Artificial intelligence (AI) tools can help users build “smart and responsive supply chains” by increasing workforce productivity, expanding visibility, accelerating processes, and prioritizing the next best action to drive results, according to business software vendor Oracle.
To help reach that goal, the Texas company last week released software upgrades including user experience (UX) enhancements to its Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain & Manufacturing (SCM) suite.
“Organizations are under pressure to create efficient and resilient supply chains that can quickly adapt to economic conditions, control costs, and protect margins,” Chris Leone, executive vice president, Applications Development, Oracle, said in a release. “The latest enhancements to Oracle Cloud SCM help customers create a smarter, more responsive supply chain by enabling them to optimize planning and execution and improve the speed and accuracy of processes.”
According to Oracle, specific upgrades feature changes to its:
Production Supervisor Workbench, which helps organizations improve manufacturing performance by providing real-time insight into work orders and generative AI-powered shift reporting.
Maintenance Supervisor Workbench, which helps organizations increase productivity and reduce asset downtime by resolving maintenance issues faster.
Order Management Enhancements, which help organizations increase operational performance by enabling users to quickly create and find orders, take actions, and engage customers.
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Enhancements, which help organizations accelerate product development and go-to-market by enabling users to quickly find items and configure critical objects and navigation paths to meet business-critical priorities.
Trucking industry groups such as the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA) are cheering California regulators’ move this week to end the campaign to require truck fleets to use zero-emission vehicles in the state.
That effort was intended to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by mandating a transition from diesel-powered trucks to battery electric versions staged over a period of years. The plan included a provision that all trucks sold in California had to be zero emission by 2036 and that all trucks operated in the state had to be zero emission by 2042.
However, California on Monday withdrew its petition for the Clean Air Act (CAA) waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for California Air Resources Board's (CARB) Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) regulation. According to NMFTA, the stated reasoning behind the decision to withdraw the waiver petition was because California officials assumed that incoming President Trump would deny the waiver once he took office.
Following that move, the NMFTA says it will now also push to overturn additional “unattainable regulations,” including the GHG Phase 3 rule and CARB’s Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) rule. “We anticipate a flurry of activity at the EPA once the new Administration takes office. This may include Executive Orders regarding the enforcement of GHG Phase 3 and the rescission of the ACT waiver. We will keep you updated,” NMFTA said in a release.
But the group also said it would continue to seek GHG reductions through different strategies. “We do not view this as a pause on the industry’s efforts to manufacture and operate cleaner trucks. To the contrary, we view this as an opportunity for manufacturers and fleets to focus on alternative fuel options, such as renewable natural gas and biodiesel,” NMFTA said.
Container traffic is finally back to typical levels at the port of Montreal, two months after dockworkers returned to work following a strike, port officials said Thursday.
Today that arbitration continues as the two sides work to forge a new contract. And port leaders with the Maritime Employers Association (MEA) are reminding workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) that the CIRB decision “rules out any pressure tactics affecting operations until the next collective agreement expires.”
The Port of Montreal alone said it had to manage a backlog of about 13,350 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) on the ground, as well as 28,000 feet of freight cars headed for export.
Port leaders this week said they had now completed that task. “Two months after operations fully resumed at the Port of Montreal, as directed by the Canada Industrial Relations Board, the Montreal Port Authority (MPA) is pleased to announce that all port activities are now completely back to normal. Both the impact of the labour dispute and the subsequent resumption of activities required concerted efforts on the part of all port partners to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, even over the holiday season,” the port said in a release.
According to AAPA, the policies are necessary to revitalize America’s ports, keep America safe and secure, and unleash sustainable economic growth. The announcement comes shortly after the 119th Congress began its 2025 session on January 3, and just days before the January 20 inauguration of Donald Trump for a second term as president.
One notable item on the list is opposition to the steep new trade tariffs that Trump has proposed. The U.S. business community—including maritime port operators—has broadly opposed increased tariffs, saying they will increase the cost of goods and manufacturing, raise prices for consumers, and trigger increased inflation.
