Last-Mile Delivery

With e-commerce growing at the rate of more than 15% annually, logisticians have been studying the best way to deliver all these home deliveries faster and cheaper than ever.

Two subsidiaries of TFI International, a transportation and logistics holding company, Dallas-based TForce, a customized final-mile logistics services provider, and Joplin, Mo.-based CFI Logistics, a trucking and logistics services provider, have partnered up to create a dedicated final-mile delivery network comprised of truckload transportation assets and logistics expertise to support high-velocity, time-definite supply chain operations.

Austin, Texas-based Convey, a provider of delivery experience management software that helps shippers connect disparate data and processes from parcel to freight in the last mile, and Cary, N.C.-based SaaS-based transportation management system (TMS) provider MercuryGate International Inc. said this week they are formally collaborating on what they called a partnership and technology integration expected to be made available in June.

A new Brooklyn, New York-based logistics facility being marketed by industrial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield is expected to be completed in October 2019. The facility, entitled Brooklyn Logistics Center, is the first class A spec warehouse in the New York City area, with Cushman & Wakefield being retained on an exclusive basis to lease the facility.

Austin, Texas-based Convey, a provider of delivery experience management software that helps shippers connect disparate data and processes from parcel to freight in the last mile, announced today it has rolled out a new offering specifically geared towards last mile delivery issues. Entitled the Delivery Exception Management (DEM) Platform now Featuring Exception Recovery, Convey said this offering provides shippers with the ability to identify, collaborate and take the needed steps to resolve issues before a customer complains, as well as...

Air cargo transportation services provider Forward Air Corporation said this week it has entered into an agreement to acquire FSA Logistics, a privately-held last mile services provider.

Following an early January announcement in which it said it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Secaucus, New Jersey-based Cory’s First Choice Home Delivery, Lowell, Ark.-based trucking and intermodal services bellwether J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. said today that acquisition is now complete.

Familiar themes, for both volumes and earnings, remained intact for the United States Postal Service (USPS), based on fiscal first quarter results released today.

Descartes has worked with a supply chain industry expert to create an eBook that explores how retailers are managing to meet their customers’ demands.

FedEx Freight, the less-than-truckload subsidiary of Memphis-based transportation and logistics titan FedEx, is taking its initial steps into the rapidly-growing, e-commerce-driven last-mile logistics sector, according to a Bloomberg report published earlier this week.

Given the constant state of frenetic activity, as it relates to the intersection of e-commerce activity and last-mile logistics, in addition to consumer expectations for same-day delivery, it has led to an increased need for e-commerce distribution operations that are located closer to consumers in populous urban areas.

Data for the Convey survey, entitled “Last Mile Delivery: What Shoppers Want and How to #SaveRetail,” was based on feedback from 1,508 consumers, with questions focusing on delivery expectations and preferences with the goal of understanding what aspects of delivery consumers found most important, according to Convey. This is the third year Convey has conducted this survey.

Under the terms of this agreement, the companies said that Preferred will sell LSO’s services, including same-day, next-day, scheduled, and day-definite guaranteed deliveries up to 150 pounds.

Everywhere you look, the last-mile delivery market seems to be heating up. And a report published by Reuters yesterday could be labeled as the latest example of that. The report indicated that UPS is currently in talks with Omaha, Nebraska-based truckload and logistics services provider Werner Enterprises to “launch launch an in-home delivery service for large, heavy goods such as couches and treadmills, as the world’s largest package deliverer looks to cash in on one the fastest growing segments...

First quarter revenue was up 18.4% annually to $4.19 billion, and quarterly net income came in at $66.9 million, or $0.50 per share, which was ahead of net income of $19.5 million, or $0.16 per share a year ago and also ahead of Wall Street expectations by 7%.