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Tag: Transport

Logistics Sector “hits the skids”

Posted on by David Priestman

The latest UK Government data shows a generally perky July for most business sectors, but transport & storage companies reported gloomier results. Home delivery expert ParcelHero warns transport businesses are the barometer for the economy and July’s rosy picture could be masking future problems.

The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show British businesses had a generally upbeat July, with all sectors reporting increased turnover and demand and cost rises finally slowing. However, the home delivery expert ParcelHero says transport & storage businesses reported less rosy numbers than many other sectors. It warns this should set off alarms as the transport sector is frequently the barometer of the UK economy.

ParcelHero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks M.I.L.T., says: “The latest ONS Business Insights results reveal many industry sectors had a strong July. Increased turnover was reported by 14.1% of manufacturers, 15.9% of construction businesses and 24.1% of retailers. Overall, 1-in-6 (17%) of businesses reported that their turnover was higher in July 2023 compared with June. However, delivery and supply chain businesses missed out on this upturn.

“Just 7.5% of transport & storage companies reported an increase in turnover in July. That’s the worst result of all UK business sectors except real estate (6.4%). Most transport companies (53%) reported their turnover stayed the same while a hefty 29.1% actually reported a decrease in turnover. Only accommodation & food businesses reported a larger decrease in turnover (35.9%) in July.

“Looking ahead, businesses across all industrial sectors were asked to give their expectations for September. Overall, 18% expect their income to increase, up from the 15% that reported this for August. Meanwhile, 55% report that they expect their turnover to stay the same. However, transport & storage businesses are gloomier. Just 16.7% expect an increase in trade in September, less than the average, with 61.5% saying turnover will probably remain the same and 13.6% predicting a decrease. In contrast, 19.1% of construction businesses and 18.1% of retailers think their September turnover will increase.

“Overall, the ONS report reveals strong signs inflation is finally easing, with just 1-in-8 (12%) of businesses reporting an increase in the price of their goods or services in July, the lowest level since peaking in March 2022. Transport & storage companies always operate on notoriously tight margins. In July, just 5.1% of transport companies increased their prices, 70.6% kept them the same and 8.2% actually decreased their prices. In contrast, 15.9% of construction companies put up the price of their services and 17.4% of retailers increased prices.

“One of the most encouraging results overall for UK businesses was an increase in domestic demand for goods and services. More than 1-in-10 (11%) of businesses reported an increase in demand compared with June. Once more, however, transport & storage lagged behind. Only 6.8% of companies reported an increase in demand for UK services, with 57.6% showing demand holding steady and 16.1% revealing a drop in demand. In contrast, 12.3% of construction companies reported an uptick in demand and 17.6% of retailers.

“Any increase in demand for international work for the transport & storage sector was too small to register. That’s in contrast to rises of 3% in manufacturing and 3.6% in retail. Global demand remained the same for 21.8% of transport companies and fell for 8.9% of them.

“The one bright point for transport & storage sector companies was that the increase in the prices of goods or services they bought was fractionally less than the average for UK businesses. The proportion of British firms reporting increased costs was 30%; this percentage has fallen over time and is the lowest figure reported since a peak of 50% in March 2022. Overall, 28.8% of transport sector companies said the prices they paid for goods and services increased, 48.6% of transport businesses said their costs had remained the same and 3.4% said their costs were actually down in July. To put that into context, 38.6% of construction companies said the prices they paid for goods and services rose in July, as did 32.5% of retail companies. However, only 15.8% of manufacturers reported an increase in their costs, perhaps highlighting less turbulent times for global supply chains.

“Despite transport & storage sector companies’ July woes, the domestic and global logistics market still shows longer-term growth. In 2021, it was worth $8 trillion; by 2027, that will be $13.7 trillion. However, it is a fast-changing, agile industry. Since the end of Covid lockdowns, some parts of the home delivery market have yo-yoed. Companies with aging infrastructure and a fixed cost base have struggled.”

How to Win During Peak Shipping Season

Posted on by David Priestman

Freight procurement processes have always been noted for their high levels of complexity which increases exponentially during peak shipping season. These busy months demand operational efficiency, agile collaboration, proactive rate management, and a sharp focus on sustainability throughout the transportation management process.

