Good day,
Blockchain’s potential in revolutionizing how logistics gets done is being thwarted by the absence of trust that is necessary for the process to succeed, writes Biju Kewalram, chief digital officer at global logistics firm Agility. As a result, a Catch-22 has formed where the benefits of blockchain – namely the ability to achieve full transparency of each transaction – lacks the stakeholder transparency that’s needed to move the process forward, Kewalram said in a recent column on Forbes.com. He cited a recent Boston Consulting Group (BCG) survey showing that although 88% of transport and logistics professionals believe blockchain will be a disruptive force, 74% said they are exploring opportunities only superficially, or haven’t thought about blockchain at all.
Did you know?:
There were more than 4,000 reported incidents of cargo theft in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region through the first nine months of 2019, a record for that region, according to the Transported Asset Protection Association.
Quotable
“Yes, and we will be right.”
– Amit Mehrotra, lead transport analyst at Deutsche Bank, when asked if he still stood by his bullish 2020 forecast for transport equities.
In other news:
Mini-hyperloop to be tested in UK
In a mini-hyperloop concept, UK start-up Magway is proposing to use magnetic levitation technology to deliver freight through pipes that are only 0.9 meters in diameter on platforms powered by linear motors. The first target market is air cargo transporting goods out of airport warehouses, reports PlaceTech. (The Loadstar)
Saudi logistics roadshow hits Tokyo
The Saudi Logistics Hub, a government initiative mandated to drive the growth of the country’s logistics sector, held its first global roadshow in Tokyo last week. Members of the Saudi group will meet with three Japanese government entities to further discuss the logistics sector and to explore investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia (Olean Times Herald)
Outsourcing your supply chain? Be proactive about it
Outsourcing fulfillment should be a front-end decision, said Chad Rubin, CEO of Think Crucial, which replaces important items in the home. Most don’t realize the need to outsource fulfillment until their process is failing, or because they are so ingrained in inefficient practices that the transition becomes a daunting task, Rubin wrote. (Entrepreneurs’ Organization)
Echo high on hedgies list
Echo Global Logistics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECHO) was in 20 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September, according to data from Insider Monkey. There were 12 hedge funds in its database with Echo positions at the end of the second quarter. (Yahoo Finance).
Navis acquires Jade Logistics
Navis, a part of Cargotec Corporation, has acquired the assets of New Zealand-based Jade Logistics, a provider of the Master Terminal TOS for mixed cargo terminals. (Globe Newswire)
Final thoughts:
Millions of Americans weren’t around when President Jimmy Carter named Paul Volcker to chair the Federal Reserve in 1979. But they have benefitted from it, albeit in an indirect way. Certainly, they didn’t live through it. The economy had been struggling for seven years. Inflation was running at 20%. Even more damaging, consumers and businesses had become resigned to inflation’s relentless and devastating erosion of their purchasing and investing powers. (This writer took out a mortgage at a 13.8% rate and thought he had got a good deal.) Volcker, who died Dec. 8 at age 92, raised interest rates to stratospheric levels, which led to a painful recession in 1981. In the process, however, he broke inflation’s back. More important, he reversed Americans’ expectations of their economic future, and gave them hope that conditions would improve over time. They did. Inflation and interest rates have remained relatively low for 20 years, and the economy – save for the two recessions of the prior decade – has stayed solid. Much of that can be traced back to Volcker’s actions of nearly 40 years ago, and the courage it took to make them. The decisions were politically unpopular but economically necessary, and they laid the foundation for the world in which we live and work in today.
Hammer down everyone!