American Airlines is expanding its cargo-only operations this month to transport essential telecommunications equipment and electronics between the Netherlands and the U.S. in order to keep businesses connected and informed during the Covid-19 outbreak. The cargo-only flight will operate twice weekly between Amsterdam and Dallas/Fort Worth. Without passengers onboard, each Boeing 777-300ER aircraft can carry approximately 54,000 kilograms of cargo in the belly hold.
In March, American began operating its first cargo-only flights since 1984 between DFW and Frankfurt (FRA). Since then, American has begun operating 46 weekly cargo-only flights between the U.S, Europe, Asia, and Latin America, providing more than 3 million kilograms of capacity to transport critical goods each week. In addition to AMS-DFW, American is expanding its cargo-only service to multiple destinations including DFW and Dublin (DUB); between New York (JFK) and London Heathrow (LHR), and between Miami (MIA) and Buenos Aires (EZE).
In addition to carrying the telecommunications equipment and electronics from Amsterdam, the company is moving cargo the assist the global coronavirus relief effort, including medical supplies, personal protective equipment (PPE) and pharmaceuticals, as well as essential goods including manufacturing and automotive equipment, mail, fresh fruit, vegetables, and fish.
And in other examples of the logistics industry dedicating its assets to the coronavirus fight:
Trucking trade group the American Trucking Associations (ATA) has partnered with Protective Insurance Co. to expand the availability and supply of hand sanitizer to truckers along major U.S. freight corridors. ATA and member-company ABF Freight are hauling ten 55-gallon drums of hand sanitizer, purchased by Protective Insurance, for distribution in eight states, where drivers will be able to refill their personal supplies at no cost. Drums are now in place at locations in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with the remaining load in transit for delivery this week. “Crossing the bridge from crisis to recovery hinges on the integrity of our supply chain and its ability to keep moving,” ATA President and CEO Chris Spear said in a release. “Protecting America’s truck drivers, and ensuring they can stay safe and healthy while on the road, is paramount. While we continue to work with federal agencies on the strategic distribution of PPE, we’re also taking our own initiative—partnering with industry allies—to build supply networks for drivers to tap into.”
FedEx Corp. has unveiled an alliance with the cloud e-commerce platform provider BigCommerce, saying the deal will help brick-and-mortar businesses that have been shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic transition from running physical stores to moving their retail operations online. The two companies are collaborating on an offer for new BigCommerce customers, consisting of four months of free service with BigCommerce and discounted FedEx shipping rates. “As we all face the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19, it’s even more important for small and medium businesses to be able to continue providing much-needed goods and services to their communities,” Randy Scarborough, vice president of Customer Engagement Marketing at FedEx, said in a release. “We’re proud to team up with BigCommerce to make it easier for more businesses to move online quickly so they can stay connected to commerce and deliver for their customers.”
Transportation information management startup Breakthrough is using its data to facilitate capacity-sharing opportunities among shippers whose supply chains have been disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Working with both its clients who express a desire to help or a need for capacity, Breakthrough is utilizing its broad set of North American transportation data to connect shippers based on their network flows and freight characteristics. Facilitating partnerships between shippers with underutilized private fleets or excess dedicated fleet capacity and shippers in need allows products in high demand to get to consumers faster, while keeping drivers of private and dedicated fleets employed during this time of uncertainty, the firm said. “As this crisis spreads across the country, we’ve all looked at our businesses to see what we can do to make a difference, and our clients, in a typically highly-competitive industry, have done just that,” Breakthrough COO Heather Mueller said in a release. “Breakthrough saw this as an opportunity to coordinate support and provide relief to shippers who need it.”
Logistics robot technology provider Brain Corp. is donating $1.6 million worth of autonomous floor cleaning robots and services to essential businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic. Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are playing a vital role in helping support essential businesses and their workers on the front lines of the health crisis, since retailers, airports, and hospitals are required to clean more frequently and deliver more cleaning coverage than usual. Autonomous floor scrubbers powered by Brain Corp.’s BrainOS software are providing more than 8,000 hours of daily work—equal to a quarter-million hours over the next 30 days—that otherwise would have to be done by an essential worker, the company said. By deploying robots, those workers are freed up to focus on other critical tasks, such as disinfecting high-contact surfaces, re-stocking, supporting customers, or even taking a much-needed break.
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 U.S. manufacturing sector has become an engine of new job creation over the past four years, thanks to a combination of federal incentives and mega-trends like nearshoring and the clean energy boom, according to the industrial real estate firm Savills.
While those manufacturing announcements have softened slightly from their 2022 high point, they remain historically elevated. And the sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of the November U.S. presidential election, the company said in its September “Savills Manufacturing Report.”
From 2021 to 2024, over 995,000 new U.S. manufacturing jobs were announced, with two thirds in advanced sectors like electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries, semiconductors, clean energy, and biomanufacturing. After peaking at 350,000 news jobs in 2022, the growth pace has slowed, with 2024 expected to see just over half that number.
But the ingredients are in place to sustain the hot temperature of American manufacturing expansion in 2025 and beyond, the company said. According to Savills, that’s because the U.S. manufacturing revival is fueled by $910 billion in federal incentives—including the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—much of which has not yet been spent. Domestic production is also expected to be boosted by new tariffs, including a planned rise in semiconductor tariffs to 50% in 2025 and an increase in tariffs on Chinese EVs from 25% to 100%.
Certain geographical regions will see greater manufacturing growth than others, since just eight states account for 47% of new manufacturing jobs and over 6.3 billion square feet of industrial space, with 197 million more square feet under development. They are: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee.
Across the border, Mexico’s manufacturing sector has also seen “revolutionary” growth driven by nearshoring strategies targeting U.S. markets and offering lower-cost labor, with a workforce that is now even cheaper than in China. Over the past four years, that country has launched 27 new plants, each creating over 500 jobs. Unlike the U.S. focus on tech manufacturing, Mexico focuses on traditional sectors such as automative parts, appliances, and consumer goods.
Looking at the future, the U.S. manufacturing sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of November’s presidential election, Savills said. That’s because both candidates favor protectionist trade policies, and since significant change to federal incentives would require a single party to control both the legislative and executive branches. Rather than relying on changes in political leadership, future growth of U.S. manufacturing now hinges on finding affordable, reliable power amid increasing competition between manufacturing sites and data centers, Savills 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.