This article by SHIPSTA addresses six of the most common challenges that can surface in peak shipping season, while providing solutions on how to best address them.

1. Pressure to Save Costs

Transportation accounts for a significant amount of total operational costs, consequently becoming a huge target for potential cost savings. However, constantly changing freight market rates can make it difficult for procurement teams to secure the best deals and maintain predictable costs.

To prevent this, it is recommended to move away from standalone data sources and look at leveraging centralised rate management solutions which bring together all your data and provide one sole source of truth. This allows you to turn your data into insights and action and surface the best opportunities by giving you visibility across different pricing options vs the best combination of lanes, modes of transport or other business requirements.

Leveraging the power of an eAuction feature can help you with dynamic negotiations, bringing your qualified carriers or other LSPs into a bidding process, securing your access to the best price and increasing your efficiency.

2. Capacity Shortages & Time Constraints

As demand surges during peak season, the limited capacity of LSPs or unforeseen disruptions can lead to difficulties in providing the needed transportation services in time, causing delays, increased costs or even higher risks or loss. Capacity constraints can turn into missed delivery deadlines and force the company to seek last-minute transportation solutions at higher rates, significantly impacting transportation budgets and overall supply chain costs.

Having fast access to a larger database of LSPs, the ability to pivot to real-time (spot) requests in case of emergencies, as well as instantly connecting with carriers through a centralised and automated platform, while having better visibility on their availability, can be your greatest allies in such situations where time becomes of the essence.

3. Increased Workload and Limited Resources

Even outside peak seasons, transportation procurement is a very heavy process that requires teams to spend countless hours between spreadsheets, emails, and phone calls to ensure smooth sailing. With an even higher growth in demand and workload during peak season, the need for automation and speed has been highlighted more than ever by logistics and procurement teams.

Technology in the logistics sector has evolved to provide tailored solutions for these needs. Such an example is leveraging a specialised freight procurement platform that helps with data-heavy & time-consuming operations, increasing work efficiency and accuracy, while streamlining all communications with your LSPs.

Using such platforms can save up to 70% of the time you would have spent on repetitive and manual tasks. Running tenders, launching RFQs, analysing the outcomes and going through a truly data-driven decision process, can now become a matter of minutes instead of weeks.

4. Complex Freight Landscape

Working with a wide range of carriers, brokers, and other LSPs can complicate the freight procurement process, making it difficult to evaluate and select the most optimal ones as per your business requirements.

However, combinatorics allows you to set your own business rules, flexibly integrate all the relevant criteria based on organisational priorities, like speed, cost, sustainability KPIs, etc. and automatically calculate optimised award scenarios. This will enable you to compare and evaluate at scale multiple suppliers, build detailed reports, and surface the best alternative, especially from a cost perspective, with much less effort.

5. Governance of Sustainability KPIs

With such a large volume of CO2 emissions coming from transportation, governmental and business requirements around sustainability have increased significantly across the years. Even more when we talk about such high shipping volumes like the ones during peak season, meeting these complex regulations and KPIs can be difficult, time-consuming, and costly, in the absence of a proper setup.

The foundation for success is to integrate sustainability criteria from the beginning into your freight procurement strategy and monitor it using dedicated green procurement dashboards.  It is important to ensure that your carriers, LSPs or other type of partners are aligned with your expectations in terms of such business requirements, so you can select the best option accordingly.

6. Compliance and Risk Management

Even in a regular, day-to-day context, handling compliance and risk management in freight procurement becomes an exceedingly difficult and sensitive task. With all complexity increasing exponentially in peak shipping seasons, meeting transportation & other government regulations, as well as business compliance standards, can become difficult and leave room for exposures.

Integrating your end-to-end freight procurement processes, managing LSPs, contracts, award of business and relevant documents within a dedicated platform helps you ensure that compliance is well up to company standards and will prepare a solid base for auditing when the time comes.

In uncertain times, allocating money to technology cannot always seem like an easy decision, but it quickly becomes one when ROI and further cost savings top by more than 10x the price.

