Locus Unveils ‘ShipFlex’ To Equip Businesses With Flexible & Intelligent Third-Party Delivery
ShipFlex brings same-day & next-day delivery to enterprises through a simple integration, helping them optimize third-party delivery from order to doorstep.
San Francisco -- March 21, 2023 -- Locus, a global last-mile logistics technology company, announced the launch of ShipFlex, a third-party delivery platform that provides businesses with the flexibility to fully outsource their deliveries to a wide range of delivery carriers. ShipFlex helps businesses expand their reach and achieve break-neck delivery speeds, enabling them to offer same-day and next-day delivery capabilities in new geographies.
Inefficient carrier selection, capacity management, lack of real-time order visibility, etc., are some barriers that can hamper a business’s ability to make quick deliveries. Locus ShipFlex addresses these complexities by automating entire carrier workflows for the optimal price and delivering end-to-end visibility of order-to-doorstep deliveries across in-house, contracted, and outsourced fleets on a single dashboard. The platform also gives businesses access to Locus’ global carrier partners, such as FedEx, RPX Logistics, Loomis Express, Shadowfax, SPL, etc., helping them with their delivery orchestration in a much more efficient and cost-effective manner.
"Predictability and transparency are the two pillars of modern-day logistics operations. To efficiently manage the colossal order volumes, achieve lightning-fast deliveries, and consistently deliver an exceptional customer experience, businesses need to have full control of their last-mile operations", said Nishith Rastogi, Founder and CEO of Locus. "ShipFlex is a result of our years of logistics industry experience and customer feedback. Through the integration with our dispatch management platform, ShipFlex will solve industry pain points by streamlining the entire last-mile fulfillment cycle, reducing costs, and improving the customer experience. ShipFlex is a game-changer for businesses that need fast, predictable deliveries to stay competitive."
Retail businesses like Lulu Group International are adopting Locus ShipFlex to achieve a competitive edge. Here’s what they have to say:
"As customer demand skyrockets, the complexity of managing our carrier network has proven to be a huge optimization opportunity. With Locus' ShipFlex, we can streamline third-party deliveries with rich carrier integrations, real-time tracking, and more on a single dashboard. This has enabled us to take full control of our third-party order-to-delivery process, operate more efficiently, and ensure timely deliveries, resulting in an enhanced customer experience", said Shinhas Majeed, Group General Manager - eCommerce at Lulu Group International.
By deploying ShipFlex, businesses can also:
-Reach customers on-demand with hyper-local delivery: Same-day or next-day delivery can be offered to customers in the local area, providing an unparalleled customer experience.
-Maintain a branded experience with third-party carriers: Businesses can share customizable end customer-facing tracking pages while maintaining a consistent visibility and delivery experience through 3PLs.
-Enhanced post-purchase experience: Visibility is ensured at every step for dispatch managers and customers alike. ShipFlex allows the automation of SMS and email alerts to notify dispatch teams and customers of SLA breaches in real-time, delivering a positive customer experience.
For more information, visit - Locus ShipFlex.
About Locus
Locus is a leading-edge technology company solving one of the most challenging global supply chain problems: Last-Mile logistics. Locus' order-to-delivery dispatch management software helps enterprises transform their Last-Mile logistics operations from cost centers to revenue generators through advanced optimization algorithms and intuitive workflow automation that equip businesses with the tools needed to maximize efficiency while delighting customers.
Founded in 2015 and backed by GIC Singapore, Tiger Global, Qualcomm Ventures, and Falcon Edge, Locus has helped a wide range of customers globally across industries – including Unilever, Nestle, Bukalapak, The Tata Group, BlueDart, etc. – execute 850 million deliveries across 30+ countries across North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, ANZ, and the Indian subcontinent. Its technology has also helped save $275 million in transit costs, offsetting 10 million kilograms in CO2 emissions while maintaining 99.5% SLA adherence ratio.
The German forklift vendor Kion Group plans to lay off an unspecified number of workers as part of an “efficiency program” it is launching to strengthen the company’s resilience and maintain headroom for future investments, the company said today.
The new structural measures are intended to optimize Kion’s efficiency, executives said in their fourth quarter earnings report.
“While internal programs to continuously improve product, production, and services costs were already up and running throughout 2024 and will continue, further structural measures will address a more efficient setup for Kion in Europe. This is expected to have an impact on personnel requirements subject to consultations with the respective employee representative bodies as required by local laws,” the report said.
“The efficiency program is addressing developments in the macroeconomic environment. European economies are struggling to gain momentum – this affects key customer industries in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment, where Chinese competitors have been improving their market position in the aftermaths of the recent pandemics,” Kion said.
The move comes as Kion reported that it finished its 2024 financial year with slightly improved revenue of $11.9 billion (over $11.8 billion in 2023), and profitability (measured as earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT)) that significantly increased to $951 million (over $820 million in 2023).
The company now plans to pay $249 to $269 million in financial year 2025 to implement the cost saving measures. Following that one-time charge, it expects to achieve sustainable cost savings of $145 million to $166 million per year, beginning in 2026.
