Walmart

Carriers are not the only ones benefiting from the current freight environment, so are freight brokers.

Morgan Stanley says that shippers with low gross margins, bulky merchandise, and relatively low cost of goods sold who outsource their transportation needs are at the mercy of rising freight costs and will face EPS headwinds in 2018.

The Tesla Semi has finally hit the road. Tesla founder Elon Musk posted a picture of two Tesla Semi’s leaving the company’s Gigafactory in the Nevada mountains for a trip to California.

Walmart did well in the fourth quarter in many areas, but not in eCommerce. As a result, it’s stock has been hammered.

The ELD compliance rate continues to inch up among fleets according to the latest survey conducted by CarrierLists.

After several delays, Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) workers have begun installing truck toll gantries in the state this week. The project, which will collect truck-only tolls at 12 locations in the state, is estimated to raise about $470 million in tax revenue over 10 years.

Lost in the flurry of news yesterday from Walmart was a little nugget of information that will have profound impact on freight movements both within the Walmart supply chain and for carriers who transport goods to Walmart.

51% of all returns occur in January, when Americans will send back $30B of unwanted gifts. Reverse logistics represent a huge cost increasingly eaten by retailers, while 3PLs stand to make big margins.

Target acquired same-day grocery delivery service Shipt for $550M in a bid to boost its online food sales and compete with Walmart and Amazon. Our infographic compares the performance and recent investments made by the three companies.

Target has made a massive investment in Shipt, a same-day grocery delivery service for online orders that relies on personal shoppers. Target hopes to challenge the rapid growth of Walmart’s online food sales and wants to offer same-day shipping for all of its products by the end of 2019.

Walmart has patented an ‘unattended retail storefront’ that would be located in customers’ homes and stocked by autonomous vehicles, part of its quest to compress or eliminate delivery delays altogether.

Kroger has joined Walmart in charging accessorial fees for late deliveries to their retail stores, citing lost sales of 10% due to spoilage and understocking. 

Walmart’s commitment to digital sales, grocery pickup, and two day delivery mean a newly intensified supply chain: more truckloads to its stores, which are now acting like fulfillment centers, more expedited service in the holiday shopping capacity crunch, and more demand for last-mile delivery to its customers’ homes.

In an effort to ramp up its customer experience for the mobile shopper, Walmart has confirmed its relationship with search engine giant Google, Bloomberg reported, to allow customers to order goods with their voice. The company is also making it easier for consumers to return goods bought through its mobile app.

In the rush to develop autonomous, long-haul trucks (and trains) that could double productivity – driving for 24 hours a day with no need for rest – it may turn out that the competition for freight may really be in the sky.

Walmart is taking its battle for online market share to Amazon with the acquisition of New York-based Parcel, a last-mile, same-day delivery company specializing in perishable and non-perishable delivery in New York City.

Following allegations of unfair treatment to port truck drivers, Pacific 9 Transportation is getting dropped by Costco as a supplier of transportation over the potential labor violations, USA Today reported.

Even as the industry steps up to help, dedicating thousands of trucks and millions of cubic feet of capacity to relief efforts, an analysis from FTR says that approximately 7% of the industry has been affected already and some of that will be affected for weeks.

The battle for the quickest delivery is on. Arkansas-based retailing giant Walmart has official filed to patent a blimp-style warehouse, Fortune reports.

Volkswagen has continued to increase its stake in Navistar following its initial buy-in in 2016. The company purchased approximately $10 million worth of shares in July through five transactions, according to documents filed with the SEC.