E-commerce

Working with the right supply chain partner ensures you have the expertise, scale and resources to adapt to disruptions and change.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has, in some ways, fundamentally changed certain logistics processes and operations, due to the shifts it brought about in consumer behavior, and, more specifically, consumption and buying preferences, one area that remains on solid footing is globalization.

Barcode labeling has evolved. Out of the box solutions will create a basic label, but will it be reliable, consistent and accurate?

Commerce reported that October retail sales came in at $638.2 billion, marking a 1.7% increase over September’s revised $627.5 billion and a 16.3% annual gain. And it added that total retail sales, from August through October, rose 15.4%.

GXO reported $2.0 billion, topping the $1.6 billion reported from a year ago, when it was still part of XPO Logistics (the spin-off from XPO was made official in August). And net income came in at $72 million, and basic earnings per share, at $0.63, topped last year’s $0.16. Adjusted EBITDA, at $163 million, topped last year’s $142 million.

For the third quarter, IANA reported that total intermodal volume—at 4,583,852—fell 2.9% annually. Trailers—at 289,264—were off 11.2%, and domestic containers—at 1,982,977—fell 5.7%. All domestic equipment—at 2,272,241—were down 6.5%. The lone category posting an annual gain was ISO, or international, containers—at 2,311,611—for a 0.9% increase.

A keynote session at the “Groundbreakers 2021: Breaking New Ground” conference hosted by San Francisco-based real estate investment trust company Prologis this week touched upon both the pain points and the opportunities that the Covid-19 pandemic has created for the supply chain. The session featured Prologis CEO Hamid Moghadam and Carol Tomé, CEO of Atlanta-based global transportation and logistics bellwether UPS, two leading industry executives. And they both talked about the impact of the ongoing global supply chain issues on their...

This data is based on millions of packages shipped via UPS, FedEx, and USPS.

Quarterly revenue—at $23.2 billion—saw a 9.2% annual increase, and adjusted earnings per share—at $2.65—was up 9.2%, for the same period. And operating profit—at $3.0 billion—was up 23.4%.

Company officials said that this investment—for these two service centers, which cumulatively account for 238,872 square-feet and add 144,875 square-feet of improved working space compared to its previous facilities—helps to establish what it described as more conveniently located and spacious facilities that will boost shipment capacity and also enable faster shipment processing, to provide earlier deliveries for local customers.

That is not a secret, not when ostensibly everywhere you look there are signs of supply chain disruption just about anywhere. “Anywhere” can be loosely defined along the lines of things like port congestion, truck driver availability, equipment-related challenges (think containers and chassis), among a whole host of others, to be sure.

With the company deep into Peak Season, Mike Short, president of Global Forwarding at C.H. Robinson, provided Logistics Management Group News Editor Jeff Berman with an overview of how the company approaches Peak Season and works with shippers to meet their objectives, at a time which may be the most unique and challenging market conditions the sector has ever seen.

The footwear company increased throughput by 182% during Q4 2020.

Total POLA volume—at 898,941 TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units)—posted a 1.7% annual gain, marking the best September in the port’s 114-year history, topping the previous high set in 2020 by nearly 2%. The Port of Long Beach reported that total September volume, at 748,472 TEU, posted its second-best September over, decreasing 5.9% annually compared to September 2020, the highest-volume September for the port.

Now, that both the Port of Los Angeles (POLB) and Port of Long Beach (POLB) are fully on board with making a move to 24/7 operations to work through a significant inbound cargo backload brought on by unprecedented demand levels, equipment shortages, and labor issues, the ports are ready to take the next steps to augment throughput and work through the myriad challenges they have faced, as they collectively account for the roughly 40% of U.S.-bound imports.