Take a closer look at SHIPSTA to see how its platform and services can help you both during and outside the peak shipping seasons. To uncover more ways to win this peak shipping season, read the complete e-book here.

Gebrüder Weiss Takes Solar Car Down Under

Posted on by David Priestman

International logistics company Gebrüder Weiss is transporting an innovative solar car to Australia for the aCentauri Solar Racing Team of Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zurich (ETH). This is where the World Solar Challenge will begin at the end of October 2023. This unique race sees 31 teams cover 3,000km from Darwin across the Australian outback to Adelaide using solar power alone.

To ensure that the high-tech vehicle can be on its marks on time at the other end of the world, Gebrüder Weiss is delivering a customised mix of logistics covering land transport, sea and air freight.

“Our position as a global logistics company means we are a driver of intelligent transport solutions, actively shaping the mobility of tomorrow,” says Frank Haas, Head of Corporate Brand Strategy & Communications at Gebrüder Weiss. “aCentauri’s solar car is a trendsetter with the potential to revolutionise the transport sector, which is why we are supporting the team on their journey to Australia.”

The students have been working on the development and implementation of this solar car for nearly a year. Designed for durability and maximum energy efficiency, it is emblematic of a future in which the environment takes centre stage. “Of course, we would like to win the race. But what is equally important to us is taking an active role in developing efficient, environmentally sound solutions,” explains Alexandr Ebnöther, team manager at aCentauri. “With the support of Gebrüder Weiss, we can demonstrate that solar-powered cars and, by extension, sustainable mobility, are possible.”

There is particular focus at the moment on alternative drives at Gebrüder Weiss. For example, aCentauri’s solar car is covering the first leg of its journey on the logistic company’s zero-emission hydrogen truck.

Gebrüder Weiss regularly reports on the preparations and the progress of the cooperation via a dedicated landing page and the various social media channels.

 

Dubai Packager Implements EPG TMS

Posted on by David Priestman

Supply chain software company EPG (Ehrhardt Partner Group) has cemented its already strong partnership with Dubai-based Falcon Pack, as the disposable food packaging specialist is to implement EPG’s Transportation Management System (TMS). The two companies have forged strong bonds since Falcon Pack’s introduction of EPG’s LFS Warehouse Management System (WMS) in 2018.

With its adoption of the TMS, Falcon Pack is taking advantage of EPG’s much-admired suite approach to supply chain software solutions. The EPG ONE Supply Chain Execution Suite comprises bespoke applications for each branch of the supply chain journey, from Gartner Magic Quadrant-recognised storage and fulfilment (WMS) to transport and distribution (TMS). Key business drivers within the TMS are routing optimisation and scheduling, provided by EPG’s Greenplan application, winner of the prestigious Best Product award at LogiMAT 2023. Dozens of Falcon Pack transport vehicles, from small vans to truck-trailer combinations, are to be implemented with the software.

Speed and Efficiency

The digitisation of transport execution processes will help Falcon Pack to improve speed, accuracy and efficiencies in its fast-growing ecommerce operations in Dubai. The state-of-the-art technology also enables the packaging experts to introduce same-day delivery to customers, alongside enhanced documentation control and shipment monitoring via an easy-to-use intuitive interface.

“Investing in EPG’s TMS was an easy decision for us to make,” comments Syed Ehtisham, Executive Director IT, Falcon Pack. “We have enjoyed a productive relationship with EPG’s expert engineers and on-the-spot field teams since we installed LFS five years ago. We have great trust in their portfolio, and we expect the TMS to provide us with valuable savings in terms of both time and money as well as clear transparency of our day-to-day operations and, consequently, even better relationships with customers. It is also a bonus for our hard-working staff that the system they have supplied us is so easy to get used to.”

Niels Meinken, EPG Logistics Consultant, is delighted with Falcon Pack’s decision to invest once more in EPG’s product expertise. “Our suite approach means that our customers can source all of their supply chain software needs from a single source, which results in smoother transitions and fewer pinch points, as well as a single contact. At the moment we are fully focused on implementing our TMS with them, and we look forward to expanding our relationship with Falcon Pack still further in the future.”

