MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Aug. 9, 2023) – Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas group (Logisnext), a leading North American provider and manufacturer of material handling and innovative automation and fleet solutions, today announced its sponsorship of the 2023 FedEx St. Jude Championship. Set to take place Aug. 9 – 13 at the TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, promising an exhilarating showcase of talent, competition and compassion. The tournament will feature the top 70 players on the PGA Tour as they compete in a thrilling battle for the FedExCup.
The FedEx St. Jude Championship will be celebrating the 53rd year of supporting the lifesaving work of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, generating over $65M to advance St. Jude’s mission. As a partner sponsor this year, Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas extends a warm invitation to its valued Dealers and Dealer customers, offering an exclusive opportunity to join this golf experience while supporting the fight to end childhood cancer and other life-threatening illness.
“We are honored to support the PGA Tour’s FedExCup Playoffs and be part of this championship event,” said Stu Jacover, General Manager of National Accounts, Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas. “This sponsorship reaffirms our commitment to charitable initiatives and making a positive impact in the communities we serve, while also giving our Dealers and Dealer Customers an opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations and foster strong relationships.”
The PGA Tour also provides the opportunity to host and network with B2B customers, all of whom aim to drive positive change in the world and the local communities they serve. As a key player in the material handling industry, Mitsubishi Logisnext of Americas values the opportunity to contribute to such prestigious events that bring communities and businesses together.
To learn more about the event please visit https://www.fedexchampionship.com/.
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About Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas
Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas Inc., and its group companies have helped customers Move The World Forward for more than 100 years. A technology-driven manufacturer, Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas offers scalable solutions from material handling to automation and extensive fleet support. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, its complete portfolio of advanced solutions spans across five leading brands – Mitsubishi forklift trucks, Cat® lift trucks, Rocla AGV Solutions, UniCarriers® Forklifts and Jungheinrich® warehouse and automation products. All products are backed by an extensive dealer network offering industry-leading customer service and product support. Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Logisnext Co. Ltd. For more information, visit www.LogisnextAmericas.com.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Aug. 9, 2023) – Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas group (Logisnext), a leading North American provider and manufacturer of material handling and innovative automation and fleet solutions, today announced its sponsorship of the 2023 FedEx St. Jude Championship. Set to take place Aug. 9 – 13 at the TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, promising an exhilarating showcase of talent, competition and compassion. The tournament will feature the top 70 players on the PGA Tour as they compete in a thrilling battle for the FedExCup.
The FedEx St. Jude Championship will be celebrating the 53rd year of supporting the lifesaving work of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, generating over $65M to advance St. Jude’s mission. As a partner sponsor this year, Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas extends a warm invitation to its valued Dealers and Dealer customers, offering an exclusive opportunity to join this golf experience while supporting the fight to end childhood cancer and other life-threatening illness.
“We are honored to support the PGA Tour’s FedExCup Playoffs and be part of this championship event,” said Stu Jacover, General Manager of National Accounts, Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas. “This sponsorship reaffirms our commitment to charitable initiatives and making a positive impact in the communities we serve, while also giving our Dealers and Dealer Customers an opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations and foster strong relationships.”
The PGA Tour also provides the opportunity to host and network with B2B customers, all of whom aim to drive positive change in the world and the local communities they serve. As a key player in the material handling industry, Mitsubishi Logisnext of Americas values the opportunity to contribute to such prestigious events that bring communities and businesses together.
To learn more about the event please visit https://www.fedexchampionship.com/.
#
About Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas
Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas Inc., and its group companies have helped customers Move The World Forward for more than 100 years. A technology-driven manufacturer, Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas offers scalable solutions from material handling to automation and extensive fleet support. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, its complete portfolio of advanced solutions spans across five leading brands – Mitsubishi forklift trucks, Cat® lift trucks, Rocla AGV Solutions, UniCarriers® Forklifts and Jungheinrich® warehouse and automation products. All products are backed by an extensive dealer network offering industry-leading customer service and product support. Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Logisnext Co. Ltd. For more information, visit www.LogisnextAmericas.com.
When it comes to your loading docks, safety should be job one.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) data show that a quarter of all industrial accidents happen at loading docks, making this vital, high-activity area a place for vigilance and attention to detail.
“We’re talking about industrial equipment. People don’t get paper cuts here; there can be serious injuries and potential fatalities,” explains Ryan Schaffner, director of sales for loading dock equipment manufacturer McGuire, a division of Systems LLC. Schaffner says there are 7,700 forklift accidents per year at loading docks across the United States: “That’s 21 [incidents] per day. It’s important to protect yourself.”
