FIATA AND MEMBERS

FIATA IS GOING ON SAFARI – COME WITH US

FIATA World Congress 2019 will be held in Cape Town, South Africa 1 – 5 October.

You are coming to Africa! This is your chance to experience a unique once-in-a lifetime Big Five Safari. Track these wild animals, live in luxury, dine under the starry Southern skies, and immerse yourself in the African bush. The Congress Organiser has designed a tailor-made safari package for FIATA participants. Visit the virtual itinerary: https://bit.ly/2LdrHpX

In the coming weeks and months, we will take you through all you need to know about the Congress. More information can be found on the Congress website (www.fiata2019.org), and you are welcome to email info(at)fiata2019.org with any questions.

2019 RAME Field Meeting Beirut, Lebanon – June 24-26^th 

RAME Beirut 2019 is the perfect meeting point for a rich Networking experience & an inestimable opportunity to exchange Knowledge & challenges to develop the sector, get hold of valuable information and learnings in the field of logistics and promote alliances and business between The Middle East, Africa and the world.

The Lebanese Forwarders Syndicate have gathered some of the top leaders in the logistics, freight forwarding and shipping industry ranging from UNCTAD, WTO, TradeLens. In addition, the FIATA President, Mr Babar Badat will also join us in Beirut to discuss issues that are related to developing, modernizing and reforming the freight sector.

For further details and how to register, please visit the field meeting website – https://rame2019.com/

Freight Forwarding Association Warns of Looming Deadline for Training Grants 

Even mentioning Brexit may have now become so irritating to anyone in the country that they might well ‘switch off’ when the word is mentioned, but today comes a timely reminder from the British International Freight Association (BIFA) that a deadline looms which many involved in the shipping of goods may need to be reminded of.

BIFA is alerting its members to the fact that the last date which they can apply for funding from the Government’s £5 million grant scheme to support training in the customs intermediaries sector is the 31st May.

For more details, please visit: https://www.handyshippingguide.com/shipping-news/freight-forwarding-and-logistics-association-warns-of-looming-deadline-for-training-grants_11943

WORLD ECONOMY

Amazon, freight tech and digital brokers drive the conversation at Transparency19

In a panel discussion, “The Bull, the Bear and the Other Guy,” moderated by FreightWaves President George Abernathy, insight was provided about the direction of the freight markets and how disruptors and technology will lead the way.

Broughton thinks Amazon has been a strong disruptor, but in business-to-consumer markets where the buyer is unsophisticated. He hasn’t seen any successful Amazon disruptions in a business-to-business application where the buyer has scale and is very sophisticated.

Amazon’s recent activity signals that it is positioning itself as a logistics player in the B2C space and now moving towards B2B. FIATA and its members work with Amazon merchants and provide the extra needed value add in the B2B sector which are typically overlooked when moving goods through a B2C model.

For more details, please visit: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/the-economy-amazon-jbht-freight-tech-and-digital-brokers-drive-the-conversation-at-transparency19

Optimizing 3PL and Freight Forwarder Relationships to Drive Innovation

Relationships with third-party logistics providers and freight forwarders have the potential to deliver value beyond the primary scope of work through data-driven optimization insights. But many enterprises have little to no formal mechanism or governance process in place to engage their freight and logistics partners to deliver maximum value.

Without these formal governance processes in place, enterprises are likely missing opportunities to leverage nuanced market data, expertise and insights of their suppliers to optimize individual programs. Understanding the value that logistics partners can provide, and establishing a solid governance framework for encouraging and driving them to deliver analytics and insights to highlight that value, can ensure that such relationships are optimized to support business needs.

For more details, please visit: https://www.supplychainbrain.com/blogs/1-think-tank/post/29682-optimizing-3pl-and-freight-forwarder-relationships-to-drive-innovation

More Industrial Product Lands Near Airports

The U.S. industrial market has now recorded more than 240 million square feet of net absorption for four consecutive years, the strongest run on record, with an all-time high of 284.9 million square feet in 2018, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

Nowhere is the demand for industrial product more apparent than in the area surrounding John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens, which handles more than 1.3 million tons of air freight every year, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

For more details, please visit: http://rebusinessonline.com/more-industrial-product-lands-near-airports/

SEA FREIGHT

Freight forwarders and NVOs drawn to Miami

Michael Thybo worked a dozen years as the branch manager for a global forwarder/NVO in Houston, but the bigger the company became through acquisitions the more it lost its entrepreneurial spirit among its staff and customers.

