Good day,
Organizations evaluating the return on investment (ROI) of accounts payable (AP) automation find obvious benefits from cost savings, early payment discounts and rebate-earning opportunities. However, it is important that they consider improved payment experiences for key suppliers and partners, said Rich Wessels, treasurer for third-party logistics provider Transplace. The company has improved its payment-processing operations, Wessels said in an interview with PYMNTS.com. However, such conversions are not easy to make when business partners still rely on legacy infrastructures. Motor carriers, Wessels said, have “struggled to adopt electronic payments on a widespread basis, but there’s also historically been a lack of initiative and follow-through both from banks and from intermediaries.”
Did you know?
An index of 15 real estate investment trusts (REIT) tracked by Hoya Capital Real Estate has risen 40% so far this year. The tailwind of e-commerce demand has overwhelmed geopolitical concerns, the firm said.
Quotable:
“Once we get up there, going to the moon kind of opens the door for us to be able to start to look at tapping resources outside of Earth’s gravity. If we can do that, if we can find a way to open up a new node on the logistics chain, we are accelerating beyond like we’ve never been able to do before.”
— Mark D. Wiese, logistics element manager for NASA’s Gateway program, which is focused on supplying the Earth-orbiting International Space Station to bring humans and cargo to outer space destinations, in an interview with Breakbulk Events and Media.
In other news:
Money pours into India logistics warehousing projects
India’s logistics warehousing sector has attracted $7.2 billion in investment over the past two years as e-tailing expansion in the country draws sizable capital flow. (Business Standard)
JD Logistics links up with European pallet group
The JD unit said it is the world’s first e-commerce platform to use the pallets. Through the partnership, pallets will be distributed to JD’s Chinese partners through JD Cloud Box, its logistics transaction platform. (Parcel and Postal Technology International)
Record logistics subsidies boost Russian auto exports
Russia exported 73,400 finished vehicles worth $1 billion in the first nine months of 2019, a 28% year-on-year increase, according to government statistics. An unprecedented level of subsidies for logistics support was the key factor behind the rise. (Automotive Logistics)
‘Logistics City’ to rise near Stockholm Airport
Logistics City near the Swedish’s capital’s Arlanda Airport will cover 1 million square meters. The first phase of the two-phase project begins next month. (Air Cargo News)
A fourth generation takes command at Ward Transport and Logistics
Bill Ward Jr. has been named president of Ward Transport and Logistics, founded in 1931 by Ward’s great-grandfather. Bill T. Ward, Ward Jr.’s father, will retain the CEO role. Ward Jr. becomes the fourth-generation family member to assume the presidency of the company. (The Reporter)
Final Thoughts:
A legal battle is shaping up over a provision of the 94-year-old Federal Arbitration Act that exempts transport workers hauling goods in interstate commerce from submitting to arbitration. A federal district court in Massachusetts ruled in August that Bernard Waithaka, a driver delivering for Amazon.com Inc., was exempt from arbitration, even though Waithaka acknowledged that he never left the state to make deliveries. Amazon has appealed the ruling to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, saying the driver was looking to gut the act. In April, a federal district court in Washington state sided with an Amazon driver on the same issue. However, in June a federal district court in Northern California ruled in favor of the company. What will likely be at the core of the debate is whether a local driver is engaged in interstate commerce if the package he or she is delivering originated in a fulfillment center in another state. Another question is whether arbitration agreements should be enforced under state law.
Hammer down, everyone!