Peter Bradley is an award-winning career journalist with more than three decades of experience in both newspapers and national business magazines. His credentials include seven years as the transportation and supply chain editor at Purchasing Magazine and six years as the chief editor of Logistics Management.
Not so very long ago, there was a stigma attached to picking up the phone to hire an expedited carrier. It meant something had gone seriously wrong in the distribution channel and the only way to fix it was to pay someone to make an emergency delivery. "Five years ago, people were reluctant to admit that they used expedited transportation," says J. Edwin Conaway, president and CEO of Con-Way Now. "Expedited was seen as a way to make up for mistakes."
But that's all changed. Today, the trucking service with origins in emergency transportation is becoming a routine part of distribution logistics for businesses selling goods with a high value and short shelflife, like clothing and computers. They have no qualms about paying the premium price as a tradeoff for expedited's speed, reliability and level of security.
Custom services
It's no surprise that some of the heaviest users of expedited transportation are the nation's top retailers. In the retail apparel business, where fashions change quickly, speed matters. One season's top sellers can quickly become the next season's mark downs, so getting garments from overseas factories into the distribution system quickly is essential to retailers' success.
Manufacturers, which were the first steady customers for the expedited carriers,have stepped up the volume recently, too.Yielding to pressure to take inventory out of the supply chain,manufacturers are less likely to keep, say, spare parts on hand than they once were. Instead, they order parts from suppliers as needed. "Businesses know that when you run inventory this low, when you run this lean, you're going to use a certain amount of expedited transport," says Conaway. The premium price, he adds, pales in comparison to the cost of shutting down a production line.
The attractions of speed are obvious, but there's more to expedited's appeal than speed alone. A big part of the draw for shippers is the ability to have it their way.What distinguishes the traditional expedited carriers from other motor carriers is their availability on demand, the exclusive use of vehicles and the ability to offer point-to-point shipping.
And though it may not be immediately obvious, expedited transportation can be an important element in saving or cementing a customer relationship. As Ned Moritz, marketing manager of Con-Way Transportation, puts it, "The ultimate issue is, will there be missed sales? You can become a hero [to a customer].What's that worth?"
Who's up to speed?
As for which carriers currently offer expedited service, the short list includes major national expedited specialists like Con-Way Now and FedEx Custom Critical, which use nationwide networks of contractors operating under exclusive agreements.
Then there are companies like Menlo Worldwide Expedite!, a sibling company to Con-Way Now, which offers worldwide expedited services, including air transportation. Other players include specialists like UPS Sonic Air, which provides same-day service for the most critical shipments, and truckers like Landstar Express America, an operating company of Landstar System Inc. that arranges multimodal air and truck expedited transportation.
Even the truckload haulers are getting into the action. Schneider National, the nation's largest truckload carrier, established an expedited services division in 2000. Similar to Con-Way Now or FedEx Custom Critical, that division offers quick response, around-the-clock coverage and time-definite deliveries as well as time-critical service.
In some ways, expedited service is a natural extension of truckload carriage, which has always included exclusive use of vehicles and pointto-point transportation. Carriers that can add timely pickup and delivery within a narrow time frame can offer services close to those of the expedited specialists, at least for full truckload shipments.
Schneider has made an all-out push into this area. Its service, whose revenues grew by 83 percent last year, offers more than 800 dedicated drivers (both team and solo drivers), regular tracking and online visibility of shipments.
Dave Barton, the carrier's senior director of expedited services, reports that many of the division's customers are using the service for the linehaul portion of their moves, including the surface linehaul movement of imported goods from ports to customers' distribution centers. "We're becoming part of [our customers'] supply chain," says Barton. For his customers, he adds, the confidence that goods will arrive on time "goes beyond cost or the price of doing business."
One of those customers is Steve Foster, manager of domestic transportation for Limited Logistics Services, the logistics arm of the Limited Brands family of fashion and personal care products retailers. Limited Brands ships freight for all seven of its retail brands out of a single distribution center in Columbus, Ohio, where they are co-loaded into truckloads for quick delivery to specialized delivery agents in each major market. Those agents then handle delivery into the stores, most of which are located in shopping plazas and malls.
Schneider plays a major role in that system, handling not only inbound shipments to the DC but also serving as one of four carriers hauling the outbound loads. "Our entire network," says Foster,"is built around speed. It is extremely critical that Schneider pick up each night for delivery to the specialized agent in time to meet his schedule. If one piece goes down , the network goes down ."
What's in a name?
Whether it's labeled expedited, time-definite or just-in-time (as some carriers call it), this type of service is all about speed. But it's not to be confused with express. As Satish Jindel, a principal of the Pittsburgh-based SJ Consulting Group, explains, "Expedited is different from express. Express has scheduled pickups and scheduled delivery. Expedited has on-demand pickup and ondemand delivery." In fact, Jindel believes that what is often labeled "expedited service" would be better called "dedicated logistics or distribution service."
The difference is important, he says, because express services can be used in ways that improve productivity. "With expedited, you dispatch a dedicated vehicle; you cannot marry that with other deliveries to gain economies," he explains. "It is still a market only suitable for shipments of high intrinsic or real value."
But that's not to imply that expedited has no place in the well-run business. At times, even the best-designed system needs to use the traditional, emergency expedited services, Jindel concedes." If my credit card system is down," he says," I'll pay a thousand dollars to get it up and running."
Ultimately, the label on the service is less important than matching the service level to the need—whether the Schneider service for Limited Logistics, for instance, is properly called "expedited" is almost beside the point. But for retailers and manufacturers, at least, it's clear that the need for speed is not just about emergencies any more .
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Serious inland flooding and widespread power outages are likely to sweep across Florida and other Southeast states in coming days with the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is now predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the most catastrophic landfall impact is expected in the sparsely-population Big Bend area of Florida, it’s not only sea-front cities that are at risk. Since Helene is an “unusually large storm,” its flooding, rainfall, and high winds won’t be limited only to the Gulf Coast, but are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland, the weather service said. Heavy rainfall is expected to begin in the region even before the storm comes ashore, and the wet conditions will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday, dumping storm total rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches. Specifically, the major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta, and western North Carolina.
In addition to its human toll, the storm could exert serious business impacts, according to the supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc. Those will be largely triggered by significant flooding, which could halt oil operations, force mandatory evacuations, restrict ports, and disrupt air traffic.
While the storm’s track is currently forecast to miss the critical ports of Miami and New Orleans, it could still hurt operations throughout the Southeast agricultural belt, which produces products like soybeans, cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco, according to Everstream Analytics.
That widespread footprint could also hinder supply chain and logistics flows along stretches of interstate highways I-10 and I-75 and on regional rail lines operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. And Hurricane Helene could also likely impact business operations by unleashing power outages, deep flooding, and wind damage in northern Florida portions of Georgia, Everstream Analytics said.
Before the storm had even touched Florida soil, recovery efforts were already being launched by humanitarian aid group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). In a statement on Wednesday, the group said it is urging residents in the storm's path across the Southeast to heed evacuation notices and safety advisories, and reminding members of the logistics community that their post-storm help could be needed soon. The group will continue to update its Disaster Micro-Site with Hurricane Helene resources and with requests for donated logistics assistance, most of which will start arriving within 24 to 72 hours after the storm’s initial landfall, ALAN said.