Uber-like mobile technology, where folks can find and hail a for-hire driver using their mobile devices, has come to
trucking.
Cargomatic, based in Venice Beach, Calif., today officially launched truckload and less-than-truckload service across a
150-mile range in southern California. Using the Cargomatic app, shippers in need of capacity can find a driver best suited
to haul a load and then hire the driver for a fixed, prearranged price.
The service has been in pilot testing since January, Cargomatic said in a statement. The operational hub will be in Los Angeles,
with a coverage area running north to Santa Barbara County, south to San Diego County, and east to San Bernadino County, the
company said.
According to Jonathan Kessler, Cargomatic's CEO, smaller truckers handle about 80 percent of deliveries in local markets. Most
of those transactions are conducted in a fragmented, decentralized manner, he said in the statement. Cargomatic resolves the
fragmentation by aggregating these truckers under one platform, he added.
The service is aimed at local shippers and truckers operating in the densely populated region. Using the platform, shippers will
have access to capacity to supplement their regular service, while carriers will have an important channel for loads to fill trucks
that might have otherwise operated empty, the company said.
In an e-mail today, Kessler said the company plans to add three or four markets by the end of year, but would not confirm any
specifics. An industry source, however, says Cargomatic plans to expand to the New York metro area sometime in August.
Cargomatic gets paid on the spread between the price it charges shippers and the rates that it negotiates with the carriers,
Kessler said. The company's rates are competitive because it is leveraging underutilized capacity, he added.
Kessler said Cargomatic does not intend to marginalize freight brokers who traditionally handle the task of procuring capacity
for their shipper customers. "Cargomatic wants to work with freight brokers to provide dynamic capacity to meet their shipping
needs," he said in the e-mail. "We are focused on aggregating supply rather than disintermediation."
The company said it has received $2.6 million in venture capital funding from multiple investors.
A Canadian startup that provides AI-powered logistics solutions has gained $5.5 million in seed funding to support its concept of creating a digital platform for global trade, according to Toronto-based Starboard.
The round was led by Eclipse, with participation from previous backers Garuda Ventures and Everywhere Ventures. The firm says it will use its new backing to expand its engineering team in Toronto and accelerate its AI-driven product development to simplify supply chain complexities.
According to Starboard, the logistics industry is under immense pressure to adapt to the growing complexity of global trade, which has hit recent hurdles such as the strike at U.S. east and gulf coast ports. That situation calls for innovative solutions to streamline operations and reduce costs for operators.
As a potential solution, Starboard offers its flagship product, which it defines as an AI-based transportation management system (TMS) and rate management system that helps mid-sized freight forwarders operate more efficiently and win more business. More broadly, Starboard says it is building the virtual infrastructure for global trade, allowing freight companies to leverage AI and machine learning to optimize operations such as processing shipments in real time, reconciling invoices, and following up on payments.
"This investment is a pivotal step in our mission to unlock the power of AI for our customers," said Sumeet Trehan, Co-Founder and CEO of Starboard. "Global trade has long been plagued by inefficiencies that drive up costs and reduce competitiveness. Our platform is designed to empower SMB freight forwarders—the backbone of more than $20 trillion in global trade and $1 trillion in logistics spend—with the tools they need to thrive in this complex ecosystem."
Global trade will see a moderate rebound in 2025, likely growing by 3.6% in volume terms, helped by companies restocking and households renewing purchases of durable goods while reducing spending on services, according to a forecast from trade credit insurer Allianz Trade.
The end of the year for 2024 will also likely be supported by companies rushing to ship goods in anticipation of the higher tariffs likely to be imposed by the coming Trump administration, and other potential disruptions in the coming quarters, the report said.
However, that tailwind for global trade will likely shift to a headwind once the effects of a renewed but contained trade war are felt from the second half of 2025 and in full in 2026. As a result, Allianz Trade has throttled back its predictions, saying that global trade in volume will grow by 2.8% in 2025 (reduced by 0.2 percentage points vs. its previous forecast) and 2.3% in 2026 (reduced by 0.5 percentage points).
The same logic applies to Allianz Trade’s forecast for export prices in U.S. dollars, which the firm has now revised downward to predict growth reaching 2.3% in 2025 (reduced by 1.7 percentage points) and 4.1% in 2026 (reduced by 0.8 percentage points).
In the meantime, the rush to frontload imports into the U.S. is giving freight carriers an early Christmas present. According to Allianz Trade, data released last week showed Chinese exports rising by a robust 6.7% y/y in November. And imports of some consumer goods that have been threatened with a likely 25% tariff under the new Trump administration have outperformed even more, growing by nearly 20% y/y on average between July and September.
Declaring that it is furthering its mission to advance supply chain excellence across the globe, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) today announced the launch of seven new International Roundtables.
The new groups have been established in Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Toronto, Panama City, Lisbon, and Sao Paulo. They join CSCMP’s 40 existing roundtables across the U.S. and worldwide, with each one offering a way for members to grow their knowledge and practice professional networking within their state or region. Overall, CSCMP roundtables produce over 200 events per year—such as educational events, networking events, or facility tours—attracting over 6,000 attendees from 3,000 companies worldwide, the group says.
“The launch of these seven Roundtables is a testament to CSCMP’s commitment to advancing supply chain innovation and fostering professional growth globally,” Mark Baxa, President and CEO of CSCMP, said in a release. “By extending our reach into Latin America, Canada and enhancing our European Union presence, and beyond, we’re not just growing our community—we’re strengthening the global supply chain network. This is how we equip the next generation of leaders and continue shaping the future of our industry.”
