Transparency

Stepping up amid tragedy, Bestway Express’ CEO continues to make progress in growing the company and continuing his father’s legacy.

Inside this edition: The battle over broker transparency might finally be over; carrier retention helps in the long term; and the claim for TravelCenters of America gets another player. 

While freight demand is still present, the industry is seeing a softening.

The Securities Exchange Commission, in a 3-to-1 vote, has given initial approval of a rule that would require all public companies to report on the climate-related impact of their businesses.

Modern Shipper talked with Sourcemap CEO Leo Bonanni and investor Juan Muldoon to break down the company’s new funding raise.

FreightWaves’ Tony Mulvey and Torqata’s Rak-Joon Choi discuss how visibility and blockchain technology are impacting the automotive industry.

Volkswagen aims to support sustainability in shipbuilding and ship recycling through the initiative, said Simon Motter, head of Volkswagen Group Logistics.

When people think about “environmentally conscious trucking,” they tend to think about electric vehicles and other environmentally conscious trucking operations. While these cutting edge technologies can play a role in sustainability, they often come with high price tags, long waitlists and significant barriers to entry.

What happens to ocean vessels when they’re retired? AskWaves explores how this initiative is striving for transparent ship supply chains.

Loadshop is a growing digital freight marketplace that continues to expand its capabilities while driving efficiency and transparency for both shippers and carriers

FedEx’s SenseAware ID will provide precise location tracking for COVID-19-related medical supplies and other critical shipments.

Knowing exactly where shipments are and when they will arrive is more important now than ever.

BMW Group has initiated the “PartChain” project to create an industry-wide solution for secure data-sharing.

Hunt thinks that an additional 7 to 11 million loads per year could shift from the highway to intermodal.

John “JT” Engstrom has spent 10 years studying the freight world. Here’s what he learned:

A TMS is a valuable tool that can provide important data, tracking and analysis capabilities to help shippers streamline their entire operations, all of which feeds into being a shipper of choice.

The digitization of the supply chain industry has been all the buzz in recent years. From lumpers on the freight docks in Erie, Pennsylvania to the Patagonia-clad investors of Silicon Valley, everyone seems to be talking about technology “disrupting” logistics.

Two mega-retailers partnerships signal an inflection point in the visibility market.

Blockchain’s utility can only be realized if there is participation from every stakeholder within a value chain, and banks heavily on the quality of data being fed into its system.

For blockchain to improve visibility and accountability within food supply chains, its underlying data needs to be in order.

The blue-collar job market still uses conventional methods for sourcing and recruitment, making the industry highly inefficient, complex and opaque. Wonolo is automating the redundant manual processes to improve the situation.

Trimble MAPS helps fleets automate visibility on the road and manage trips to gain a competitive edge in the market.

Weather can cause significant delays to freight. FourKites is trying to help solve that by adding real-time management to its products.

Eight years since he burst on the scene with a $150 million acquisition of a then 22-year-old company called Express-1 Expedited Solutions, Brad Jacobs today sits astride a $17 billion per year multi-national behemoth.

J.B. Hunt wants to make freight marketplaces more efficient by making information more transparent.

Kenya-based startup Lori has built a logistics platform that is revolutionising the cargo-transport value chain in Africa by seamlessly connecting cargo owners, shippers and transporters via a digital freight marketplace.

What to Expect at Transparency 2019: Speakers

Cold supply chains suffer from opacity in their operations, which could turn disastrous especially during handoffs – when products are left unattended and might slip out of the prescribed conditions it needs to be stored under. Technology like IoT sensors and blockchain could help companies to monitor their cargo movement better.

Transparency19 is approaching fast and sponsorships are already selling out. Now’s your chance to be a part of the hottest event in the industry.

Access to data has improved market transparency, and recent spikes in volatility make the case that transportation costs must be hedged and de-risked.

Convoy is now matching 100 percent of loads automatically in major markets, effectively eliminating the need for any person to call or communicate between the shipper and carrier.

After hosting two game-changing events in 2018, FreightWaves plans to shake up the conference circuit again this spring with Transparency19.

Routeique will bring its expertise in end-to-end supply chain management to the Alliance.

MarketWaves features DLT Labs presenting Asset Track platform to increase transparency and communication between shippers and carriers.

The Chattanooga-based team at Block Array have launched a blockchain product they call FreightTrust, legal platform for shipping documents.

In partnership with Blume Global… In our view, increased digitization can make drayage markets more transparent and improve asset utilization, making carrier offerings more attractive on both a cost and service basis.

