Day: 18 September 2020

After the initial shock to the European market due to the Coronavirus, the Teleroute Freight Exchange, that together with 123Cargo and Wtransnet form one of the largest European transport collaboration networks, confirms the return of activity with a notable upturn in the number of freight offers in recent weeks, placing the activity at pre-coronavirus level and even higher in the last weeks of July, exhibiting none of the typical seasonal slowdown.

The most difficult moment for the transportation industry due to the crisis took place in April, where the complete stoppage of industrial activity throughout Europe caused freight volume to drop dramatically. This period was then followed by a second disrupted supply chain period where freight forwarders and carriers, looking for new routes for new volumes, turned to Teleroute to manage demand and the number of new users on Teleroute grew by 1,200.

Speaking about this trend, Fabrice Douteaud, COO of Teleroute (pictured), said, “we are very proud of the resilience shown by the transport & freight forwarding companies by continuing their important work during these very difficult times. We have experienced an exceptional demand for our freight exchange during this crisis, a proof of the value we bring to the market: facilitating the collaboration of transport professionals.

“After the month of April with volume below average, we are in the middle of the summer with a very notable recovery of the freight offers on Teleroute with France as the country of origin, which has doubled. This leaves us with an activity in July that has far exceeded the monthly average number of published freight offers, mainly in the domestic market (90% of volumes) and in exports to Belgium, Germany and Spain in equal parts. On the other hand, if we look at imports, the numbers are even better, in the last two months we find volumes well above the usual and that shows the recovery of the main countries that send merchandise to France: Italy, which leads the ranking with 37% of freight offers; Germany (29%), Belgium (23%) and Spain (7%).

“Regarding the data obtained from the freight offers published on Teleroute originating in Italy, one of the countries most affected by the pandemic, we find a surprising recovery in July where the volume has doubled thanks to the reactivation of transactions with France, which account for 57% of Italian exports. Germany with 18% and Spain with 15% close the top 3. In relation to inbound freight, the transalpine country doubled the number of import offers in July compared to previous months, placing activity above the average in 2019 and only slightly lower than the months with the highest activity on the freight exchange. A comeback led by the flow of goods with France, with 40% of the freight offers published, and Germany (15%) as the main countries offering freight to the Italian market.

“Focusing on Germany, another of the European economy’s main drivers, we observed a strong rebound in activity in July with 25% above the monthly average in 2019, the domestic market’s upward growth, which was already palpable in June, and accounting for 50% of the freight offers with Germany as origin and/or destination. The other freight offers, are divided into 28% imports, mainly from Italy and France, and exports (remaining 22%) whose main destinations are France and the Netherlands. Numbers that, in accordance with the offers registered in Teleroute, place the European transport market that Teleroute serves, already back to normal in practically the entire region and, on the current trajectory, will be performing ahead of 2019 for the remainder of the year.”

a. hartrodt and WiseTech Global have announced the rollout of integrated cloud-based logistics execution platform, CargoWise, across the a. hartrodt global network of over 100 locations and more than 2,000 logistics team members. Operating across 46 nations, a. hartrodt specialises in logistics solutions across various sectors, including automotive, food & beverage, health care, industrial goods and oil & gas. The CargoWise global solution will be implemented to support freight forwarding, customs, warehousing and order management operations.

Andreas Wenzel, Managing Director of a. hartrodt, said, “our focus is on providing our customers with perfect service in everything we do. Trading across 100 locations it became very clear to us that to continue to contribute to our customers’ success we needed a system that is globally scalable and will enable better communication between our teams and greater visibility across our entire operation. With its extensive functionality, CargoWise will provide a. hartrodt with a single, easy to use platform that can be accessed from anywhere at any time. At a. hartrodt we take over and manage all the transport and logistics needs of our customers, from transport and customs clearance through to warehousing, picking and packing, and distribution. The operational efficiencies we will gain from implementing an integrated system with real-time visibility will not only empower our people but enhance our ability to plan across the entire supply chain. With a commitment to future-proofing our operations, the implementation of CargoWise complements our new modern multi-redundant Hyper Converged Infrastructure data centres.”

The global rollout of CargoWise across a. hartrodt operations in Asia, South and North America, Oceania and Europe, will be a staged process with completion by March 2023. WiseTech Global Founder and CEO, Richard White, said, “we are pleased to support a. hartrodt’s commitment to improving supply chain efficiencies through digitalisation with the decision to rollout CargoWise across its global operations. CargoWise’s powerful functionalities will provide their business with unparalleled access to real-time data that will drive increased productivity and advance forward planning.”

With the ‘ONE’, Agilox’s ultralight, high-efficiency forklift product line, the company attempts to reshape the concept of AGVs. The fleets operate without a central control system, meaning the vehicles navigate the production facility or warehouse in a truly autonomous fashion. The exceptionally compact Agilox IGVs organize their routes according to the decentralized principles of swarm intelligence, making them much more flexible than traditional AGVs.

Additionally, programming or ‘teaching’ the vehicles becomes significantly easier, while central software programs including maintenance, updates, etc. are rendered obsolete—an innovation that lowers operating costs. Agilox is now expanding its range of IGVs to include the OCF—an abbreviation for ‘Omnidirectional Counterbalanced Forklift’. While the ONE is equipped with a scissor lift to function as a load handling device (and thus transports the load within the vehicle contour), the OCF is designed according to the principles of the counterbalanced forklift. Hence, it can pick up pallets, lattice boxes, and other load carriers with a maximum weight of 1500 kg (3300 lbs), transport them to the destination, and set them down at a height of up to 1600 mm (63 in).

Agilox’s intelligent and cost-saving IGV concept opens up new application areas. While the ONE vehicles are mainly used for material supply in production, the OCF enables classic intralogistics tasks in incoming and outgoing goods, order picking and storage, as well as in production – provided that the transport is pallet-bound. Just like the ONE, the OCF uses an omnidirectional drive concept. It can therefore also drive sideways through narrow aisles, turn on the spot, and maneuver in the tightest of spaces. The same lithium-ion (LiFePO4) battery technology ensures short charging and long operating times – just three minutes of charging allows for up to one hour of operating time.

The IGV fleets can be connected to customer software systems (LVR, ERP, WMS, MES, etc.) via an open API interface. An optional IO box enables the integration of external infrastructure, such as rolling gates and stationary conveyor systems, in the intelligent control system. An analytics module provides the user with all relevant operating data and KPIs. Dipl.-Ing. Franz Humer, Co-Founder and CEO of Agilox, notes, “the OCF is a logical addition to round out our product portfolio. With it, we open up opportunities in storage and order picking technology, and thus, a large market in which the IGVs can showcase their advantages over both AGVs and man-operated forklifts.”

The combined operation of the ONE and OCF in a ‘swarm’ also provides a great advantage. For instance, while the smaller vehicles carry out delivery services to assembly workstations or tend to e-Kanban shelves, the OCF can, using the same control system and WiFi infrastructure, take over pallet transport. The OCF pilot series has already been successfully tested in Vorchdorf, Austria. Series production will begin shortly, with the first OCFs set to be delivered to customers in the first quarter of 2021.