The new roundtables in Mexico City and Monterrey will be inaugurated in early 2025, following the launch of the Guadalajara Roundtable in 2024, said Javier Zarazua, a leader in CSCMP’s Latin America initiatives.
“As part of our growth strategy, we have signed strategic agreements with The Logistics World, the largest logistics publishing company in Latin America; Tec Monterrey, one of the largest universities in Latin America; and Conalog, the association for Logistics Executives in Mexico,” Zarazua said. “Not only will supply chain and logistics professionals benefit from these strategic agreements, but CSCMP, with our wealth of content, research, and network, will contribute to enhancing the industry not only in Mexico but across Latin America.”
Likewse, the Lisbon Roundtable marks the first such group in Portugal and the 10th in Europe, noted Miguel Serracanta, a CSCMP global ambassador from that nation.
For many small to medium-sized warehouse operations, it can be challenging to find equipment that improves efficiency but doesn’t break the bank or require specialized training. That was the dilemma that faced coffee roaster and distributor Baronet Coffee when it moved its operations to a 50,000-square-foot facility in Windsor, Connecticut. The company, a fourth-generation family-owned and -operated business, has moved several times since its founding in 1930. But this time it ran into a hitch: The large forklifts it was accustomed to using were creating pain points in the new facility.
Specifically, the narrow aisles and high shelving at the new site made it difficult for the company’s forklift trucks to maneuver through the warehouse. Plus, those big, bulky forklifts required operators with specialized training. And while the warehouse has some 35 employees, not all of them had the necessary credentials—which left the operation vulnerable to staffing shortages and bottlenecks.
So Baronet Coffee launched a search for a flexible, low-cost truck that could maneuver in small spaces and would be easy for team members to operate. For help with the selection process, it tapped Big Joe Forklifts, a Downers Grove, Illinois-based company that makes electric lift trucks.
LOW COST, HIGH FLEXIBILITY
The company found what it wanted in Big Joe’s PDSR, an AC walkie reach stacker with power steering that offers a 3,000-pound lift capacity and can reach heights of up to 189 inches. What makes this model ideal for the Baronet Coffee warehouse is the combination of a tight turning radius, low operating cost, and flexibility.
The PDSR uses a pantograph, which is a mechanism that extends the loads being handled beyond the straddle legs to lift or lower products and can be retracted for compact turns. The PDSR also features power steering, side shift, proportional hydraulics, and tilt, which allows operators to reach and side-shift within the narrow racking and in pass-through racking as well.
“Being able to manipulate that pallet, to put it exactly where we need it, has been [a huge plus for the operation],” explained Chase Martin, process engineer at Baronet Coffee, in a video. “The walk-behind truck gives workers the flexibility to go up high or down low or even into the middle of the racking and move product around very easily and safely.”
THE RIGHT FIT
After one day on the job, Baronet Coffee knew the PDSR was the right fit.
“Big Joe’s PDSR really fit the niche really well for us, Martin said in the video. “It’s a unit that isn’t as big as a forklift, and we don’t need people that are certified to drive it. But it does all of the things that we need it to do—getting up high, reaching, tilting side, shifting—to make our day-to-day order picking easier. From an operational standpoint, this is definitely a big success for us.”
Mike Vilarino, business integration manager at Baronet Coffee, agrees, adding that one of the lift truck’s biggest strengths is its ease of use. “People definitely gravitate toward the Big Joe PDSR. It’s very easy to just grab the truck, [go] out on the aisle, pick what you need, and get out of there,” Vilarino said in the video. “The PDSR is a huge value to Baronet due to the fact that the training requirements for operators are minimal—we’re able to get people up to speed very, very fast, and they’re able to perform their job duties in a timely and safe manner.”
North American manufacturers have begun stockpiling goods to buffer against the impact of potential tariffs threatened by incoming Trump Administration, building up safety stocks to guard against higher imported costs, according to a report from New Jersey business software firm GEP.
That surge in orders has sparked a jump in production, shrinking the level of spare capacity in global supply chains to its lowest level since June, the firm said in its “GEP Global Supply Chain Volatility Index.” By the numbers, that index rose to -0.20 in November, from -0.39 the month before, based on GEP’s measurement of demand conditions, shortages, transportation costs, inventories, and backlogs from its monthly survey of 27,000 businesses.
Another impact of the trend has been to trigger a surge in procurement activity by manufacturers in Asia—especially China—as new orders rebounded sharply. Only India reported a greater rise in raw material purchases than China in November. And preparations to ramp up production even further were evidenced data showing factory procurement activity across Asia rising at its fastest pace for three-and-a-half years, GEP said.
In sharp contrast, Europe's industrial recession worsened in November, in large part due to Germany's deepening manufacturing downturn. Factories in that region went deeper into retrenchment mode, as demand for inputs from manufacturers in Europe was its weakest since December 2023.
"In November, U.S. manufacturers, particularly in the consumer goods sector, increased their safety stocks to help blunt any immediate tariff increases," John Piatek, vice president, GEP, said in a release. "In contrast, Chinese manufacturers are getting busier as a result of government stimulus and growth in exports, led by automotives and technology products. Strategically, many global companies have a wait-and-hope approach, while simultaneously planning to remake their global supply chains to respond to a tariff and trade war in 2025 and beyond."