“Here in Miami, it’s the small and midsize clients that we focus on,” he said. “It’s those with one, two or three containers a month who want personalized service and want to speak with someone on the phone.”

For more details, please visit: https://www.americanshipper.com/magazine/daily/?year=2019&month=5&day=10&page_number=1&via=asdaily

Falling ECSA-Asia spot rates put shippers on notice

After container lines slashed capacity by nearly one-fifth with only a short-lived bump in spot rates, shippers moving goods from Asia to the east coast of South America (ECSA) should brace for more capacity cuts. However, carriers may find it difficult to withdraw additional capacity as long as backhaul volume, in particular exports from Brazil, remains strong.

Carriers in early March cut capacity approximately 18 percent on the trade, which accounts for nearly one-third of all foreign containerized trade in and out of Brazil, by skipping sailings on two strings and slow-steaming another service. Maersk Line and Ocean Network Express each canceled voyages on their respective Asia/Asas and Ipanema loops, while Evergreen, Cosco Shipping, Yang Ming, and CMA CGM slowed their joint ESA service. This pushed headhaul spot rates up to $1,500 per TEU, only for rates to fall back below $1,000 per TEU this month, according to São Paulo-based SOLVE Shipping Intelligence Specialists.

In order to help improve working relationship with maritime operators, FIATA Published a second edition of its Best Practices on Container Shipping and Quality of Containers last week. Our Working Group Sea noticed that the quality of containers provided by shipping lines in global container shipping has decreased significantly. One has to come to the conclusion that shipping lines are cutting cost in the maintenance of their equipment.

For more details, please visit: https://www.joc.com/maritime-news/container-lines/capacity-cuts-keep-asia-ecsa-rates-afloat_20190515.html

AIR FREIGHT

IATA, ACAO sign MoU to Advance Aviation in MENA

IATA and The Arab Civil Aviation Organization (ACAO) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to deepen their cooperation to advance the safe, efficient and sustainable development of air transport in the Middle East North Africa region (MENA).

“ACAO aims to strengthen cooperation and coordination among Arab countries in the field of civil aviation. The MoU with IATA will strengthen the cooperation between states and the aviation industry, a key partnership for the advancement of civil aviation and the promotion of universal standards. Twenty-one countries across the Arab world will benefit from this important step taken with IATA”, said Abdennebi Manar, Director General of ACAO.

For more details, please visit: https://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/Pages/2019-04-23-01.aspx

DHL sees airfreight volumes slide but rates boost revenues

DHL Global Forwarding saw its airfreight volumes decline for the fifth quarter in a row in the first three months of the year, but profits at its air division increased as rates improved on a year ago.

The Deutsche Post-owned freight forwarder reported a 4.2% decline in airfreight volumes during the first quarter to 495,000 tonnes, while air revenues increased by 3.4% on a year earlier to €1.2bn and gross profits improved by 4.2% to €224m.

For more details, please visit: https://www.aircargonews.net/freight-forwarder/dhl-sees-airfreight-volumes-slide-but-rates-boost-revenues/

Securing the air cargo supply chain

Any air traveler in the United States would recognize U.S. Department of Homeland Security Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inspectors and carry-on screening equipment at airports throughout the country. When it comes to air cargo, that same government entity, the TSA, is also responsible for setting and managing the security programs that keep passengers and cargo aircraft flying safely in the U.S.

But air cargo is very different from passengers. The vast majority of air cargo in the United States comes from companies and organizations whose core business is shipping products and supplies to customers or company locations.

For more details, please visit: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/airfreight/securing-the-air-cargo-supply-chain

RAIL AND ROAD FREIGHT

Trucking economist: Economy slowing, but growing

The economy isn’t growing as fast as it was, but it’s still growing, and a recession may not occur until 2021 or even later, the American Trucking Associations’ chief economist and senior vice president said Wednesday (May 15).

E-commerce is also having an effect on the length of hauls. The average dryvan truckload haul has fallen from 796 miles in 2000 to 507 miles in 2018, a drop of 36%. That reduction will affect driver pay, truck purchasing cycles, and profitability.

FIATA took early steps to engage with its members on eCommerce practices, highlighting that logistics will need to meet the growing demands of eTraders, meanwhile eCommerce will need to rely on logistics to ensure product fulfilment. This relationship will see the face of logistics evolve rapidly. Position paper here.

