Logistics

More shareholders are expecting supply chains to become resilient to protect the bottom line.

While 2023 proved to be a comeback year, there's still a ways to go before a return to pre-pandemic normalcy.

This earthquake is the latest in an ostensible series of events impacting the global supply chain, right on the heels last week’s tragic bridge collapse in Baltimore, which was preceded by the ongoing Red Sea and Panama Canal issues.

UPS will invest $9 billion in automation, targeting efficiency and savings, while closing 200 U.S. facilities.

Following yesterday’s bridge collision in Baltimore, when the 32,000-ton container ship, Dali, collided into the 1.6-mile Francis Scott Key bridge over the Patapsco River in Baltimore, causing it to collapse and stopping ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore, for an indefinite period, it has created yet another uncertain situation for supply chains.

Atlanta-based global freight transportation and logistics services provider UPS unveiled details regarding its strategic growth and productivity initiatives and its three-year financial targets at its Investor Day. Company officials stated that through its ongoing “Customer First, People Led, Innovation Driven” strategy, UPS is focused on setting up to the company to be the “premium small package provider and logistics partner in the world.”

Themes focused on over the course of this podcast included: the state of the market; ways in which the pandemic affected 3PL operations; M&A; how 3PLs are adjusting to and leveraging nearshoring; and the economy, among other topics. 

NRF is pegging 2024 retail sales to increase between 2.5%-to-3.5% to between $5.23 trillion and $5.28 trillion. Should this forecast come to fruition, NRF said that it would top 2023 retail sales, which rose 3.6% to $5.1 trillion.

As key parts of this expansion, the company said that it has set up new locations in Mexico City, Monterrey, and Laredo, Texas, and also tapped 30-year logistics veteran Troy Ryley as President, Echo Mexico.

OnTrac said this new service offering went into effect on Saturday, March 16, adding it is available in 75% of its delivery network, covering 31 states and Washington, D.C., reaching more than 175 million consumers.

Did the fear of product shortages contribute to the rapid price increases?

The pending acquisition of Chippenham, UK-based Wincanton, a supply chain solutions services provider across myriad vertical markets, by Greenwich, Conn.-based global contract logistics services provider GXO Logistics appears to remain on track, according to a “scheme of arrangement” recently issued by Wincanton.

In this podcast, Jeff Berman, Group News Editor for Logistics Management and the Peerless Media Supply Chain Group, interviews Ben Gordon, founder and managing partner of Palm Beach, Florida-based Cambridge Capital, and managing partner of Ben Gordon Strategic Advisors.

The company said that this business unit now has more than $200 million euro ($218.2 million USD) in freight under management and is on track for $2 billion ($2.18 billion USD) by 2028.

Large businesses are more likely to make strengthening their supply chains a priority, report finds.