In AAPA’s words, its policy agenda includes:
reauthorizing oversubscribed mainstay infrastructure grant programs;
ensuring timely passage of navigation channel funding;
opposing tariffs that hurt consumers and stifle growth;
reforming burdensome federal permitting;
pushing back against and educating stakeholders on the harmful effects of vessel speed restrictions;
empowering ports to power America with an all of the above energy strategy;
securing our ports and their assets from potential threats with the necessary resources and personnel; and
expediting “Build America Buy America” waivers and incentivizing domestic manufacturing of ship-to-shore cranes.
In support of those ideas, AAPA staff have already begun meeting with members of congress and industry to advocate for the priorities. And AAPA’s president & CEO, Cary Davis, and John Bressler, its VP of government relations, have met with President-elect Trump’s transition team, as well as with U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary nominee Sean Duffy’s team.
“There’s no such thing as a strong America without strong ports,” Davis said in a release. “America’s ports are key to the nation’s economic health and global competitiveness. As trade and cargo volumes continue to grow, our nation’s ports must continue working with the Federal Government to invest in and build the next generation of port infrastructure so we can deliver for America.”
The “2024 Year in Review” report lists the various transportation delays, freight volume restrictions, and infrastructure repair costs of a long string of events. Those disruptions include labor strikes at Canadian ports and postal sites, the U.S. East and Gulf coast port strike; hurricanes Helene, Francine, and Milton; the Francis Scott key Bridge collapse in Baltimore Harbor; the CrowdStrike cyber attack; and Red Sea missile attacks on passing cargo ships.
“While 2024 was characterized by frequent and overlapping disruptions that exposed many supply chain vulnerabilities, it was also a year of resilience,” the Project44 report said. “From labor strikes and natural disasters to geopolitical tensions, each event served as a critical learning opportunity, underscoring the necessity for robust contingency planning, effective labor relations, and durable infrastructure. As supply chains continue to evolve, the lessons learned this past year highlight the increased importance of proactive measures and collaborative efforts. These strategies are essential to fostering stability and adaptability in a world where unpredictability is becoming the norm.”
In addition to tallying the supply chain impact of those events, the report also made four broad predictions for trends in 2025 that may affect logistics operations. In Project44’s analysis, they include:
More technology and automation will be introduced into supply chains, particularly ports. This will help make operations more efficient but also increase the risk of cybersecurity attacks and service interruptions due to glitches and bugs. This could also add tensions among the labor pool and unions, who do not want jobs to be replaced with automation.
The new administration in the United States introduces a lot of uncertainty, with talks of major tariffs for numerous countries as well as talks of US freight getting preferential treatment through the Panama Canal. If these things do come to fruition, expect to see shifts in global trade patterns and sourcing.
Natural disasters will continue to become more frequent and more severe, as exhibited by the wildfires in Los Angeles and the winter storms throughout the southern states in the U.S. As a result, expect companies to invest more heavily in sustainability to mitigate climate change.
The peace treaty announced on Wednesday between Isael and Hamas in the Middle East could support increased freight volumes returning to the Suez Canal as political crisis in the area are resolved.
The French transportation visibility provider Shippeo today said it has raised $30 million in financial backing, saying the money will support its accelerated expansion across North America and APAC, while driving enhancements to its “Real-Time Transportation Visibility Platform” product.
The funding round was led by Woven Capital, Toyota’s growth fund, with participation from existing investors: Battery Ventures, Partech, NGP Capital, Bpifrance Digital Venture, LFX Venture Partners, Shift4Good and Yamaha Motor Ventures. With this round, Shippeo’s total funding exceeds $140 million.
Shippeo says it offers real-time shipment tracking across all transport modes, helping companies create sustainable, resilient supply chains. Its platform enables users to reduce logistics-related carbon emissions by making informed trade-offs between modes and carriers based on carbon footprint data.
"Global supply chains are facing unprecedented complexity, and real-time transport visibility is essential for building resilience” Prashant Bothra, Principal at Woven Capital, who is joining the Shippeo board, said in a release. “Shippeo’s platform empowers businesses to proactively address disruptions by transforming fragmented operations into streamlined, data-driven processes across all transport modes, offering precise tracking and predictive ETAs at scale—capabilities that would be resource-intensive to develop in-house. We are excited to support Shippeo’s journey to accelerate digitization while enhancing cost efficiency, planning accuracy, and customer experience across the supply chain.”