Protecting employees, vendors, transportation providers, and visitors—anyone who could come into contact with your loading docks—gets a little bit easier when you can identify risks and stay up to date on the latest advances in loading dock systems and equipment. Here are three ways to help ensure your loading docks are as safe as possible.
COMMUNICATE
The biggest accident risk at the loading dock? Early departure of a truck or trailer while a forklift is still inside. The best way to avoid that risk? Good communication and good processes.
“Loading docks are loud, complex environments,” Schaffner explains, noting that in many situations, there’s no clean line of sight or established process for dock workers to communicate with truck drivers coming in and out of the yard every day.
“It’s easy for miscommunication to happen,” he adds. “Ultimately, though, customers [need to] own what happens on their property and in their building. It may be a FedEx driver, but the customer site has to own the safety of the loading and unloading [operations].”
One way to solve the problem is to install a light-communication system that indicates when it’s safe for a truck to enter or leave the dock, and when the driver should stay put. Like traffic signals, dock alerts use red and green lights inside and outside the building—working in opposition—to let both the driver and the forklift operator know the status of the loading or unloading operation. A green light inside indicates it’s safe for the forklift operator to load or unload, and a green light outside lets the driver know it’s safe to pull in or away, for instance. Red lights indicate the opposite.
Truck restraints add another layer of protection and can work in conjunction with light systems. Usually mounted underneath the dock leveler—which is a platform that ensures the safe and smooth movement of goods from the truck to the building—truck restraints hook onto a trailer’s bumper or to a bar underneath the truck, holding it to the building so that the truck can’t pull away without substantial force. Restraints also help eliminate trailer “creep”—which happens when the trailer starts to inch away due to the repetitive motions of the forklifts entering and exiting the trailers. The restraints prevent this and hold the trailer fast to the dock. When the dock leveler is stored and there’s no forklift or worker inside the trailer, a green light tells the driver it’s OK to go.
“Try to increase communication to avoid the incident from occurring,” Schaffner advises, referring to the light system. “The insurance policy is the truck restraint—the physical means of holding you to the building.”
AUTOMATE
Moving from manual to automated loading dock systems is also a good way to improve safety. Dock levelers offer another useful example: Mechanical systems require workers to manually raise and lower the leveler, putting them in close contact with equipment—which can raise the risk of slip-and-fall accidents, among other dangers. Alternatively, air-powered and hydraulic dock levelers utilize pushbutton controls that allow workers to remain at a safe distance from the truck and leveler, reducing the risk of accidents.
Schaffner says more than half of the warehousing industry uses mechanical systems, so there’s plenty of room to convert to automated protocols where it makes sense. Experts at loading dock equipment maker Rite-Hite agree; in a report on industry trends from early this year, the company listed the automation of labor-intensive tasks as one of the top loading dock trends of 2024.
“… manually lifting a loading dock leveler or bending over to throw open a dock door can be taxing on anyone’s back and body. These repetitive motions can lead to chronic pain that stays with workers long after they’ve punched out for the day. In fact, back injuries account for one in five workplace injuries. And 80% of those injuries are caused by manual material handling that requires twisting, carrying, or extending out to reach something,” Rite-Hite said in its report. “This is more often seen inside the facility, but in the last 10 to 15 years has been addressed at the loading dock with the application of pushbutton controls for dock [leveler] operation.”
Such systems help keep workers at the control box, where they are both ergonomically protected and out of harm’s way.
SEQUENCE
Automated systems can also help ensure that loading dock operations are handled in the proper sequence each and every day—another key to safety.
“We encourage customers to look at that—how do we protect everyone to make sure it’s the safest operation [and also that] we’re using things in the proper order every single time,” Schaffner says. “We talk a lot about sequence of operation. And the more we encourage [customers] to buy more powered equipment than manual [equipment], the better.”
Leaders at Rite-Hite concur. Advanced loading dock controls can help “bake” safety into the equation by programming equipment to only work in an “interlocked safe sequence of operations,” according to the 2024 trends report. Rite-Hite uses its Dok-Lok system as an example: The sequence of operations begins when the truck backs in and the Dok-Lok becomes engaged with a rear-impact guard, or a wheel-based restraint is engaged with the rear wheels.
“Once the vehicle is secured, the dock barrier can be stored out of the way [and] the overhead door can be opened and the leveler positioned into the trailer bed,” according to the report. “After loading/unloading, the restraint is not allowed to disengage the trailer until the leveler is taken out of the trailer and stored safely, [the] dock door [is] closed, and [the] safety barrier [is] engaged across [the] dock opening.”
McGuire/Systems LLC offers similar solutions.
