Lauterach, March 31, 2023 - For the second consecutive year, Gebrüder Weiss is hosting “Cycling around the World.” The global logistics company is calling on cycling enthusiasts from around the world to pedal hard starting on April 1. This year, the organization wants to top the surprising success of 2022: instead of six circumnavigations of the world, the goal is to complete seven, corresponding to 280,525 kilometers. Participating cyclists have until the end of September to finish. The number of kilometers completed will be recorded and calculated in a cycling app.
The idea behind this year’s sporting competition is environmental protection: for every 40 kilometers cycled, Gebrüder Weiss will pay for a tree to be planted in Nicaragua. This Central American country is severely affected by climate change, and the trees planted there are intended to protect against flooding. The organization partner is PRIMAKLIMA, a non-profit association that has been involved in reforestation projects for more than 30 years.
“We are excited to see how ambitious the participants will be this time. The bar is high, but we believe in our cycling community, which we hope will continue to grow. This campaign is aimed at anyone who enjoys exercising and wants to make a contribution to environmentally friendly mobility. Every kilometer counts, and together we can make a big difference – after all, that's what we like to do most as a logistics company,” says Frank Haas, Head of Corporate Brand Strategy & Communications at Gebrüder Weiss. A Gravelbike will be raffled off among the top 250 cyclists. Prizes will also be awarded for completing individual categories ranging from 60 to 6,000 kilometers.
The first edition of the Gebrüder Weiss cycling campaign ended in September 2022 with a total distance covered of 249,392 kilometers. At that time, the international field of participants had surpassed the original goal of “only” one circumnavigation of the globe (40,075 kilometers) many times over and, with this mileage, contributed to the replanting of 5,000 trees in Togo, Africa.
To find out more about or how to participate in Gebrüder Weiss’s 2023 “Cycling Around the World” campaign, visit www.gw-world.com/de/cycling-around-the-world.
Caption: “Cycling around the World” – completing as many as seven circumnavigations of the globe is the goal of this year’s Gebrüder Weiss cycling campaign, which will run from April 1 to September 30, 2023. All interested parties, both inside and outside the company, can take part in the campaign. (Source: Gebrüder Weiss)
About Gebrüder Weiss
Gebrüder Weiss, a global freight forwarder with a core business of overland transport, air, and sea freight and logistics, is the world's oldest transport company with a history that dates back more than 500 years. The family-owned company employs more than 8,400 people worldwide and boasts 180 company-owned locations. The business presence in North America includes headquarters in Chicago and offices in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, El Paso, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. The twin strengths of digital and physical competence enable Gebrüder Weiss to respond swiftly and flexibly to customers’ needs. The organization has implemented a wide variety of environmental, economic and social initiatives and is also considered a pioneer in sustainable business practices. Customized solutions with a single point of contact provide customers with an exceptional service experience focused on reliable and economical solutions. www.gw-world.com/us
Contact
Gebrüder Weiss North America
Karolyn Raphael
312-494-0422
Karolyn@wingermarketing.com
1020 N. Wood Dale Road
Wood Dale, IL 60191
T +1.847.795.4300
www.gw-world.com/us
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.