Airlines are continuing to enter joint agreements when it comes to handling cargo across borders. In June, Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Cargo and Mexico City-based Grupo Aeromexico, S.A.B. de C.V. Cargo say they are now working together “to create a bigger, better cargo operation in the transborder market between the United States and Mexico, one of the most important cargo routes in the world.” Customers can now work with either carrier to transport cargo across a broad network of flights and joint trucking options, joint sales, marketing and technology initiatives are under way and, besides using warehouses in Mexico, Boston, New York-JFK, Miami, San Francisco and Chicago, the airlines will open Orlando and Detroit facilities later this summer.

In April, United Airlines and Lufthansa Cargo signed a joint venture agreement for extensive cargo cooperation on routes between the U.S. and Europe. The partners say they are cooking up a wide range of benefits to customers by cooperating on the availability of their capacity and aligning booking and handling processes. “The carriers’ joint venture route network will provide greater flexibility and time savings to customers with thousands of new weekly route combinations and more than 600 direct connections per week between the U.S. and Europe,” the airlines say.

INTERNET INDUSTRY OUTLINES PRIORITIES FOR MODERNIZING NAFTA

Promoting e-commerce and upgrading international trade and intellectual property rules are among the policy priorities outlined in an Internet Association white paper on modernizing the North American Free Trade Agreement. “NAFTA was approved before the proliferation of the commercial Internet,” explained Michael Beckerman, the Washington, D.C.-based IA’s president and CEO, upon the paper’s June release. “Today, U.S. businesses in nearly every sector and in every state leverage the Internet to reach millions of customers across the globe and create quality American jobs. Promoting Internet-friendly disciplines in NAFTA on data flows, balanced copyright, intermediary liability and customs represents a massive opportunity for the Internet sector and the U.S. economy as a whole.”

His association reports that the Internet sector represents 6 percent of U.S. GDP, employs nearly 3 million Americans and has helped the U.S. establish a $159 billion global digital trade surplus, including a $41.8 billion services trade surplus with Canada and Mexico. The IA adds that these benefits reach well-beyond the Internet economy, with 75 percent of the economic benies of the net going to traditional industries like manufacturing and agriculture. Follow the prompts at internetassociation.org to download the white paper.

SPEAKING OF THE INTERNET AND GLOBAL TRADE …

IT service provider AXIT, a member of the Siemens family of companies, has developed a suite of four consulting modules for logistics professionals who are not yet fully aware of what digitalization can do for their companies. The services range from an expert assessment of existing solutions to a detailed calculation of digitalization potential in the supply chain to the development of a personalized system of key performance indicators for measuring the efficiency of supply chains. (www.axit.de/en/services/axit-services/projectmanagement-consulting)

DeltaTrak released its new FlashLink Real-Time Monitoring Solution at June’s United Fresh Expo in Chicago. The system combines the FlashLink Real-Time In-Transit Logger with a 24/7 cloud service. The logger records temperature, humidity, shock, light and location and sends data via GSM cellular network to a web account. Reliable up-to-the-minute information is accessed with a standard web browser using a PC or any Internet-ready device. (deltatrack.com)

Global Shop Solutions, an international producer of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for the manufacturing industry based in The Woodlands, Texas, continues its efforts to promote efficiencies on the shop floor through the use of Cloud ERP. Designed to eliminate the need of on-premise servers and the costly IT support they demand, Global Shop Solutions’ cloud-based ERP software offers manufacturing customers the same robust ERP software experience but with increased accessibility, speed and security. “With the reduced need for focusing on hardware and software,” the company says, “customers can now spend more time focusing on the job at hand and pushing forward their business knowing their data is safe and secure.” (globalshopsolutions.com)

ICC BANKING COMMISSION LAUNCHES TRADE FINANCE DIGITALIZATION WORKING GROUP

The International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) Banking Commission launched a working group to help the trade finance industry accelerate its progress toward greater digitalization. The goal of the initiative announced in June is to identify strategies to overcome the constraints of digitalizing trade finance, including reliance on paper-based practices, a lack of recognition of the legal status of electronic documents, uncertainty over standards and a general lack of clear legal and regulatory frameworks.

“The digitalization of the trade finance industry is already under way,” said Michael Vrontamitis, chairman of the Digitalisation of Trade Finance Working Group. “In order to help the industry to reach a point of critical mass, where the benefits are fully realized, we need to develop a framework and create a digital ecosystem to enable connectivity and collaboration between stakeholders, in turn speeding up wider adoption.” 


SPEAKING OF TRADE FINANCE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: MAERSK!

Maersk Line has introduced a new service to its customers looking to finance their global trade while getting the best service possible from their carrier. “Maersk Trade Finance is a new customer-centric, ocean transportation financing product that combines containerized transportation services with trade financing,” the company announced in June. “Available in Singapore, India, Spain, the Netherlands and now the United States, customers have the benefit of working with a financially stable shipping partner while having a fast, convenient trade financing solution for their global shipments. 

Maersk Trade Finance will initially be launched in New York, Texas, Florida, New Jersey and Georgia effective immediately. Reported benefits include: easy access to capital to finance business needs when needed; credit worthiness determined quickly, with consideration of a shipper’s financials and history with Maersk Line; a faster release of funds; a one-stop shop for all financing needs; and, something the International Chamber of Commerce will appreciate, a “simple, end-to-end digital solution, removing the paper trail from traditional financing options.” Learn more at maerskline.com.

MOTION INDUSTRIES LITERALLY IN MOTION WITH MOVE TO TEXAS

Motion Industries, Inc., a leading distributor of maintenance, repair and operation replacement parts and a wholly owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts Co., successfully moved to its newly built distribution center in Grand Prairie, Texas. In the DFW Metroplex at 200 W. Trinity Blvd., the new facility is managed by Dan Krska, less than a half mile off of a major highway and also close to LTL carriers and two major airports.

“The increase in square footage allows for a deeper and broader array of product offering for our customers,” says Joe Limbaugh, Motion Industries vice president, Operations/Distribution/Properties. “The state-of-the art material handling equipment will ensure timely and accurate order processing and, in addition to being efficient, the new distribution center is simply beautiful. It showcases the Mi Workplace commercial design standards in the offices, conversion shop and warehouse.”