“Your restraint has to be engaged before you open the door, [so there is] always a protective layer there,” Schaffner says. “Likewise, you can’t engage the dock leveler until the door is in a fully open position.”
The ultimate goal? A safe and secure loading dock.
CMA CGM will purchase a 48% stake in the company from its current owner, Opportunity Funds. Santos Brasil manages a portfolio of 8 assets on the Brazilian coast, including 3 Container Terminals, 1 Vehicle Terminal, 1 Liquid Bulk Terminal, and 3 Logistic Facilities. These assets are located in the Ports of Santos, Imbituba, Vila do Conde, Itaqui and in Sao Paulo.
Once the acquisition closes, CMA CGM intends to further develop its line calls in the various Brazilian terminals and further improve its offering to Brazilian exporters and importers, thereby responding to increasing demand and better addressing consumer needs.
The move will also enable CMA CGM to offer “seamless connections” between Europe, Asia, North America, and the Caribbean, thus solidifying Brazil's position as a key hub in the group’s worldwide operations and reinforcing synergies with its MERCOSUL Line affiliate.
The deal marks CMA CGM’s latest move to expand its port holdings, reinforcing its position as a leading global multi-user terminal operator with investments in approximately 60 terminals worldwide, the company said.
“I am pleased that the CMA CGM Group has concluded this strategic agreement for the acquisition of Santos Brasil, which operates five terminals in Brazil, including the largest container terminal in the Port of Santos, handling 40% of Brazilian volumes, as well as a logistics company. This significant investment reflects our commitment to strengthening our partnership with Brazil and supporting its growth in the coming years,” Rodolphe Saadé, CEO of CMA CGM Group, said in a release.
A government watchdog group is calling for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to take “long-overdue” action to modernize the nation’s aging, unreliable air traffic control systems, according to the Center for Transportation Policy (CTP).
The GAO report also said that over half of those unsustainable systems are especially concerning, but the FAA has been slow to modernize. Some system modernization projects won't be complete for another 10 to 13 years. But the FAA also doesn't have plans to modernize other systems in need—3 of which are at least 30 years old, the GAO report found.
“News out of the Government Accountability Office highlighting the vulnerabilities of our air traffic control systems is disturbing,” said Jackson Sheldelbower, executive director of the Center for Transportation Policy (CTP). “Pete Buttigieg and the Department of Transportation need to get their priorities straight. We’re urging federal officials to fast-track the repairs and modernization projects necessary to bring air travel into the twenty-first century.”
“This traffic data suggests a relatively small number of bridges see a disproportionate amount of the largest ship traffic. It’s very clear where the heavy traffic is happening and these bridges should be prioritized for more careful and rigorous risk analysis,” Shields said.
To create the study, researchers used data mining techniques to identify the nation’s bridges that are the most vulnerable to a similar strike. First, they collected six years of U.S. Coast Guard data—logs detailing the precise location, heading, speed, and status of every ship traveling through the country’s waters on a minute-by-minute basis. Then they cross-referenced the geolocated shipping information with port data and bridge data from the National Bridge Inventory to determine which large ships passed under bridges. Finally, they built a program to analyze that data set to assess large-ship traffic under more than 200 major U.S. bridges.
The results show that three bridges had—by far—the most traffic from the very largest ships: The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in New York City, the Talmadge Memorial Bridge in Georgia, and two San Francisco Bay Area bridges. In addition, bridges with the most traffic from large (but not necessarily the very largest) ships include Houston’s Fred Hartman Bridge and several bridges along the Mississippi River including the Crescent City Connection in New Orleans. Meanwhile, the Francis Scott Key Bridge ranked among the top 10 bridges in very large ship traffic, with on average one ship longer than 300 meters (the size of the Dali) passing under it per day.
Shields cautioned that high ship traffic alone doesn’t necessarily mean a bridge is at high risk for collisions. Other variables that play a role include local shipping channel conditions, along with existing shipping safety practices, and individual bridge protections.
According to Indiana-based Wabash, its TaaS offering differs from traditional leasing because it ensures minimal downtime by providing a holistic solution that supports the full lifecycle of the trailer, from acquisition to maintenance and uptime management.
In addition to its TaaS service, Wabash makes products including: dry freight and refrigerated trailers, flatbed trailers, tank trailers, dry and refrigerated truck bodies, structural composite panels and products, trailer aerodynamic solutions, and specialty food grade processing equipment.
In turn, California-based Kodiak will focus on further developments to “Kodiak Driver,” its autonomous technology. The company last month said it had surpassed 50,000 miles of autonomous long-haul trucking by working in collaborations with other companies such as supply chain solutions provider J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. and tire and sustainable mobility vendor Bridgestone Americas.