Transportation: Page 522

E-Commerce Solutions

E-Commerce Gives Online Shipping Carriers An Edge As Holidays Approach; Railroads, Ocean Vessels And Truckers Sales Fall

Physical retailers are sitting on near record-high inventories as consumer spending hasn’t yet caught up with hopes of a surge stoked by low gasoline prices.

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Highway Bill Amendment Halt Trucker Lawsuits Against Walmart, J.B. Hunt And Others

Congress is debating a highway bill amendment that would put the brakes on a legal fight between some of the nation’s biggest trucking companies and their drivers over back pay.

The amendment, proposed by Rep. Jeff Denham (R., Calif.) would bar states from applying rules that go beyond federal standards for driver pay.

Software Solutions

Automated Imaging Improves Food Logistics For Supermarket

Framos GmbH provides an insight into the benefits imaging can provide to all retail and mail order sectors as optimizing logistics is essential to lower costs, increase throughput and increase reliability.

Framos GmbH, a global imaging provider based in Taufkirchen, Germany, installed solutions at various processing stations, using traditional imaging processing, self-learning algorithms and classifiers to ensure robust and smooth operation. For example this enables the systems in the “empty containers center,” to recognize different container types and select the correct process path.

Ryder Notes Growing Diversity Of Fleets Using Natural Gas

Ryder System, Inc.

As fueling infrastructure expands and natural gas vehicle technologies continue to evolve, a greater diversity of fleet applications can now be supported by this alternative fuel.

CNGpump

Venture Group Launches Largest Food/Ag Fund, To Include Logistics

Areas of interest for S2G include soil health and sustainable land management; food logistics, including storage, distribution and transportation; and controlled-environment growing platforms and brands.

S2G, which is believed to be the largest fund for food and agriculture in the U.S., says its goal is 'to empower world-class entrepreneurs providing the healthy food consumers want.'

National Spot Truckload Rates Fall 2 Cents

DAT Freight & Analytics

The offsetting capacity gain and decline in available loads helped push national average spot market rates down 2 cents for van, refrigerated, and flatbed freight.

The number of available reefer loads increased 6.4 percent while truck capacity rose just 1.9 percent, which sent the load-to-truck ratio up 4.4 percent to 4.1 loads per truck.

Dematic Corp. to Acquire WES Provider Reddwerks Corp.

Dematic Corporation

The acquisition, which is subject to approval by Reddwerks’ shareholders and other customary closing conditions, will enhance Dematic’s existing software suite and deliver additional value to Dematic customer solutions.

Dematic Corp., a global supplier of integrated automated technology, software and services to optimize the supply chain, has agreed to acquire Reddwerks Corp., provider of warehouse execution software (WES) that gives customers real-time decision engines to optimize material and information flow in the supply chain.

Transportation Insight Acquires Parcel Logistics Provider BirdDog Solutions

Transportation Insight, LLC

The transaction advances Transportation Insight’s small package offering to a more robust suite of services that includes parcel logistics optimization, parcel auditing and advanced parcel analytics.

Transportation Insight, a global third-party logistics (3PL) provider, has acquired BirdDog Solutions, a provider of parcel logistics solutions in North America.

Material Handling Equipment

Papé Material Handling Acquires Johnson Lift, Will Represent Hyster In New Regions

This transaction allows Hyster Co. to maintain product availability and service for its customers, and will help Papé Material Handling grow its materials handling business.

Papé Material Handling, a division of The Papé Group has expanded its territory coverage with the acquisition of Johnson Lift, a division of Johnson Machinery Co. As a result, Papé Material Handling is now the authorized and exclusive Hyster dealer in those territories previously covered by Johnson Lift, including eight southern California counties, Yuma County in western Arizona and the Baja Norte region of Mexico.

Risk/Compliance

Terror Attacks Bring Increased Scrutiny To Food Shipments In Europe

European businesses that have been used to an open border policy are expecting the slowdowns to increase as new border control measures are put in place.

With all the calls to dump the open border policy, multinational firms, in particular, could be vulnerable.

Rail & Intermodal

Canadian Pacific Railway Seeks Merger With Norfolk Southern

Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC)

In announcing the merger, CP said it was confident it could satisfy the concerns of regulators on both sides of the border, adding the deal could create a company with the potential for faster earnings growth than either railway could achieve on its own.

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Triton Container International And TAL International Merge, Creating Largest Intermodal Freight Container Fleet

Triton International

Under the terms of the transaction agreement, Triton and TAL International will combine under a newly-formed holding company, Triton International Limited, which will be domiciled in Bermuda and is expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies, will create the world’s largest lessor of intermodal freight containers with a combined container fleet of nearly five million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) and revenue earning assets of $8.7 billion.

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