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Convoy, J.B. Hunt and Uber Freight form Scheduling Standards Consortium

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Convoy, J.B. Hunt, and Uber Freight form Scheduling Standards Consortium. Image: J.B. Hunt
Convoy, J.B. Hunt, and Uber Freight form Scheduling Standards Consortium. Image: J.B. Hunt
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Convoy, J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc., and Uber Freight announced the formation of the Scheduling Standards Consortium which aims to solve transportation scheduling challenges by establishing the freight industry’s first formal set of appointment scheduling application programming interface standards.​​ Complex, pervasive, industry-wide challenges such as this require collaborative, industry-wide solutions; the makeup of the SSC’s founding members underscores the need to standardize how information is exchanged around scheduling shipments.

Today, scheduling system and interface fragmentation is a point of friction amongst carriers, brokers, and shippers. As the industry turns increasingly to an integrated network of providers and solutions to manage the end-to-end lifecycle of each shipment, it has become important to define and share a consistent data architecture and API standard for the distribution of scheduling information.

The SSC’s objectives are to define an API standard for sharing scheduling information, implement those standardized interfaces to enable integrations in existing systems, and advocate for the standard across the industry. The standard will bring more cohesion and resiliency to the movement of goods, making it easier to book and manage appointments, optimize processes for drivers, shippers and receivers, and drive operational efficiencies for the industry at large.

Adoption is critical for the effort to succeed. The SSC aims to sign on other brokers or third-party logistics providers, transportation management system and warehouse management system vendors, and others to help shape the future of supply chain efficiency. Initial SSC standards and documentation, starting with full truckload freight, will be available as early as Q1 2023.

On the formation of the SSC, executives for the founding members said:

“One of the most complicated and consequential things about being efficient in freight is setting up pickup and drop-off appointments. Every year the industry sets approximately 1.5 billion appointments, and scheduling inefficiencies slows everything down and creates a lot of waste. Freight runs 24/7, and, for most situations, every hour counts,” says Dan Lewis, Convoy’s CEO and co-founder. “Scheduling is a tech problem at the end of the day. When all the trucks are plugged into a digital network, the industry can better orchestrate freight needs with data-informed systems. A Standard API-based approach allows companies to access the latest data and make smart decisions to increase efficiency, reduce empty miles and waste, lower costs, and improve service outcomes. This is the future of freight.”

“Technology has ushered in a new era for transportation – new players, new apps, new platforms, new services. Yet, our industry remains extremely fragmented,” said Spencer Frazier, executive vice president of sales and marketing at J.B. Hunt. “We want to change that, starting today with the three of us and hopefully many more providers in the coming months. We want to create an open exchange of data so that the numerous TMS and digital freight platforms can communicate at a level where we can help one another when needed. The voice of our customers is clear – collaboration will drive progress. Our challenge is to make the systems they use daily work together to generate greater value and efficiency for their supply chains.”

“Logistics is rapidly evolving to be more realtime and intelligent at every point of execution. The implementation of APIs to simplify execution of manual tasks like scheduling is revolutionizing how shippers and carriers plan, manage, and execute shipments,” said Bill Driegert, co-founder and Head of Operations at Uber Freight. “We are at a critical inflection point of adoption, and if we don’t align on standards, we will create more work for everyone in the coming years. Everyone wins if we can align on common ways of interfacing. In doing so, we minimize operation friction and fragmentation and unlock a more fluid and optimized market for shippers and carriers to move goods.”

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Maritime

Crowley invests in REPOWR to accelerate sustainability in supply chains

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Crowley invests in REPOWR to accelerate sustainability in supply chains. Image: Crowley
Crowley invests in REPOWR to accelerate sustainability in supply chains. Image: Crowley
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Crowley, a global transportation and logistics provider, announced a venture investment in REPOWR, a logistics-technology start-up, bringing a technology platform for equipment and asset usage and sharing to the supply chain industry. The platform enables companies to seamlessly share logistics equipment, increasing performance while reducing the environmental impact of ownership. Through the partnership, the companies will advance sustainable solutions for supply chain management for a wider market.

REPOWR has developed the collaborative asset-sharing platform, connecting logistics companies with more data and analytics to reduce underutilized assets. The platform and its Universal Trailer Network have gained significant traction in domestic trucking, and under REPOWR’s strategy, even greater network effects will be achieved as the platform is applied across other transportation modes.

Through this partnership, Crowley will enable REPOWR to accelerate the diversification and expansion of its asset-sharing model, empowering international logistics businesses to share assets with the same ease and security as their domestic counterparts. The partnership also enables Crowley to explore new network opportunities by leveraging REPOWR’s platform and expertise.