Multimodal Impact on Sustainability

Posted on by David Priestman

It’s a competitive world out there, and every organization comes up with its best strategy to maximize its hold on its market share. With the ascendancy of e-commerce channels needling the conversation towards customer retention and more significant satisfaction metrics with days passing by – the supply chain industry has its task cut out to match the goals set out by the ever-increasing success metrics.

And, to tap into the presented market opportunities, a company’s logistic leg is at the epicentre to carry much of the heavy lifting, more so when accelerated delivery process is becoming the main driver to generate better revenue statements on a regular quarterly basis. But ensuring faster deliveries comes with a tag of solid infrastructure which subsequently means more investment from the company’s management. However, if planned right, the transit balance sheet might not necessarily be a burden on management. More so if the opted shipment network is multimodal.

Multimodal transit, by definition, involves optimized usage of every possible mode of transportation to reduce overall shipping costs and also ensure a large quantity of product movement. This could include air, waterways, rail and road collectively or in some combination per an organization’s need. The benefit of multimodal conveyance includes saving time in the context of large shipments and furthering operations under approved financial guidelines while not limited to demography constraints (for international cargo movement). But the most significant advantage that swings the conversation of integrated transportation in its favour – is its contribution to sustainability.

Multimodal Transportation & Sustainability

Shipping goods through integrated transportation holds an edge over singular transit methods as it collectively narrows down on the overall carbon & related GHG emissions. Let’s put this exercise into theory; a single rail freight movement can cover hundreds of trucks relying on road networks responsible for tons of CO2 emissions annually. And when it comes to international shipments, multimodal transit, with its involvement of waterways and railways, combines to reduce close to 63% of emissions when put in context to truck shipments.

With intelligent freight planning across various modes, a value chain management can make the most of integrated transit for its virtue of cost-effectiveness and also lower overall emissions capping. Here are a few essential pointers underlining multimodal transportation’s impact on scale and operational value.

Can Traverse Geographical Limitations

For supply chain industries across Europe, seaway transit is one of the crucial pillars of its logistical application. With countries sharing international water borders, integrated transport acts as a significant foundation for trade pacts across nations while keeping the metrics of scalability & emissions well in check. Simply put, combined transportation acts as a boon for supply chain management looking to enhance their business across the globe.

Equal load distribution across transportation modes

With multimodal transit, a company’s daily logistical transaction gets an intelligent edge, keeping one mode of transportation from bearing all the brunt of the shipment. For instance, an organization deciding to ship all its products via road stands to leave a larger carbon footprint than integrated shipping.

Better prospect for sustainability

With its lower emissions application value running parallel to the sustainability goals, multimodal transit has become a boon in the organization’s roadmap toward minimizing its GHG footprint. On the back of active investment in titular transportation, especially in Europe, where its application is set to see an increase to the north of 80% by 2050, integrated shipment will hold the key to a more competent and sustainable logistical process.

While it may seem a lot of hard work managing multiple modes of transportation, intelligent logistical platforms with their intuitive dashboards & advanced machine learning interface nullify complications in overseeing shipment operations irrespective of the scale. 3SC, with its range of end-to-end supply chain services, sidelines potential bottlenecks in an organization’s value chain operation to give them intelligent foresight helping them oversee the entire procedure from production to delivery.

Cambridge’s First Net Zero Urban Consolidation Centre Opened

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Cambridge (UK)’s first Net Zero Urban Consolidation Centre (UCC), pioneered by Cambridgeshire-based Welch’s Transport, has opened. The new venture will support the city’s sustainability goals by delivering clean, emissions-free last-mile deliveries and is at the heart of the company’s new Net Zero logistics fulfilment operation that also includes one of the first fully electric HGVs in the country.

Building on Welch’s Transport’s 89 years’ experience in supply chain management and transportation, the UCC comprises full warehousing and logistics management facilities. Goods ordered by organisations in Cambridge, and delivered to the Welch’s depot in Duxford, will be consolidated for more efficient last-mile deliveries using smaller, more eco-friendly vehicles. The UCC will minimise the number of heavy goods vehicles operating in the city centre, potentially reducing the number of vehicle trip deliveries by 46%.

