Summer 2018 Newsletter

Words From The President

The global shipping and logistics industry is passing through a period of tremendous change.

While on the one side, we have new challenges in the form of fluctuating oil prices, ongoing trade issues with China and Europe, and labor and capacity shortages, on the other side, a robust economy, surging demand for goods, and transformative technologies present extraordinary new opportunities.

As a forward-looking industry leader, PPLUS Global Logistics is geared up to achieve competitive advantage by anticipating and meeting the challenges and making the most of the opportunities. We offer a comprehensive range of international shipping solutions, including ocean, air, and expedited shipments.

Our vision is to serve as a single source solution to the time-sensitive and high value freight needs of our customers. As we often say at PPLUS, every customer’s shipment is a ‘Golden Package’ that deserves best-in-class custom solutions with a personal touch.

News Events

Blockchain Technology is the New Logistics Game-Changer

IBM and Maersk recently announced a new joint venture aimed at developing more secure and efficient methods to conduct global trade, using blockchain technology. Maersk’s Chief Commercial Officer, Vincent Clerk, said that the potential of blockchain is huge, and all players across the supply chain stand to gain.

In a related development, Denmark, a traditional maritime nation and leading shipping hub, has announced that it will be the world’s first country which register’s ships using the blockchain technology. Industry analysts believe that blockchain will invoke the same revolution as containerization, this time at an administrative level.

Samsung, the Korean tech giant, plans to use blockchain to bring down its transport costs by 20 percent for its movement of nearly 490,000 tons of air cargo and over a million shipping containers this year.

29th Annual State of Logistics Report Released

The 29th Annual State of Logistics Report published by AT Kearney in partnership with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) identifies the concepts that could dominate the next decade: uberization of freight; driverless trucks; artificial intelligence and machine learning applications; blockchain; electric vehicle fleets; truck platooning; autonomous mobile robots; and unmanned aerial vehicle delivery systems and drones.

According to the report, growing competition in the logistics market is going to require innovation and creative thinking on the part of shippers, while new technologies could offer cost-effective solutions to transportation challenges.
In any case, old-fashioned trust and ingenuity, fostering relationships with carriers and an expanding knowledge base of best practices will help logisticians overcome the challenges long term.
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