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 professionals throughout the industry are changing their work habits in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, as non-essential employees are told to work from home throughout Pennsylvania, New York, California, and in thousands of individual businesses across the country.
With many workers no longer reporting to the office, the transition is driving a spike in demand for cloud-based supply chain software as opposed to the on-premise platforms that typically run on a business’ own servers, many technology vendors say.
One example can be seen in transportation management software (TMS), according to InMotion Global Inc., the Tampa, Florida-based producer of the cloud-based product AscendTMS. New subscriptions to the AscendTMS platform are running 133% higher than the same period in 2019 as fleet carriers, brokers, third party logistics providers (3PLs), and shippers increasingly telecommute instead of head in to the office, the firm said.
In response to the trend, InMotion Global has dropped its subscription fee, making AscendTMS available at no cost to any company needing help for 30 days, the firm said Thursday. In addition to opening the platform to potential new customers, the move is intended to encourage the logistics community to follow “social distancing” procedures, the company said. Social distancing policies are intended to slow the spread of the virus and buy time for medical professionals to acquire the ventilators, hospital beds, and other equipment needed to treat the sickest patients.
“The rush by logistics companies to have their staff work from home has caused AscendTMS subscriptions to explode this month,” Chris Parker, COO at AscendTMS, said in a release. “It looks like the recent government mandates are being heeded as more and more companies are being forced to let their logistics teams working from home to avoid possible coronavirus infection from community spread.”
Another company seeing fast subscription growth is Route4Me, whose “Dynamic Route Optimization” software helps plan last-mile delivery routes. In the interest of public health and safety, the company said Wednesday it is now offering all its available services free of charge to all government agencies at the federal, city, and municipality level around the world. Route4Me says its service is being made available as an unlimited free subscription until the peak of the coronavirus public threat has passed. Public officials can sign up for a free trial, permitting any number of team members to be added to a trial account.
“Driver shortages existed before the pandemic, but things have gotten much worse,” Route4Me Founder and CEO Dan Khasis said in a release. “Our technology will help plan the shortest, fastest, and most optimal driving routes, and it will also help track the location and progress of each task and route destination. Gaining visibility into activities completed by employees, contractors, or volunteers is very powerful when every minute of activity helps others.”
formant.io, a San Francisco-based company whose platform allows users to observe, manage, and operate fleets of robots remotely. The firm is now offering free access to its platform to any organization working to fight the pandemic, saying it will also provide free technical consultation and support. formant.io has also extended the standard trial period of its observability and teleoperation platforms from 30 days to 90, saying the move can help accelerate robotics development while keeping the industry’s employees safe.
Elementum, a San Mateo, California-based provider of supply chain incident management solutions, that has invited supply chain organizations affected by disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic to use its “Elementum Essentials” product at no cost for the rest of this year. Teams can use the tool to track, manage, collaborate, and resolve supply chain disruptions even if teams and external partners are working remotely from their homes, the firm says.
Jump Technologies, an Eagan, Minnesota-based firm that has temporarily opened its inventory management platform to all hospitals at no cost, saying the move can help facilities ensure they have the proper personal protective equipment (PPE) and related COVID-19 supplies available for hospital workers.
The number of container ships waiting outside U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports has swelled from just three vessels on Sunday to 54 on Thursday as a dockworker strike has swiftly halted bustling container traffic at some of the nation’s business facilities, according to analysis by Everstream Analytics.
As of Thursday morning, the two ports with the biggest traffic jams are Savannah (15 ships) and New York (14), followed by single-digit numbers at Mobile, Charleston, Houston, Philadelphia, Norfolk, Baltimore, and Miami, Everstream said.
The impact of that clogged flow of goods will depend on how long the strike lasts, analysts with Moody’s said. The firm’s Moody’s Analytics division estimates the strike will cause a daily hit to the U.S. economy of at least $500 million in the coming days. But that impact will jump to $2 billion per day if the strike persists for several weeks.
The immediate cost of the strike can be seen in rising surcharges and rerouting delays, which can be absorbed by most enterprise-scale companies but hit small and medium-sized businesses particularly hard, a report from Container xChange says.
“The timing of this strike is especially challenging as we are in our traditional peak season. While many pulled forward shipments earlier this year to mitigate risks, stockpiled inventories will only cushion businesses for so long. If the strike continues for an extended period, we could see significant strain on container availability and shipping schedules,” Christian Roeloffs, cofounder and CEO of Container xChange, said in a release.
“For small and medium-sized container traders, this could result in skyrocketing logistics costs and delays, making it harder to secure containers. The longer the disruption lasts, the more difficult it will be for these businesses to keep pace with market demands,” Roeloffs said.
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.
National nonprofit Wreaths Across America (WAA) kicked off its 2024 season this week with a call for volunteers. The group, which honors U.S. military veterans through a range of civic outreach programs, is seeking trucking companies and professional drivers to help deliver wreaths to cemeteries across the country for its annual wreath-laying ceremony, December 14.
“Wreaths Across America relies on the transportation industry to move the mission. The Honor Fleet, composed of dedicated carriers, professional drivers, and other transportation partners, guarantees the delivery of millions of sponsored veterans’ wreaths to their destination each year,” Courtney George, WAA’s director of trucking and industry relations, said in a statement Tuesday. “Transportation partners benefit from driver retention and recruitment, employee engagement, positive brand exposure, and the opportunity to give back to their community’s veterans and military families.”
WAA delivers wreaths to more than 4,500 locations nationwide, and as of this week had added more than 20 loads to be delivered this season. The wreaths are donated by sponsors from across the country, delivered by truckers, and laid at the graves of veterans by WAA volunteers.
Wreaths Across America
Transportation companies interested in joining the Honor Fleet can visit the WAA website to find an open lane or contact the WAA transportation team at trucking@wreathsacrossamerica.org for more information.