“We are excited to partner with REPOWR to integrate our asset network with others on the platform to create sustainable solutions for our customers, said Tom Crowley, company Chairman and CEO. “Our investment in REPOWR advances Crowley’s commitment to sustainability and further solidifies innovation as part of our strategic growth. This collaboration is a significant step towards the future of sustainable and efficient logistics.”

The two companies recently completed a successful pilot where Crowley leveraged the REPOWR platform to rebalance chassis pools across its network while generating revenue and strengthening relationships with existing carrier partners. Crowley increased network efficiencies and asset utilization, highlighting the opportunity this partnership affords for supply chains globally.

“As a young company, we are thrilled to partner with a company that has led our industry with such impressive class and innovation for well over a century,” said Patrick Visintainer, CEO of REPOWR. “Our early success with Crowley is a wonderful springboard to further network optimization, and we look forward to helping them and other companies with whom they network with on the REPOWR platform to realize maximum asset utilization.”

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Supply Chain

Descartes announces its acquisition of Supply Vision

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Descartes announces its acquisition of Supply Vision. Image: Unsplash
Descartes announces its acquisition of Supply Vision. Image: Unsplash
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Descartes Systems Group, the global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, announced that it has acquired Supply Vision, a provider of shipment management solutions for North American Logistics Services Providers.

Supply Vision has a long history of helping LSPs digitize their operations and manage the lifecycle of shipments. Headquartered in the US, the company provides modular applications that help LSPs coordinate shipments, from quoting, routing and booking through to final delivery. The Supply Vision platform also integrates with real-time visibility solutions, such as Descartes MacroPoint™, to provide LSPs and their end customers with enhanced information about shipment status and location.

“The momentum for digitization in the LSP community continues to accelerate,” said Scott Sangster, General Manager Logistics Services Providers at Descartes. “In order to efficiently meet customer demand while operating profitably, LSPs need to invest in solutions that automate processes across multiple parties and leverage real-time information that improves decision making. We see an opportunity to combine the Supply Vision capabilities with the Global Logistics Network and make even more solutions available for the wider LSP community.”

“The Supply Vision acquisition complements our recent investments in QuestaWeb, Kontainers and Portrix, as we look to broaden our footprint for LSPs,” said Edward J Ryan, Descartes’ CEO. “We’re looking forward to working with the Supply Vision customers, partners and team of domain experts to continue to help LSPs digitize their operations and manage the lifecycle of shipments in a secure, efficient and sustainable manner.”

Supply Vision is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Descartes acquired Supply Vision for up-front consideration of approximately $USD 12 million satisfied with cash on hand, plus potential performance-based consideration. The maximum amount payable under the all-cash performance-based earn-out is $USD 3 million, based on Supply Vision achieving revenue-based targets in each of the first two years post-acquisition. Any earn-out is expected to be paid in fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2026.

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Air Freight

Kuehne+Nagel launches new offering for air freight shipments

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Kuehne+Nagel launches new offering for air freight shipments. Image: Kuehne+Nagel
Kuehne+Nagel launches new offering for air freight shipments. Image: Kuehne+Nagel
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Kuehne+Nagel has launched a new offering for air freight shipments to approach the unique requirements of global semiconductor supply chains. With a robust air freight capacity, security solutions and the new quality standard, “SemiconChain” as the core elements of the offering, all industry stakeholders can establish reliable and agile supply chains.

The increasing need for semiconductors and growing pressure on manufacturing require a faultless supply chain to support continuous operations. Being an outcome of Kuehne+Nagel’s close collaboration with customers and in-depth air cargo and semicon industry expertise, the new air logistics service supports customers with improved visibility, security, reduced risks and automated processes.

The offering is based on the “SemiconChain” quality standard that guarantees process standardisation, continuous improvement, and service excellence across the dedicated Semicon network. SemiconChain is built on a quality foundation tailored explicitly to the Semicon industry and integrates ISO 9001-2015 and IATF 16949, ensuring that shipments are always transported in a standardised, robust manner providing complete tracking visibility. SemiconChain locations are staffed with industry experts that regularly undergo a comprehensive and continuous training programme.

Time-defined services are core to the service offering and ensure predictability; this is especially important for time-critical, out-of-hours situations. Additionally, appropriate handling controls, airside services, prioritised flights and risk mitigation tools provide full visibility to all stakeholders and are geared to minimise potential disruptions, allowing for reliable planning.

Barry O`Dowd, Global Head of High-Tech at Kuehne+Nagel comments: “The expanding global digital ecosystem continues to drive strong semiconductor growth over the long term. However, in case of disruptions and unstable supply chains, many key industries can be severely affected. Our new service will help customers navigate the semiconductor market’s volatility and nuances, ensuring an uninterrupted supply chain. The key differentiator of the new offering is the SemiconChain quality standard that provides the utmost reliability and security to our customers. I am pleased that the initial feedback out of validation sessions with leading semicon industry stakeholders is very positive.”

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