“In order to maintain headroom for investments ensuring our future, to further strengthen our competitiveness and our resilience, we must manage our cost base. This requires structural and sustainable measures,” Christian Harm, CFO of Kion, said in a release.
By the numbers, fourth quarter shipment volume was down 4.7% compared to the prior quarter, while spending dropped 2.2%.
Geographically, fourth-quarter shipment volume was low across all regions. The Northeast had the smallest decline at 1.2% with the West just behind with a contraction of 2.1%. And the Southeast saw shipments drop 6.7%, the most of all regions, as hurricanes impacted freight activity.
“While this quarter’s Index revealed spending overall on truck freight continues to decline, we did see some signs that spending per truck is increasing,” said Bobby Holland, U.S. Bank director of freight business analytics. “Shipments falling more than spending – even with lower fuel surcharges – suggests tighter capacity.”
The U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index measures quantitative changes in freight shipments and spend activity based on data from transactions processed through U.S. Bank Freight Payment, which processes more than $43 billion in freight payments annually for shippers and carriers across the U.S.
“It’s clear there are both cyclical and structural challenges remaining as we look for a truck freight market reboot,” Bob Costello, senior vice president and chief economist at the American Trucking Associations (ATA) said in a release on the results. “For instance, factory output softness – which has a disproportionate impact on truck freight volumes – is currently weighing heavily on our industry.”
Volvo Autonomous Solutions will form a strategic partnership with autonomous driving technology and generative AI provider Waabi to jointly develop and deploy autonomous trucks, with testing scheduled to begin later this year.
The announcement came two weeks after autonomous truck developer Kodiak Robotics said it had become the first company in the industry to launch commercial driverless trucking operations. That milestone came as oil company Atlas Energy Solutions Inc. used two RoboTrucks—which are semi-trucks equipped with the Kodiak Driver self-driving system—to deliver 100 loads of fracking material on routes in the Permian Basin in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico.
Atlas now intends to scale up its RoboTruck deployment “considerably” over the course of 2025, with multiple RoboTruck deployments expected throughout the year. In support of that, Kodiak has established a 12-person office in Odessa, Texas, that is projected to grow to approximately 20 people by the end of Q1 2025.
Businesses dependent on ocean freight are facing shipping delays due to volatile conditions, as the global average trip for ocean shipments climbed to 68 days in the fourth quarter compared to 60 days for that same quarter a year ago, counting time elapsed from initial booking to clearing the gate at the final port, according to E2open.
Those extended transit times and booking delays are the ripple effects of ongoing turmoil at key ports that is being caused by geopolitical tensions, labor shortages, and port congestion, Dallas-based E2open said in its quarterly “Ocean Shipping Index” report.
The most significant contributor to the year-over-year (YoY) increase is actual transit time, alongside extraordinary volatility that has created a complex landscape for businesses dependent on ocean freight, the report found.
"Economic headwinds, geopolitical turbulence and uncertain trade routes are creating unprecedented disruptions within the ocean shipping industry. From continued Red Sea diversions to port congestion and labor unrest, businesses face a complex landscape of obstacles, all while grappling with possibility of new U.S. tariffs," Pawan Joshi, chief strategy officer (CSO) at e2open, said in a release. "We can expect these ongoing issues will be exacerbated by the Lunar New Year holiday, as businesses relying on Asian suppliers often rush to place orders, adding strain to their supply chains.”
Lunar New Year this year runs from January 29 to February 8, and often leads to supply chain disruptions as massive worker travel patterns across Asia leads to closed factories and reduced port capacity.
Women are significantly underrepresented in the global transport sector workforce, comprising only 12% of transportation and storage workers worldwide as they face hurdles such as unfavorable workplace policies and significant gender gaps in operational, technical and leadership roles, a study from the World Bank Group shows.
This underrepresentation limits diverse perspectives in service design and decision-making, negatively affects businesses and undermines economic growth, according to the report, “Addressing Barriers to Women’s Participation in Transport.” The paper—which covers global trends and provides in-depth analysis of the women’s role in the transport sector in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA)—was prepared jointly by the World Bank Group, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the European Investment Bank (EIB), and the International Transport Forum (ITF).
The slim proportion of women in the sector comes at a cost, since increasing female participation and leadership can drive innovation, enhance team performance, and improve service delivery for diverse users, while boosting GDP and addressing critical labor shortages, researchers said.
To drive solutions, the researchers today unveiled the Women in Transport (WiT) Network, which is designed to bring together transport stakeholders dedicated to empowering women across all facets and levels of the transport sector, and to serve as a forum for networking, recruitment, information exchange, training, and mentorship opportunities for women.
Initially, the WiT network will cover only the Europe and Central Asia and the Middle East and North Africa regions, but it is expected to gradually expand into a global initiative.
“When transport services are inclusive, economies thrive. Yet, as this joint report and our work at the EIB reveal, few transport companies fully leverage policies to better attract, retain and promote women,” Laura Piovesan, the European Investment Bank (EIB)’s Director General of the Projects Directorate, said in a release. “The Women in Transport Network enables us to unite efforts and scale impactful solutions - benefiting women, employers, communities and the climate.”