Logistics

In a controversial move that almost certainly will rile up anti-truck safety advocates, the federal government is moving ahead with a three-year pilot program that will allow some under-21 drivers to work in interstate commerce.

FTR reported that August preliminary North American Class 8 orders—at 20,500 units—came in 3% higher than July and were up 90% annually, with total units, for the last 12 months, at 177,000. ACT Research reported that August preliminary North American Class 8 orders—at 19,500 units—were off 4% compared to July and up 75% annually, in what it called an “easy” comparison.

铁路carloads-at 898227 -下降14.9%,或156 797 carloads, annually., and intermodal units—at 1,122,954—were up 3%, or 33,115 units, annually.

Leading trucking executives and analysts say they are pleasantly surprised by the strength in freight demand coming out of the COVID-19-induced economic shutdown in early summer. It’s slightly better if your company is hauling retail goods as the industrial economy remains so-so. But overall, top trucking executives are reporting their trucks are mostly filled heading into the fall peak season.

Gene Seroka, Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles observes that reaching out and assisting the United Farm Workers is directly aligned with his mission to help keep workers stay safe and assist in the re-emergence of our state and nation’s economy.

The 40,000 square-foot facility, which is located at 3500 Tricenter Boulevard, is the first one for LaserShip in North Carolina’s triangle area, with the company noting that it can process up to 14,000 packages per hour. There are currently 15 full-time employees at the facility, and LaserShip said it intends to hire up to 22, in order to help meet local delivery demand.

Transplace officials described LeanCor as a strategic supply chain partner that provides managed transport services, supply chain consulting, and corporate training programs for “manufacturing-centric shippers.” And the company added that LeanCor’s proprietary consulting and logistics management processes aid shippers in providing better service for their customers through the elimination of waste, decreasing costs, and building cultures of continuous improvement.

The report’s key indicator—the Services PMI (formerly the Non-Manufacturing PMI)—slipped 1.2%, to 56.9, in August (a reading of 50 or higher indicates growth is occurring). This came on the heels of a 1% gain to 58.1, in July and an 11.1% gain, to 57.1, in June, which halted a two-month stretch of declines, and was preceded by 122 consecutive months of expansion. ISM noted that June marked the largest single-month percentage increase, for the NMI, going back to its inception in 1997.

ODFL reported that revenue per day increased 1.3% from August 2019 to August 2020, which it attributed to a 2.4% increase in daily LTL tonnage and was partially offset by a decrease in LTL revenue per hundredweight.

Chicago-based third-party logistics and technology-enabled transportation services provider Echo Global Logistics, and Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Blue Yonder (formerly JDA), a provider of AI-driven and end-to-end supply chain management services, said today that they have established a partnership, in which Echo will integrate Blue Yonder’s Dynamic Price Discovery offering, to automate rapid response price quoting and capacity for shippers.

A report in today’s Wall Street Journal said that Blackstone Group and Global Infrastructure Partners made a takeover offer for Class I railroad carrier Kansas City Southern (KSU). The report noted that KSU currently has a $17 billion market value, citing sources familiar with this development. A dollar price for the acquisition offer was not available.

This expansion will occur across two different properties. One is its existing facility at 6800 Port Road in Groveport, which is located near the Rickenbacker International Airport, and the other is a property it is acquiring at 6700 Port Road. And Forward will invest around $10 million to acquire the latter and around $22 million into the former, which will be redeveloped into a 120,000 square-foot office space that will house the 50 newly created positions.

Logistics Management Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently caught up with Avery Vise, FTR Transportation Intelligence Vice President of Trucking. They discussd various themes and trends in the trucking sector, including market conditions, rates and pricing, and the impact of COVID-19 on trucking, among others.

The reasons for why 2020 is different than any other year are wide and varied, considering the COVID-19 pandemic, the related economic fallout from it brought, as well as the uneasy rise in civil unrest in various parts of the United States, too. And, let’s not forget that it is an election year, too.

In its monthly Manufacturing Report on Business, ISM reported that the report’s key metric, the PMI, was 56 (a reading of 50 or higher indicates growth), which topped July’s reading by 1.8%.