We spoke to Uber Freight Product Manager Stefan Sohlstrom and Convoy’s Chief Product Officer, Ziad Ismail, about last week’s releases and what increased transparency means for the brokerage industry.

From on-demand trucking to blockchain, loadboards and freight matching, the list of companies bringing innovative technologies to the freight industry is growing by the day, which makes the 100 that have made the cut to be honored by the FreightWaves Research Institute as part of its inaugural Freight.Tech 100 all the more special.

40 groundbreaking demos, 37 industry experts, 1 high-powered event. Don’t miss MarketWaves18 November 12-13, 2018 in Grapevine, Texas.

Once blockchain technology reaches a tipping point—with or without tokens—there should be another infusion of funding in the digital ad startup space and, as a result, innovation.

Slync, an intelligent platform redefining multi-party interaction, automation, and collaboration throughout the supply chain , has agreed to a multi-year partnership with FreightWaves, the leading data and content source for the freight market.

More than a year after it built a large following through its app for drivers, Uber Freight is now turning the spotlight on shippers. The company today announced the launch of Uber Freight for Shippers, a desktop-based app platform that provides direct access to carriers and more transparency into shipments.

Fuel remains among the largest costs for both carriers and shippers but based on the current practice of using a fuel surcharge to mitigate volatility in pricing, both parties remain at risk of ending up on the losing end of the deal.

Michael Lewis, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Moneyball, The Blind Side, and The Big Short, has just been confirmed as a keynote speaker for MarketWaves18 at the Opryland Texan Resort & Convention Center this November.

RevUnit, a digital strategy and product studio with clients in the logistics space, has joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA) to help industry leaders work toward common blockchain standards.

There are technology solutions out there for the smaller carriers, but they may be expensive or not designed for the littler guys.

The ELD mandate hasn’t created a capacity squeeze but there are other signs of how it has changed driver behavior.

Startups and incumbents at the demos today are building transparency into their products. Historically freight has been very opaque. The change is emerging here and now.

Panalpina has joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), a forum of leading tech and transportation companies for the development and implementation of blockchain standards in the freight industry.

Obtaining data that is both clean and usable remains a challenge for the industry, one that blockchain is promising to solve.

As blockchain technology works its way into the transportation ecosystem, there is remains plenty to learn about its potential, but its success will depend on multiple parties working together.

BiTA announced it would be forming Think Tanks to help identify industry pain points that blockchain could help solve. The Alliance also said the first BiTA Standards should be out before the end of 2018.

There’s nothing done at large scale today. That’s just not reality. There’s still more questions than answers. But what is being done, and how?

Between automation and visibility through constant technology gains and application, SprintShip is striving for perfection in a highly complex and complicated logistics process.

The words ‘realtime’ and ‘visibility’ get thrown around a lot, but most companies offering visibility solutions don’t actually define what they mean by the terms, which confuses the market.

Custom Pro Logistics, a Cincinnati based 3PL, has announced its membership in BiTA.

Blockchain, digital freight brokerages, and heavy-truck telematics are just a few of the themes that will be addressed at the upcoming Transparency18 Future of Freight conference, powered by FreightWaves and in conjunction with the Blockchain in Transport Alliance and Georgia Tech.

One year after launch, FreightWaves takes the top spot for news in the freight and logistics industry according to Amazon’s Alexa.

Shippers move more freight into the contract market to avoid higher spot market rates

Energy and financial markets economist joins the FreightWaves data-science team. 

Fleet management technology provider EROAD adds expertise to growing coalition developing blockchain standards for the freight industry with BiTA membership.

Perhaps one of the problems for the lack of transparency and widespread adoption of technology for farmers and the agricultural community at large, is the association of bitcoin with blockchain. While the two have emerged into the mainstream at about the same time, and, yes, both are virtual, they are two different things. Blockchain is […]

Beatsk Micro, a technology-consulting firm with core expertise in logistics, transportation and distribution, has joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA).

Livingston International Inc., a leading provider of freight forwarding, customs brokerage and trade-consulting solutions, announced today its membership in the Blockchain in Transport Alliance.

Driver recruiting, media, data application expert, Ken Smith, joins the FreightWaves team as CTO. 

Intelligent Audit, a technology leader in freight audit and payment, supply chain data analytics, and contract optimization, announced today that it has been admitted into the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA).

College students should benefit from the University of Central Arkansas membership in the Blockchain in Transport Alliance through access to the development of the cutting edge technology.