Chris Welch, Director of Welch’s Transport, said: “Our aim is that organisations in Greater Cambridge can quite literally ‘share the load’ when it comes to reducing C02 emissions. Our UCC will reduce the number of delivery vehicles in urban areas across Greater Cambridge and will, therefore, emit fewer greenhouse gases. The new UCC further supports our efforts in Cambridge to deliver clean, emission-free last-mile deliveries in the city. With the support of local businesses in the city, we could decrease CO2-EQ emissions per consignment by up to 88%.”

The UCC, and new fully electric HGV, is the company’s first step to creating a greener Cambridge, with the 19 tonne vehicle able to deliver zero-emissions general haulage, palleted, parcels and hazardous goods.

Welch continued: “The combination of our knowledgeable local drivers, new electric vehicle and Urban Consolidation Centre will revolutionise last mile deliveries in Greater Cambridge. With the UK’s commitment to reaching Net Zero by 2050, we can support every local organisation – as well as those in business parks – that are looking to meet their sustainability goals.”

Caption: [L-R] Sophie Home, Chris Welch and David Welch, Welch’s Net Zero

Volvo Receives Order for 1,000 Electric Trucks

Posted on by David Priestman

Volvo Trucks has signed a letter of intent to sell 1,000 electric trucks between now and 2030 to Holcim, one of the world’s largest building solution providers. The deal is the largest commercial order to date for Volvo electric trucks, and the first 130 trucks will be delivered in 2023 and 2024.

Holcim is a global manufacturer of building solutions, with headquarters in Switzerland. Now the company and its contractors have, with Volvo Trucks, agreed to plan for the deployment of 1,000 electric trucks across Holcim’s operations in Europe over the course of the next seven years.

The first 130 electric Volvo FH and Volvo FM trucks will be delivered to markets including France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK during the fourth quarter of 2023 and throughout 2024. The agreement is a result of a wider partnership between Holcim and Volvo Group.

“Long-term collaboration and a strong commitment to really make a difference are essential for making big CO2 reductions a reality. I’m very proud of the partnership we have developed with Holcim, and the results we are achieving together,” says Martin Lundstedt, President & CEO, Volvo Group.

“The net-zero transition requires deep collaboration across value chains. We are excited to be partnering with Volvo to decarbonise our European operations’ logistics with electric fleets, advancing our goal to reach 30% of zero-emission heavy-duty trucks by 2030,” says Jan Jenisch, Chairman and CEO of Holcim.

By replacing 1,000 existing Volvo FH diesel trucks with Volvo FH Electric trucks using green electricity on a typical route, up to 50,000 tonnes of CO2 could be saved every year. Both companies are committed to the Science-based targets initiative (SBTi), which drives ambitious climate action in the private sector, and both are also founding members of First Movers Coalition (FMC) – a coalition of companies that use their purchasing power to create early markets for innovative clean technologies across eight hard-to-abate sectors. SBTi targets are considered ‘science-based’ if they are in line with what the latest climate science says is necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement – limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Holcim is a global company in sustainable building solutions, headquartered in Switzerland. It has a presence in more than 60 countries and around 60,000 employees.

 

New Intermodal Connection Between Duisburg and Padua

Posted on by Keith McKinley

TX Logistik AG is expanding its intermodal network with a new connection between Duisburg and Padua. The rail logistics company, which belongs to Mercitalia Logistics (Gruppo FS Italiane), has planned to start the connection on May 2nd. Four round trips per week with 32 loading units per train will be put on the tracks.

The connection, on which truck trailers with all kinds of goods are transported, will be operated as an open train system. The main customer is the Italian transport and logistics service provider Trans Italia with headquarter in Salerno. All services associated with the new relation will be taken over and controlled by TX Logistik. The route runs from Germany through Switzerland to Italy, to Padua in the Veneto region. There, Interporto Padova operates a modern rail terminal where around 275,000 TEU are handled between road and rail every year. In Germany, the combined transport terminal on the logport III site in Duisburg-Hohenbudberg is served, which is operated by TX Logistik together with two partners as Ziel Terminal GmbH.

