News
Logistics Recap February 12th – February 18th
Logistics Recap
February 12th – February 18th
7 more sentenced in Luisiana truck collision insurance scam this month
Seven defendants have been sentenced this month in the Louisiana staged accident scam, but none of the sentences exceeded 18 months and several defendants received probation.
The scam collisions all followed a similar pattern: A truck (or in one case a bus) was identified by “spotters” and a group led by a “slammer” staged a collision. Various levels of litigation followed, with the passengers in the car claiming medical ailments arising from the collisions. In some cases, unnecessary surgeries followed. Payouts by insurers and truck companies ranged from a few thousand dollars to more than $1 million in a case involving C.R. England.
Bombardier works with suppliers to combat supply chain headwinds
Canada-based aircraft manufacturer Bombardier has implemented supply chain strategies to prevent production pressures, delivering 123 units in 2022, according to a Q4 earnings call.
Bombardier is leveraging its procurement influence through a team of specialists focused solely on alleviating key supplier and commodity challenges, Shauna Gamble, chief procurement officer at Bombardier, told Supply Chain Dive in an email.
“We have been deploying this team to our suppliers — from Tier 1 and even down to Tier 3 if necessary — so that they can work with the suppliers directly to identify any issues and find solutions before they’ve become a problem,” Gamble said.
Read More Here Supply Chain Dive
Tesla recalls more than 362,000 cars due to self-driving crash risks
Tesla Inc. is recalling hundreds of thousands of vehicles after U.S. authorities said its automated-driving technology could increase the risk of a crash.
The automaker’s so-called Full Self-Driving Beta system “may allow the vehicle to act unsafe around intersections,” including traveling straight through from a turn lane and proceeding through steady-yellow traffic lights, according to a filing on February 16th with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The system’s errors “increase the risk of a collision if the driver does not intervene,” the filing said.
Logistics Recap February 5th – February 11th
Logistics Recap
February 5th – February 11th
Rail unions seek greater federal oversight to make operations safer
The fiery derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in Ohio last week has prompted some rail unions to press the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to increase its oversight of the freight railroads’ safety operations.
Since rank-and-file employees are the ones close to actual operations, one way to enable federal oversight is through requiring the seven Class I railroads to adopt the confidential close call reporting system, which would provide workers with a venue to anonymously report potential safety concerns, according to Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department (TDD) of the AFL-CIO.
Port of Savannah expands cold storage capacity
The Port of Savannah will add seven container racks at its Garden City Terminal as it looks to expand its available chilled and frozen warehouse space by 11% in 2023 to more than 2.2 million square feet.
The project, which was approved in late January, is valued at $6.2 million and expected to add 3,506 slots at the terminal, according to a press release from the port.
Read More Here Supply Chain Dive
Maersk exec concerned about river droughts
Increased droughts are forcing shipping companies to abandon some of the world’s main river cargo routes, warns Ann Christina Sloek-Andersen, senior director at Maersk.
More than 300 million tonnes of goods a year are typically transported by cargo riverboats on the Rhine River, which flows for almost 800 miles from Switzerland to the Netherlands, where it joins the North Sea.
Yet during the summer months of 2022, record low water levels meant some vessels were able to carry just 25% of their usual load, so as not to risk running aground on the riverbed. This caused severe delays to shipping.
Logistics Recap January 22nd – January 28th
Logistics Recap
January 22nd – January 28th
Logistics layoffs signal industry-wide culling, leave seasoned talent available
Recent layoffs at big-name logistics companies could be the start of a wider culling of supply chain jobs amid economic uncertainty, according to experts, leaving plenty of talent available for firms still hiring.
Freight forwarder Flexport laid off 20% of its workforce last month, citing a macroeconomic downturn that is hurting its customers. Other seasoned industry names including C.H. Robinson and DSV are also relying on layoffs or hiring freezes as a way to reduce their labor costs.
Read More Here Supply Chain Dive
Global oil trade shakes up after fires at U.S. fuelmakers
Refinery outages in the U.S. are rippling through the global export markets for oil and forcing producers in Canada to find new buyers to process their crude.
Canadian oil sands producers have been pumping at record levels to fill supply needs left after western economies put sanctions on Russia. Canada typically sends crude to refiners in the U.S., where two plants were forced to halt production after fires.
The winner in the shake-up appears to be refiners in Asia, who are seeing shipments from Canada surge to the highest in more than a year.
Read More Here Supply Chain Brain
Sanctions effect begins
Tanker investors have been getting cold feet this winter. Spot rates are down sharply from November and stocks are off earlier highs. Yet the bullish tanker thesis — war-induced trade inefficiencies, post-COVID reopening, new vessel capacity that’s about to fall off a cliff — hasn’t changed.
After spot rates “began to ease from highs that were completely unsustainable” came “the predictable selloff in the equities,” said Evercore ISI analyst Jon Chappell in a research note on Friday.