IN BRIEF: New Services & Solutions-December 2019

Products

  • Cold chain solutions provider CSafe launched the AcuTemp Plus Series, a temperature-controlled passive packaging solution. With vacuum insulated panels and single temperature phase change material, the reusable product provides reliable temperature performance with minimal components.
  • Supply chain tracking solutions provider Tive unveiled the Tive Solo 5G tracker, a 5G-enabled device that can be single use or multi use. Also supporting 4G and 2G networks globally to eliminate coverage gaps, the Tive Solo 5G provides real-time visibility of in-transit shipments, tracking location and measuring temperature, humidity, shock, and light exposure.

Services

  • Shippers and carriers can now leverage BluJay Solutions’ new freight market index, a monthly report providing transportation market intelligence. The index looks into key rate, capacity, service, and performance trends by lane, equipment, and other factors, as well as delves into individual metrics.
  • Logistics provider Dunavant opened a container drayage terminal at the Port of Baltimore. Located at Sparrows Point, Maryland, this is Dunavant’s 20th location across the United States, Asia, and the Caribbean.
  • Port Everglades streamlined operating procedures to better serve cargo customers.A central warehouse is the focal point of an improved inventory control system to better track supplies and reduce costs.
  • Flexport now offers dedicated space to its customers in a warehouse located in Vietnam, just outside of Ho Chi Minh City. The container freight station is designed to support shippers that source in the region, located at the hub of garment and footwear manufacturing in South Vietnam as well as in close proximity to inland container depots.
  • Kuehne + Nagel opened an airfreight perishable hub in Auckland, New Zealand, with two rooms dedicated to the handling of pharmaceutical products. The facility is equipped with six cool rooms with adjustable temperature for perishable products and two freezer chambers.
  • Americold Realty Trust started construction on an automated cold storage facility in the company’s hometown of Atlanta. Slated for completion by May 2021, the 24-million-cubic-foot Gateway facility will house frozen vegetables, potato products, and ready-to-eat meals, fulfilling customer orders in the Southeast.
  • The Institute of Risk Management added a supply chain risk management certificate to its portfolio of qualifications. Introducing supply chain risk management concepts, the qualification covers the changing nature of supply chain risk in the face of globalized outsourcing, digital disruption, specialization, and just-in-time delivery.
  • Sellers on the Etsy marketplace now have a solution for shipping large and bulky items with uShip’s full-service delivery option. The solution offers blanket-wrapped, room-of-choice delivery and tracking. Sellers also get instant shipping price estimates; transparent rates; insurance; fewer handoffs per shipment; and an account credit on every completed uShip transaction.
  • Small parcel shippers now have a one-day option with the recent partnership between Delta Cargo and Roadie, an Atlanta-based same-day delivery service. DASH Door-to-Door, a 24/7 pick-up and delivery service, is available from Atlanta to more than 55 cities in the United States. The companies plan to expand the service to dozens more cities.
  • Virgin Australia will add Japan to its cargo network in March 2020 with the launch of daily services between Brisbane and Tokyo-Haneda. Cargo space on the route will be marketed by Virgin Atlantic Cargo under its longstanding international long-haul sales and marketing agreement with Virgin Australia. The daily Airbus A330 flight will offer between 16.5 and 22 tons of cargo capacity. The new route, Virgin Australia’s first service to Tokyo, is expected to attract strong demand from both cargo customers and passengers.

Technology

  • Businesses can make label changes faster with NiceLabel’s label management system. The newly launched version 2 of its ABAP package allows organizations to digitize the labeling quality assurance process and reduce both labeling errors and shipping delays.
  • DHL Global Forwarding, the air and ocean freight specialist of Deutsche Post DHL Group, now offers myDHLi Analytics, which lets cargo customers access and analyze their business data. The online service displays relevant details about invoices, volume, service quality, and customs activity via dashboards.
  • Leveraging AI and IoT technologies, CargoSmart’s new Connected Reefer Solution intelligently identifies any deviation or disruption from the container and diagnoses whether it is a result caused by a normal or abnormal operation event. It features end-to-end information transparency, including enhanced reefer container pre-trip inspection support, real-time container status monitoring updates, and predictive cargo arrival status.
  • Shippers can now get a high-level snapshot of their shipment clearance status, view how many entries are waiting to be cleared by customs, and identify any customs holds with a new dashboard from customs brokerage and trade compliance company Carmichael International Service. They can also generate more than 25 key performance indicators by entering a date range.
  • Consumer packaged goods (CPG) retailers and marketplaces can now share and obtain brand-verified product data from a new global solution called Verified by GS1. The platform makes it possible for CPG brand owners to consistently share a core set of attributes, including the product’s global trade item number, which uniquely identifies a product and links it to the brand owner, brand name, product description, product image URL, global product category, net content and unit of measure, and country of sale.
  • Lufthansa Cargo digitalized its offer and booking process with smartBooking, a new digital interface. The application programming interface contains available routings, capacities, and prices and automatically executes relevant checks, letting shippers book an offer and confirm it immediately.
  • One Network Enterprises, a provider of multi-party business networks for autonomous supply chain management, released the latest version of its platform for the healthcare industry. Hospitals, global procurement organizations, distributors, pharmaceutical and medical supply companies can leverage One Network’s Real-Time Value Network of more than 75,000 companies for increased collaboration and transparency.
  • Warehouse managers can gain insight into operations with materials handling company Rite-Hite’s new Opti-Vu platform, which taps into the data collection capabilities of Rite-Hite products via a secure wireless network to monitor the efficiency of warehouse assets such as forklifts and loading docks. The platform provides insights by applying analytics to correlate developing trends with historical data, helping predict potential problems and identify opportunities.
  • Volvo FL and Volvo FE electric trucks for last-mile delivery debuted in selected markets within Europe. Sold by Volvo Trucks in Sweden, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands, the Volvo FL has capacity for a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of nearly 18 tons, while the GVW of the Volvo FE is nearly 30 tons.
  • Lithium-ion-powered forklifts from Crown Equipment are now available for companies looking for alternative power sources for their forklift fleet. The V-Force Lithium-Ion Energy Storage System, which comes with most Crown Equipment electric forklifts, is integrated with the truck, allowing the truck’s display to show battery discharge levels and alert the operator before truck operation is stopped.

Transportation

  • Uber Technologies expanded its freight division into Canada. Uber Freight now facilitates loads in Ontario and Quebec and across the border to Midwestern and Northeastern states.
  • Yang Ming Marine Transport launched a China-Vietnam-Cambodia service, its first service directly linking China’s ports, Da Nang and Sihanoukville. The service also calls at Ningbo, Shanghai, Xiamen, Ho Chi Minh, and Hong Kong.
  • Samskip launched a direct weekly service connecting Portugal and the UK, using its own vessel to sustain links between Tilbury, Lisbon, Leixões, and its multimodal hub port of Rotterdam. The Netherlands-based group’s 1,000-TEU containership provides a UK-Portugal transit time of five days.
  • United Airlines introduced a seasonal three-times weekly South Africa service, which will run from mid-December 2019 through March 28, 2020. United Airlines partnered with Worldwide Flight Services as its cargo handling provider for the first-ever nonstop service by a U.S. carrier between New York/Newark and Cape Town, South Africa.
  • South Korea’s SM Line will start serving the Port of Portland in January 2020, resuming a weekly container service at the port for the first time in nearly four years. The Port of Portland’s Terminal 6 will be added to SM Line’s current rotation from China and South Korea to the Pacific Northwest, including stops in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Seattle.