For TX Logistik, which is responsible for international rail freight transport within the Mercitalia Group, Padua is an important expansion of the European network. The city is only about 25km away from Venice, where short-sea connections to the Balkan states can be used. At the same time, Veneto is Italy’s third most important export region – with Germany as its main trading partner. This offers good opportunities to shift more goods from road to rail.

 

cargo-partner at Transport Logistic

Posted on by Keith McKinley

The international transport and info-logistics provider cargo-partner will once again be represented at the leading logistics fair in Munich from May 9 to 12, 2023. This year, cargo-partner will take the event as an opportunity to celebrate its 40th anniversary together with customers and partners and present its service portfolio in the areas of e-commerce, emergency, warehousing and digital solutions.

Held in Munich every other year since 1978, transport logistic is the world’s leading trade fair for logistics, mobility, IT, and supply chain management. After the fair was hosted as a purely virtual event in 2021, this year marks the first instance of transport logistic returning to a fully in-person event after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just as in previous years – including the successful online event two years ago – cargo-partner will be participating at the fair in Munich along with other international logistics providers to present its service portfolio and discuss the latest industry developments. The cargo-partner booth is located in hall A5, booth no. 408.

This year, cargo-partner will take the event as an occasion to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the company’s founding. In addition, the cargo-partner team will be presenting the company’s comprehensive range of transport and logistics solutions, with a special focus on e-commerce, emergency transport services, global warehousing capabilities as well as the company’s growing portfolio of digital supply chain management solutions, including the SPOT platform and its Purchase Order Management module.

Stefan Krauter (pictured), CEO of cargo-partner, said: “transport logistic is one of the most important annual gatherings of the global logistics industry. Following our motto ‘we take it personally’, our team is excited to join this event and we truly enjoy this opportunity to meet our valued customers and partners again in person after years of lockdowns and online meetings.”

In 2023, the organizers expect over 2,300 exhibitors and over 64,000 visitors from around the world, including many visitors from Germany. cargo-partner has been represented with its own offices in Germany since 2000. Today, the logistics provider’s representation in Germany includes seven offices in Munich, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Stuttgart with nearly 200 employees as well as a state-of-the-art warehouse facility in Sottrum near Hamburg offering 10,000 sq m of storage space.

Meanwhile, cargo-partner’s worldwide network continues to grow. In 2022, the logistics provider opened new branch offices in Spain, Mexico, Greece, the UK and Indonesia, as well as warehouse expansions in Slovenia, Croatia and China. Looking ahead, the company has placed a strategic focus on further strengthening its network in Western Europe.

 

XPO Appoints Operations Director for Europe

Posted on by Keith McKinley

XPO, a leading provider of innovative transport and logistics solutions in Europe, has appointed Emmanuel Arnaud as operations director – Europe, effective immediately. He reports to Luis Gomez, XPO’s president – Europe, and will serve on the executive board of the European business.

Arnaud is a high-impact transport and logistics executive with more than two decades of success leading initiatives for operational excellence, technological innovation and sustainability. Prior to XPO, he held senior positions during 18 years with GEFCO, most recently as divisional CEO with responsibility for road, air and sea freight, and customs and logistics operations. In earlier management roles, he established a customer-centric culture that aligned GEFCO’s sales and marketing operations in 40 countries and developed blue chip account relationships.

Gomez commented: “Emmanuel is a tremendous asset to our European business and joins us at a time when we are unlocking potential across a wide range of verticals. His deep understanding of the connections among operations, sales and customer service will be invaluable in implementing our end-to-end solutions. I look forward to working closely with Emmanuel as we continue to execute our growth strategy.”

Arnaud began his career in France with Groupe Giraud, and then served as general manager of TNT Logistics entities, providing just-in-time supply management for the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and automotive sectors. He holds a master’s degree in corporate finance from Institut Mines-Télécom Business School and a bachelor’s degree in law from Université d’Évry.

XPO’s innovative service offerings include technology-enabled truckload, less-than-truckload, truck brokerage, managed transport, last mile and freight forwarding. The company tailors its solutions to customer-specific needs across a range of consumer, trade and industrial sectors and world-class events.

 

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