships. It provides real-time intelligence that enables course correction and higher order capture rates.
• DataDocks, a dock scheduling platform for warehouses, debuted three new features: appointment limits, product limits, and triggers. The features are designed to streamline operations, reduce costs, and improve supply chain efficiency.
• Cargobot, a digital freight company that connects shippers and carriers via its platform, unveiled its transportation management system, Planimatik. Designed to simplify onboarding and day-to-day operations, it helps shippers streamline their logistics operations such as FTL data management, LTL rate access and procurement, carrier tracking, and automated RFP processes.
• GreyOrange introduced SoftFence, a virtual shielding technology, in its retail software-as-a-service platform, gStore. SoftFence offers virtual zoning capabilities, creating distinct store sections—e.g. backroom and sales floor—without any physical barriers. The technology prevents RFID signal leakage and allows only authorized RFID readers to access tag information.
Transportation
↑ Roadrunner sped up transit times across more than 200 lanes, opened 40+ lanes, and tripled its Smart Guarantee service, which ensures LTL shipments arrive on time, or they’re free. Its Weekend+ Advantage now offers 50 additional long-haul lanes for a total of 300 with faster transit times by 1 to 3 days for shipments dispatched on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.
• Frankfurt Cargo Services earned a new multi-year cargo handling contract with China Airlines which will extend their partnership at Frankfurt Airport to more than 25 years. China Airlines transports some 25,000 tons of cargo annually on its Boeing 777 flights connecting Frankfurt and Taipei.
↑ Lufthansa Cargo is modernizing its cargo hub at Frankfurt Airport, constructing a 138-foot high-bay warehouse as part of the project. The cargo airline is carrying out the renovation—to be completed by 2030—in stages, with cargo handling continuing without interruption in the 3.5-million-square-foot Lufthansa Cargo Center.
• Yang Ming is set to launch two Europe-East Mediterranean services in January 2025: the North Europe-Aegean Express (NEA) and North Europe-Levant Express (NEL). The NEA service will connect Europe and the Aegean Sea region, utilizing four vessels to provide a 28-day fixed weekly rotation; the NEL service offers routes between Europe and the Levant region, with four operating vessels on a 28-day fixed weekly schedule.
↑ Wallenius Wilhelmsen upsized four of the 12 Shaper Class vessels currently on order with Jinling Shipyard from 9,300 to approximately 11,700 CEUs (car equivalent units). The vessels will serve the ocean part of the integrated net-zero service Wallenius Wilhelmsen will offer from 2027.