Ben Ames has spent 20 years as a journalist since starting out as a daily newspaper reporter in Pennsylvania in 1995. From 1999 forward, he has focused on business and technology reporting for a number of trade journals, beginning when he joined Design News and Modern Materials Handling magazines. Ames is author of the trail guide "Hiking Massachusetts" and is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism.
Logistics software vendor project44 today released an upgrade to its supply chain visibility technology, saying the new platform offers improved cloud security and data-gathering capability.
The platform, called connectNG, includes enhancements to project44's core products, which use software tools called application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow users to quickly share data across supply networks. The approach is faster than alternative systems like electronic data interchange (EDI) or rate bureaus because APIs allow automated systems to communicate directly with one another instead of routing data through a third-party interface, the company said.
In recent months, project44 has added connections to its data-sharing network by integrating its core less-than-truckload (LTL) supply chain visibility technology with software partners such as the transportation management system (TMS) vendor McLeod Software Corp. That expansion is funded by a $10.5 million investment project44 received in September, at which time the company said it would add truckload, final-mile, and intermodal APIs to its core LTL products.
The release of connectNG supports that strategy by offering a more user-friendly interface that enables faster information consumption, reduced integration time, and improved collection of data from disparate sources, the company said.
Economic activity in the logistics industry expanded in November, continuing a steady growth pattern that began earlier this year and signaling a return to seasonality after several years of fluctuating conditions, according to the latest Logistics Managers’ Index report (LMI), released today.
The November LMI registered 58.4, down slightly from October’s reading of 58.9, which was the highest level in two years. The LMI is a monthly gauge of business conditions across warehousing and logistics markets; a reading above 50 indicates growth and a reading below 50 indicates contraction.
“The overall index has been very consistent in the past three months, with readings of 58.6, 58.9, and 58.4,” LMI analyst Zac Rogers, associate professor of supply chain management at Colorado State University, wrote in the November LMI report. “This plateau is slightly higher than a similar plateau of consistency earlier in the year when May to August saw four readings between 55.3 and 56.4. Seasonally speaking, it is consistent that this later year run of readings would be the highest all year.”
Separately, Rogers said the end-of-year growth reflects the return to a healthy holiday peak, which started when inventory levels expanded in late summer and early fall as retailers began stocking up to meet consumer demand. Pandemic-driven shifts in consumer buying behavior, inflation, and economic uncertainty contributed to volatile peak season conditions over the past four years, with the LMI swinging from record-high growth in late 2020 and 2021 to slower growth in 2022 and contraction in 2023.
“The LMI contracted at this time a year ago, so basically [there was] no peak season,” Rogers said, citing inflation as a drag on demand. “To have a normal November … [really] for the first time in five years, justifies what we’ve seen all these companies doing—building up inventory in a sustainable, seasonal way.
“Based on what we’re seeing, a lot of supply chains called it right and were ready for healthy holiday season, so far.”
The LMI has remained in the mid to high 50s range since January—with the exception of April, when the index dipped to 52.9—signaling strong and consistent demand for warehousing and transportation services.
The LMI is a monthly survey of logistics managers from across the country. It tracks industry growth overall and across eight areas: inventory levels and costs; warehousing capacity, utilization, and prices; and transportation capacity, utilization, and prices. The report is released monthly by researchers from Arizona State University, Colorado State University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rutgers University, and the University of Nevada, Reno, in conjunction with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP).
Retailers are deploying multiple carriers to deliver their packages, delivering lightning-fast delivery times this winter as peak season 2024 is off to the strongest start for e-commerce parcel handling since Covid-19, according to industry statistics from supply chain visibility platform provider Project44.
That success comes as the last mile peak season ramps up, spanning November to January as the year’s highest annual volumes are driven by holiday shopping, returns, and events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Proejct44 measures retailers’ and e-tailers’ performance in managing that rush with a metric called “delivery time,” which comprises fulfillment time—from order placement to shipment readiness, including picking, packing, and upstream transit—and transit time, which is the journey from the warehouse to the customer.
And in November 2024, the average delivery time was just 3.7 days—a 27% improvement from November 2023 and a 33% improvement from November 2022. That reduction shows a long-term trend where delivery times have decreased as online shopping grows and customer expectations rise, the report said. That move has been largely a reaction to Amazon’s standardization of 2-day shipping, which has reshaped the market, pushing companies to optimize processes and enhance satisfaction.
Speed isn’t the only metric that matters, as customer satisfaction and retention also hinge on on-time performance—the accuracy of the initial ETA provided at order placement. Therefore, building and maintaining a healthy e-commerce customer base requires both delivery speed and delivery predictability, Project44 said.
