Tag Archives: innovation

ABS simulating green maritime corridors

Posted on April 23, 2023 by | Leave a comment

American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), a US-based classification society, has announced that it is developing simulations of potential green maritime shipping corridors. Such a tool will allow users to determine if a particular corridor is feasible, and what the costs will be.

Simulations will also allow us to determine the range of improvements that will be required, and the sensitivity of costs to many different choices, like size of bunkering facilities for different alternative fuels. These sorts of metrics are very important when deciding how much to invest in a green corridor development.

The article below doesn’t reveal very much. But it’s clear that a major classification society can play a major role to influence the greening of maritime routes.

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Marcus Hand | Apr 21, 2023

ABS simulating green maritime corridors

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Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Sustainability

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Load boards are broken — fixing them is critical

Posted on March 24, 2023 by | Leave a comment

This article discusses the many ways in which truck freight is arranged in the US. The author makes the case that load boards are no longer that useful to truckers, and this is quite possibly due to the natural growth in the chase for users, and the users themselves gaming the system. It’s to be expected in our technical world.

Private freight marketplaces are attempts to fix the issues. They have their drawbacks. Another approach is a ‘centralized, reaggregated capacity marketplace’ optimized for integrity and carrier quality.

That’s what Newtrul founded in 2018, is offering. It appears they are offering their service to brokers rather than carriers. They address the carrier quality issue by only signing up carriers that have seven customers they’ve passed compliance checks with.

It’s not clear how Newtrul is doing the aggregation of capacity. Doubtless it is driven by an optimization or AI routine of some sort.

Yet another cooperative scheme is being tried by Leaf Logistics, which I wrote about earlier.

I think these approaches are interesting and useful. They induce some cooperation into a process that was distinctively siloed and labor-intensive previously. Markets will determine who will do cooperation the best.

John Paul Hampstead·Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Load boards are broken — fixing them is critical – FreightWaves

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Posted in Logistics, Trucking

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Wing to launch unique new drone delivery model

Posted on March 11, 2023 by | Leave a comment

Wing, a subsidiary of Alphabet (think Google), is pioneering a new delivery model. Drones pick up packages and deliver them via a network of landing pads and charging stations. They can handle multiple deliveries point-to-point without returning to the base. It’s because the standardized landing and charging stations are also near to the start point of their next run.

The CEO indicates that the model is a lot more like a computer message network than a last-mile logistics network. The software they’ve written matches the delivery demand with the available drones. Any nearby drone can pick up and make the delivery, then scout via software for another nearby pickup.

It’s another ingenious solution to the problems of thin demand. If there’s not enough, drones will be unoccupied. Pooling demand for package rides will make the system work better.

Another advantage of drones for delivery is their zero-emission properties. Drones are electric-powered, and emit lots less than local delivery trucks. They are also lots cheaper. There are limits on the size of packages they can carry, but if you look at typical deliveries to an apartment complex, for instance, you see that most packages are small.

Perhaps drone delivery is the future of last-mile package service.

Jack Daleo·Thursday, March 09, 2023

Wing to launch unique new drone delivery model – FreightWaves

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Posted in Air, Logistics, Supply Chains

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