For more details, please visit: https://talkbusiness.net/2019/05/trucking-economist-economy-slowing-but-growing/

Einride Autonomous Truck Begins Daily Freight Deliveries in Sweden

According to various European news outlets including Reuters, Einride’s T-Pod autonomous truck, which was introduced last year, has begun making daily freight deliveries on a short route between a warehouse and a terminal– on a public road in an industrial area in Jonkoping in central Sweden– at speeds up to 5 kph.

“This public road permit is a major milestone … and it is a step to commercializing autonomous technology on roads,” the former Volvo executive told Reuters. “Since we’re a software and operational first company, a partnership with a manufacturing company is something that we see as a core moving forward,” he said, adding he hoped to seal a deal by next year.

FIATA has been following developments in the autonomous trucking space for multiple years recently inviting Indian based Autonomous trucking company Flux Auto to our 2018 FIATA World Congress in Delhi, India to shed light on where such technology fits within the freight forwarding industry.

For more details, please visit: https://www.truckinginfo.com/331994/enride-autonomous-truck-begins-daily-freight-deliveries-in-sweden

DOT to eliminate government’s “heavy hand” in HOS changes

A top Trump Administration official provided more context into the level of flexibility regulators will be considering when trucking hours of service (HOS) changes are rolled out in June.

Speaking on May 16 at the annual Global Supply Chain summit hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., Jannine Miller, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), said HOS regulations – and making common sense changes to them – is one of the department’s near-term priorities.

For more details, please visit: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/dot-to-eliminate-governments-heavy-hand-in-hos-changes

INNOVATIONS

The next Uber will come from the $1.2 trillion global truck and shipping industry

Trucking is a huge business, generating $260 billion in revenue in the U.S., 20% of a global total of $1.2 trillion, according to McKinsey & Co. Trucks deliver two-thirds of all products shipped each year, but the business is highly fragmented, with the average U.S. trucking company owning three trucks or less.

There may be a technology solution for that. A number of autonomous driving companies, including Alphabet’s Waymo, Embark, Otto and Einride, as well as established automakers like Volvo and Tesla, are working on autonomous trucks.

For more details, please visit: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/15/convoy-flexport-automating-the-shipping-industry.html

SAP integrates Uber Freight into logistics platform

Uber Freight quotes and guaranteed capacity are now available to SAP Logistics Business Network users as part of a new partnership between the two, SAP announced Monday.

SAP Logistics Business Network is used by shippers, freight forwarders, carriers and other logistics partners to manage freight and share data and insights. This marks Uber Freight’s first integration with a third-party software provider.

Additional competition from emerging technologies is highly encouraged in order to ensure that the freight forwarding industry continues to offer value added services which are highly customer centric. It is important to note that technology alone is not enough to satisfy the needs of customers and there will also be a relationship aspect within the supply chain industry.

For more details, please visit: https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/SAP-Uber-Freight-integration-brokerage/553737/

Thriving in the Age of Data and Digital Transformation

(IATA) announced that supporting airlines’ ability to thrive in the coming age of data and digital transformation will be the focus of the 2019 Aviation Data Symposium.

“Air travel demand is expected to double by 2037. Accommodating that growth safely and efficiently while meeting rising passenger expectations for a more personalized experience, depends on our ability to better integrate data and embrace digital transformation in our industry,” said IATA’s Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac, who will deliver remarks at the symposium.

For more details, please visit: https://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/Pages/2019-05-09-01.aspx

Traditional forwarder systems designed to be secure, not to share data

If the future is all about data sharing and transparency, then traditional freight forwarder IT systems are not the natural place to start, according to Moritz Claussen, co-founder of online booking platform cargo.one.

“They were designed to be secure, not to share data,” he explained to delegates at the Air Cargo News Conference 2019. “And many of the larger players have grown by absorbing other companies so sometimes they find it difficult even to share data internally. The industry is not really ready to do e-commerce – it is not fast or transparent enough.”

The sharing and use of data have been consistently tapped as the next frontier. The logistics industry produces a great deal of data touching so many points throughout the supply chain. FIATA believes that those technological solutions which are best position to make sense of the data will bring forth the greatest value add to our industry and members.

For more details, please visit: https://www.logisticsmgmt.com/article/how_can_freight_forwarding_move_forward