The Chinese Economy and Logistics Tech

What a week. There were two big logistics events in the Netherlands and I spoke at both. At Mulitmodal Europe in Rotterdam I spoke about container optimization and the repositioning of empties. For those that weren’t there I will write a blog post about it and share it here.

The other event was the ICT & Logistics event in Utrecht where I spoke about how booking a container should be just as fast an easy as booking a hotel. A big thank you to the many people that came to the sessions.

It’s too bad both events were at the same time. I still got to meet a lot of new and interesting people, was interviewed about data and freight in the digital era and got a lot of inspiration from what other companies are doing.

Our new President of Supplier Relations & International Growth Flemming Frost accompanied me to all events. Read more about Flemming in the post from our Founder Shekhar here.

I didn’t have much time this week, so there are less highlights then usual when it comes to news and interesting reading material that I came across this week. Anyway, here goes:

The Chinese Economy

“Given that Chinese imports account for nearly half of all container imports moving over U.S. ports, one would be excused for prematurely jumping to the conclusion that U.S. port volumes are at great risk—as are the logistics and transportation jobs associated with moving Chinese imports from the port of entry to distribution centers and on to final demand markets. But let’s not hit the panic button just yet.”

→ How will the tariff war with China affect U.S. container ports?

“China’s exports climbed 15.6% in October, versus the same month a year ago, in US dollar terms—way higher than what analysts expected. The real surprise, though, was the eye-popping 21.4% year-over-year leap in Chinese imports. That’s odd given that China’s economy is slowing abruptly again, which should translate to sluggish demand for goods from consumers and businesses.”

→ Despite US tariffs, China’s trade soared in October. It may not last.

Scrubbers

“The decision on whether to invest in scrubber technology on containerships, ahead of the IMO’s 0.5% sulphur cap on 1 January 2020, has resulted in ocean carriers adopting a “polarised” approach, according to an Alphaliner survey.”

→ Carriers still weighing up pros and cons of scrubbers vs switch to low-sulphur fuel

Logistics Tech

Gartner has published their predictions on strategic tech trends for 2019 again.

“While most shippers, brokers, carriers, vendors, and warehouse operators will agree that the logistics industry is awash in emerging technologies, Gartner said its study focuses only on those trends that have substantial disruptive potential that is beginning to break out of an emerging state into broader impact and could reach a tipping point over the next five years.”

→ Gartner flags 10 strategic tech trends for 2019

I couldn’t agree more with the quote below, although I think that for the forseeable future there is more to be gained from automating processes, then automating vehicles. Automating processes is one of the reasons our platform increases efficiency.

“Most transport companies say innovation and automation will help transform the industry by helping to boost productivity and reduce costs, according to the survey.”

→ Geopolitics, technological innovation top global transport industry concerns

One of the barriers blocking the adoption of new technology is one that we made sure is not applicable to our platform: investment. No need to invest. Joining the platform is free and the cost per shipment you pay for using Cogoport are a small percentage of the total cost you save using it.

“Barriers to adopting technology persist – with transport companies citing the major challenges to adopting technology-driven innovation as cost and investment (71%)”

→ Automation to Define Future of Transport But There are Obstacles

And two infographics from the people over at FreightWaves on the rise of Transportation Tech.

→ Transport Tech Rising: Venture Capital Trends (Part 2)

→ Transport Tech Rising: Venture Capital Trends (Part 3)

Photo by Mikkel Jönck Schmidt on Unsplash