Trains on boats in New York harbor

The Wall Street Journal had a front-page story on a railroad that ferries rail cars into New York City (New York’s Last Cross-Harbor Railway Chugs On as Alternative to Trucks, May 21). I am not sure I have much to add, but as the video below shows, it is a quirky bit of logistics history.

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Apple drives up the price of air freight

Last fall we posted about how Apple relies on operational strength to compete.  One of the examples given was their willingness to spend heavily on airfreight — locking up capacity to make sure their product launch or holiday sales go forward. Now Business Insider reports they are up to it again (Air Freight Rates From [...]

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How UPS hedges against bad weather

It’s coming down to the wire for UPS and other delivery services as they rush to get presents to where they need to go before the holiday. Getting them there on time is not just about providing good service; it’s also about revenue. The Wall Street Journal reports that UPS takes a hit for late [...]

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Ikea as supply-chain innovators

Now you may think of Ikea as just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen selling furniture for college kids and divorced men, but Businessweek reports that they are also logistics innovators (Ikea’s Challenge to the Wooden Shipping Pallet, Nov 23). Specifically, they are looking to replace wood pallets with cardboard ones. Ikea, which [...]

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The supply chain impact of expanding the Panama Canal

We haven’t talked about logistics since April, so it seems worth discussing a recent Wall Street Journal article on expanding the Panama Canal (Ripples Likely From Wider Canal, Nov 11). In a nutshell, they are expanding the canal across the isthmus (I’m writing this post only because I love the word “isthmus”) in order to accommodate bigger ships. [...]

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Pains, Trains & Automobiles

We haven’t talked about logistics in a while, but here’s an interesting story that is impacting US automakers. Car makers, all things consider, have been enjoying a good year (at least until the Japanese quake whacked component supplies). Sales in the first quarter were up over 11%. The problem is that it is getting hard [...]

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Fulfillment: Man vs machine

There is a really fascinating story in today’s Wall Street Journal on how e-tailers are organizing their fulfillment centers (Holiday Help: People vs. Robots, Dec 20). In a nutshell, the question is to what extent should retailers rely on automation instead of humans. Robots, of course, can be a lot more productive. As stated in the video [...]

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Tracking where food comes from

What is it worth to have visibility in a supply chain? When the consequence of screw ups can be catastrophic and deadly (think pharmaceuticals), it is worth tracking everything from raw materials through to consumption. So why are agricultural products any different? If anything, contaminated spinach or eggs can affect more people than any one [...]

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A picture of global shipping

I am not sure I have much to add on this but this is an intriguing way of visualizing how world trade moves. It also shows the impact of slow steaming. (Click to see a full-sized image.) From The global shipping news, Oct 5,  Globe & Mail.

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Your logistics round up

For those interested in schlepping things, there have been a number of recent logistic-related articles: NPR today had a story on how a new larger shipping lane at the Panama Canal was getting US ports to invest to handle larger ships (Panama Canal’s New Lane Is A Game Changer, Aug 19). Ports aren’t the only [...]

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