In Brief: New Services & Solutions

In Brief: New Services & Solutions

Services

Supply chain solutions provider Bolloré Logistics USA opened a FTZ facility in Miami. The 200,000-square-foot site consolidates freight forwarding and contract logistics activities previously housed at two different locations, improving cargo turnaround time for shippers with time-critical logistics requirements.


DHL relocated its Ontario, California, service center to a larger, $7-million facility to accommodate increased growth in international trade and e-commerce. The new service center provides 75,000 square feet of building space. The DHL warehouse features additional dock doors and two conveyor belts that can process up to 3,000 pieces per hour.


Logistics solutions provider Spot Freight opened a larger office in Charlotte, North Carolina’s South End. At 8,424 square feet, the new office location reflects the company’s rapid growth plans, with Spot on track to add around 50 positions to its current team by the end of 2018 and ultimately up to 300 jobs across its locations by 2023.

Transportation

Virgin Atlantic now offers cargo shippers moving goods to and from Orlando, Florida, additional gateways across the United Kingdom. In March 2018, Virgin Atlantic Cargo launched a weekly service from Belfast to Orlando, which departs from Northern Ireland every Monday throughout the summer. Starting in June, a weekly Friday service will also be added. This new direct Orlando offering is in addition to 17 flights a week from Gatwick, 12 flights from Manchester, and Virgin’s twice-weekly Orlando operation from Glasgow.



Beginning Sept. 1, 2018, Lufthansa Cargo will offer the cargo capacities of passenger airline Brussels Airlines. Freight shippers benefit from this joint agreement, which adds the belly capacities of 10 wide-body aircraft, gaining gateways in West, East, and Central Africa, directly from Brussels. Brussels Airlines covers 17 African destinations, including Dakar, Monrovia, Abidjan, Douala, Kinshasa, and Entebbe.


Dachser USA Air & Sea Logistics now offers shippers looking for direct access from Germany to the United States weekly less-than-container-load (LCL) services from Bremen to five additional U.S. cities. The LCL service originates from multiple points in Europe including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia to major cities in the United States: Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Boston, Houston, Atlanta, and Charlotte. With the LCL service, Dachser consolidates shipments from various departure points throughout Europe.


Freight forwarding company Davies Turner added an export LCL cargo service by rail from the United Kingdom to China. Freight headed for China is consolidated through its nationwide hub-and-spoke operations and then loaded at its regional distribution center in Dartford onto a daily trailer service to Hamburg. In Hamburg, freight is transferred onto the rail service, which then heads east, passing through Poland, Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan, before arriving in Wuhan, China.

Technology

e4score, a provider of cloud-based supply chain digitization and visibility solutions, launched two applications for shippers that automate key delivery tasks to reduce driver wait time and detention accessorials. EZCheck-In accelerates gate check-in/out and ExpressRA enables instant refusal authorization. Shippers can leverage these tools to become a shipper of choice with their carriers.


Supply chain services provider APL Logistics partnered with demand planning vendor ToolsGroup to offer retailers a sensing, inventory optimization, and inbound logistics solution. The system ensures APL Logistics ships goods to the optimal locations in the right quantities when they leave the manufacturer. It analyzes demand requirements at the item location level to provide cost and time savings for retailers.


Crowdsourced last-mile logistics company Deliv partnered with Zapiet, which creates store pickup and delivery solutions for SaaS-based e-commerce platforms such as Shopify. Retailers running Shopify sites can now add scheduled same-day delivery powered by Deliv as a checkout option across 35 markets, covering 1,400 U.S. cities. The technology integration lets retailers offer customers the ability to choose and schedule local delivery within specific time windows for the same day or up to 30 days in the future.


FourKites, a supply chain visibility and predictive analytics platform, unveiled Predictive Weather Intelligence, a real-time severe weather risk assessment offering that enables shippers and 3PLs to plan around disruptive weather events before they impact freight in transit. Updating weather forecast data every 15 minutes, the solution traces shipments in transit, diagnosing the impact of real-time and forecasted weather conditions along each shipment’s route.

Products

Mezzanine Safeti-Gates, designer and manufacturer of industrial safety products for distribution centers, launched a new Dock-Lift gate that provides a safe environment for employees moving material to and from loading docks. The self-closing gate automatically closes and locks into place as the lift elevates. The gates stay locked until the lift is lowered and back on the ground.


Rite-Hite’s NEMA 4X Dok-Commander system, which integrates multiple pieces of loading dock equipment into one centralized control unit, added a new element: a real-time trailer presence monitor, Lok-Vu, which provides a camera view of the exterior vehicle restraint. It also lets users see when engagement with a trailer’s rear impact guard takes place. The system allows equipment such as Dok-Lok vehicle restraints, overhead doors, and dock levelers to be programmed so they operate in a safe sequential order.


Hunter Industrial: Hunter Fan Company’s industrial division, offers the Titan fan for warehouses. This high-volume, low-speed fan is available in sizes that range from 14 to 24 feet and allows for widespread air movement and low operating costs. The Titan fan is operated by touchscreen controls that integrate with building management systems. One touchscreen panel can control up to 30 fans.


Using a video-based safety program, supply chain solutions provider Penske Logistics implemented truck fleet safety technology in more than 2,800 heavy-duty trucks across its North America operations. The system includes event-triggered onboard cameras from SmartDrive that face inside the truck cab, and outwards to the road, along with an ongoing driver safety coaching program.


Recently launched online service Shipwell connects shippers, brokers, and carriers through one platform for fast quoting, dispatching, tracking, and communicating. Shipwell lets shippers get multiple quotes, book instantly, and track shipments in real time. Shippers receive shipment notifications, which they can share directly with customers.


BISON, maker of container jacking systems, launched an automated container lift solution for importers and exporters. The A32 offers an alternative to traditional container handling equipment, allowing shippers to lift containers independently, at optimal times and places, improving operating efficiencies. The A32 comprises four mobile lifting columns, driven by electric-powered hydraulics and controlled by a wireless remote.


PT Series Container Tilters from precision hydraulic equipment maker Presto ECOA tilt containers up to 85 degrees to allow workers to access contents without bending into the container. As containers tilt up, all items end up in a position for easy retrieval. These portable, battery-powered container tilters are designed for applications that require sharing between multiple users or work cells, or where workers need to pick up and return containers to and from staging areas. They work with a variety of containers and are available in 2,000- and 4,000-pound capacities.

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