To deliver that performance—while mitigating shipping risks and increasing capacity—shippers increasingly use multiple carriers, the firm said. Counting by the average number of carriers used per account, carrier diversification has risen by two carriers per account since 2021, with a 5% increase between October and November 2024 as shippers expand their networks for peak season. According to Project44, this trend is fueled by the growing availability of smaller carriers like OnTrac, Deliver-it, and Veho, alongside established players such as UPS, FedEx, DHL, and USPS.
To be sure, customers still file complaints about last-mile delivery performance, but complaints about delayed deliveries have dropped 8% since 2022 and are 1% lower than in 2023, Project44 said. The top complaints are: delivered but missing (28%), delayed (28%), carrier complaint (17%), damaged (14%), customer service (%), returned to sender (4%), and incorrect items delivered (4%).
"After several years of mitigating inflation, disruption, supply shocks, conflicts, and uncertainty, we are currently in a relative period of calm," John Paitek, vice president, GEP, said in a release. "But it is very much the calm before the coming storm. This report provides procurement and supply chain leaders with a prescriptive guide to weathering the gale force headwinds of protectionism, tariffs, trade wars, regulatory pressures, uncertainty, and the AI revolution that we will face in 2025."
A report from the company released today offers predictions and strategies for the upcoming year, organized into six major predictions in GEP’s “Outlook 2025: Procurement & Supply Chain” report.
Advanced AI agents will play a key role in demand forecasting, risk monitoring, and supply chain optimization, shifting procurement's mandate from tactical to strategic. Companies should invest in the technology now to to streamline processes and enhance decision-making.
Expanded value metrics will drive decisions, as success will be measured by resilience, sustainability, and compliance… not just cost efficiency. Companies should communicate value beyond cost savings to stakeholders, and develop new KPIs.
Increasing regulatory demands will necessitate heightened supply chain transparency and accountability. So companies should strengthen supplier audits, adopt ESG tracking tools, and integrate compliance into strategic procurement decisions.
Widening tariffs and trade restrictions will force companies to reassess total cost of ownership (TCO) metrics to include geopolitical and environmental risks, as nearshoring and friendshoring attempt to balance resilience with cost.
Rising energy costs and regulatory demands will accelerate the shift to sustainable operations, pushing companies to invest in renewable energy and redesign supply chains to align with ESG commitments.
New tariffs could drive prices higher, just as inflation has come under control and interest rates are returning to near-zero levels. That means companies must continue to secure cost savings as their primary responsibility.
Freight transportation sector analysts with US Bank say they expect change on the horizon in that market for 2025, due to possible tariffs imposed by a new White House administration, the return of East and Gulf coast port strikes, and expanding freight fraud.
“All three of these merit scrutiny, and that is our promise as we roll into the new year,” the company said in a statement today.
First, US Bank said a new administration will occupy the White House and will control the House and Senate for the first time since 2016. With an announced mandate on tariffs, taxes and trade from his electoral victory, President-Elect Trump’s anticipated actions are almost certain to impact the supply chain, the bank said.
Second, a strike by longshoreman at East Coast and Gulf ports was suspended in October, but the can was only kicked until mid-January. Shipper alarm bells are already ringing, and with peak season in full swing, the West coast ports are roaring, having absorbed containers bound for the East. However, that status may not be sustainable in the event of a prolonged strike in January, US Bank said.
And third, analyst are tracking the proliferation of freight fraud, and its reverberations across the supply chain. No longer the realm of petty criminals, freight fraudsters have become increasingly sophisticated, and the financial toll of their activities in the loss of goods, and data, is expected to be in the billions, the bank estimates.
The move delivers on its August announcement of a fleet renewal plan that will allow the company to proceed on its path to decarbonization, according to a statement from Anda Cristescu, Head of Chartering & Newbuilding at Maersk.
The first vessels will be delivered in 2028, and the last delivery will take place in 2030, enabling a total capacity to haul 300,000 twenty foot equivalent units (TEU) using lower emissions fuel. The new vessels will be built in sizes from 9,000 to 17,000 TEU each, allowing them to fill various roles and functions within the company’s future network.
In the meantime, the company will also proceed with its plan to charter a range of methanol and liquified gas dual-fuel vessels totaling 500,000 TEU capacity, replacing existing capacity. Maersk has now finalized these charter contracts across several tonnage providers, the company said.
The shipyards now contracted to build the vessels are: Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and New Times Shipbuilding—both in China—and Hanwha Ocean in South Korea.