The University of Central Arkansas has announced it has joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), a forum for the development of blockchain standards and education for the transportation industry.

Limited visibility, outdated information, errors compounding on errors amounts to one thing: unhappy customers.

Leading commodities, markets-data news, and blockchain expert joins FreightWaves as Executive Editor and BiTA’s Head of Member Engagement.

From a merchant perspective, Shipping with Amazon would provide increased competition in the shipping space, while also providing Amazon with more data about the products people are buying.

A better last-mile experience. That’s what the e-commerce game has become, and all logistics services across the supply chain are clamoring for opportunities and efficiencies to squeeze the blood out of the turnip.

With blockchain-based credentials, or Blockcerts (an open source standard developed by Learning Machine and the MIT Media Lab), risk management can now extend to the driver level.

 DLT Labs announced today that it has joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance, a forum for the development of blockchain standards and education for the freight industry.

Transplace, a leading provider of transportation management services and logistics technology solutions, today announced that it has joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), the largest industry-specific blockchain standards organization in the world.

St. Charles, IL-based Simple Logistics is the latest 3PL to become a member of the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA).

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN), a transportation and logistics provider, is pleased to announce its collaboration with the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), an alliance formed to ensure standardization of blockchain technology in logistics and throughout the supply chain.

Cass Information Systems, Inc. has joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), a consortium of industry leaders committed to developing standards and guiding the widespread adoption of blockchain technology in logistics.

Landstar System, Inc., a worldwide, asset-light provider of integrated transportation management solutions delivering specialized transportation services, today announced it has joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA).

Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), the largest industry-specific blockchain standards organization in the world, today announced its newest member, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc., one of the largest supply chain solutions providers in North America.

Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), the largest industry-specific blockchain standards organization in the world, today announced its newest member, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc., one of the largest supply chain solutions providers in North America.

Senior UPS Economist, Ibrahiim Bayaan joins the FreightWaves team as Chief Economist. 

BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) recently became the first Class I railroad to join the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA).

BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) recently became the first Class I railroad to join the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA).

Supply chains are such a complex enterprise, that it’s nearly impossible to solve any one problem without it impacting another part of the chain. That was one of the main points that Michael Zargham, founder and CEO of BlockScience, said during a discussion last month in New York City.

Transparency18 Sponsored article An estimated 17M ocean shipping containers make approximately 200M trips globally on an annual basis. A typical international shipping container is interchanged between 8-10 parties before the load is delivered. Transparency18 Demo Day Presenter To be considered for one of the 40 available Demo Day spots, register online at: https://transparency18.com/participate/apply-to-demo/ At each […]

It wasn’t that long ago that many analysts believed the demise of Blackberry was close at hand. They were so wrong.

Aidant Technologies, a data integration firm headquartered in Atlanta, GA, has joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA).

American Global Logistics announced its membership in the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA).

Logistics Plus Inc. (LP), a leading worldwide provider of transportation, logistics and supply chain solutions, is proud to announce that it has joined the Blockchain In Transport Alliance (BiTA) to help develop and set standards for blockchain technology within the transportation industry.

Multi-awarded European tech startup OriginTrail has developed a blockchain protocol for the food supply chain, Food Safety Magazine reports

Building “a trust-free and distributed business ecosystem to enable transparent information flow, efficient collaboration, and high-speed value transferring” is the business model of blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) company VeChain. In other words, it’s seeking to stop counterfeiters.

Redwood Logistics (Redwood), a top-100 3PL provider and one of the fastest growing logistics companies in North America, announced today it has been selected as the newest member of the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA).

Chattanooga, TN-based Lync America has joined other transportation industry visionaries by collaborating with the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), an alliance formed to ensure standardization of blockchain technology in logistics and throughout the supply chain.

TRAFFIX, one of Canada’s longest-serving third-party logistics specialist, based out of Milton Ontario with offices in Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, and Dallas, is proud to announce that they have joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA).

Learning Machine Technologies, a leading global provider of blockchain-based records for institutions including MIT and the Republic of Malta, has joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA).

SCLogic, a leading provider of in-building logistics systems, announced today that they have joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA).

Pay particular attention to analytics-driven IoT platforms, computing at the edge, and data exchange brokerages (DEBs), as IoT influences everything from home security systems, to oil and gas exploration, to smart cities, to retail experiences, and beyond.

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) has rented out as many as 60 data centers worldwide for the Bitcoin-dependent enterprises using the blockchain.