On Dachser!

Dachser Expands in South Africa

Dachser Transport of America Inc., the U.S. division of one of the world’s leading global logistics service providers, announced that parent company Dachser has opened a branch in one of the largest cities in South Africa, Port Elizabeth, which is situated in the Eastern Cape Province. This is Dachser’s fourth South African branch office, adding to locations in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.

“This office has been in the pipeline for some time, driven by expanding opportunities in the Eastern Cape,” says Detlev Duve, managing director of Dachser South Africa. According to Duve, Dachser plans to harness the opportunities brought by the continuous growth in the logistics industry in Eastern Cape since the inception of the Port of Ngqura, which lies just 12 miles northeast of Port Elizabeth at the mouth of the Coega River.

“It is important to us to offer our customers, particularly in the automotive industry, a transport solution and a connection to our global logistics network from Port Elizabeth to the rest of South Africa,” Thomas Reuter, managing director of Dachser Air & Sea Logistics, explains.

Expand On-Demand

LeanLogistics Releases Updated On-Demand TMS

LeanLogistics, a global solutions provider of transportation management system (TMS) applications and supply chain services, on Nov. 13 announced the release of On-Demand TMS version 12.3.0, which enables shippers to enact compliance, risk management, governance and control specific to global logistics. The company’s flagship software-as-a-service (SaaS) TMS first launched in 2000 and is now the TMS of choice by more than 70,000 transportation professionals.

LeanGlobal, a global logistics management module of On-Demand TMS, leverages “best-of-breed” partner solutions allowing LeanLogistics to provide a market-leading, fully integrated framework for global logistics management and trade compliance in a centralized TMS platform.

“The partnerships with INTTRA and Amber Road support LeanLogistics’ global growth strategy to provide a comprehensive true SaaS solution for end-to-end global transportation management within a single solution,” says Chris Johnson, vice president of Research & Development, LeanLogistics. “With ocean trade and regulatory management solutions integrated with our technology, On-Demand TMS customers gain seamless insight into global transportation information, data, compliance and financials.”

INTTRA is the world’s largest, multi-carrier network for the ocean shipping industry. Its multi-carrier e-commerce network combined with the LeanLogistics Transportation Network streamlines and standardizes international shipping processes that support global supply chains. The synergies between LeanLogistics and INTTRA are boasted to drive collaboration with 40 leading ocean carriers and NVOCCs.

Amber Road is the world’s leading provider of on-demand Global Trade Management (GTM) solutions. By integrating with On-Demand TMS through the LeanGlobal module, customers have access to what is billed as the most comprehensive and up-to-date database of global trade content. LeanGlobal now automates the trade compliance function and enables LeanLogistics’ customers to stay abreast of the dynamically changing regulatory environment.

“Organizations managing global supply chains need connectivity and visibility to seamlessly collaborate around the globe, while improving service levels and reducing costs,” says John Sharratt, INTTRA’s director of Strategic Alliances. “Our partnership with LeanLogistics enables On-Demand TMS customers to manage end-to-end import and export supply chain processes.”

LeanGlobal enhancements in version 12.3.0 include connectivity with leading ocean carriers and NVOCCs to facilitate booking management. In addition, version 12.3.0 provides global trade compliance that includes product classification, import and export control checks, documentation determination, restricted party screening, ocean freight settlement and global business intelligence all within the On-Demand TMS.

Because of the single-instance, multi-tenant nature of On-Demand TMS, the new version was immediately and simultaneously available to all users in the LeanLogistics Transportation Network as of Nov. 13.

Social Network

E2open Announces Social Supply Chain Initiative

E2open, a leading provider of cloud-based solutions for collaborative execution across global trading networks, announced on Nov. 8 an initiative to integrate social technologies into its E2open Business Network. This will reportedly allow participants to improve productivity and increase opportunities for higher revenue attainment and lower operating costs derived from improved supply chain responsiveness.

According to research published by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) in July 2012: “Improved communication and collaboration through social technologies could raise the productivity of interaction workers by 20 to 25 percent. … These technologies, which create value by improving productivity across the value chain, could potentially contribute $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in annual value.”

“E2open is in a unique position to be the first vendor to leverage the power of social technologies to increase business value in a supply chain context,” says Mark Woodward, president and CEO, E2open. “By leveraging the existing data and security models in our E2open Business Network and combining them with social technologies, we can enable our customers and their trading partners to resolve supply chain issues, as well as identify potential demand forecast inaccuracies and supply risks, more quickly and efficiently.”

“The results of our research with visionary supply chain executives over the past year have clearly identified the opportunities for ‘social’ in supply chain, and how E2open can extend its E2open Business Network to deliver new social-based supply chain capabilities,” says Lorenzo Martinelli, SVP Corporate Strategy at E2open. “Over the next year, we will continue to work with our early adopter customers to prove out our social supply chain solutions—and their adoption patterns across trading networks—to validate the business value they can deliver to our customers and their trading partners.”

E2open’s social supply chain capabilities for issue collaboration, demand sensing and supply risk monitoring are currently planned to be available in limited pilot by summer 2013. To learn more about the E2open Social Supply Chain initiative, visit www.e2open.com/social-supply-chain.

Leading Women

Kenco, Certified by WBENC, Becomes Largest Woman-Owned Logistics Company

Kenco Group, Inc., a leading provider of distribution, transportation and supply chain intelligence solutions, recently received national certification as a Women’s Business Enterprise by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).

WBENC’s national standard of certification is a rigorous process that has included an in-depth review of the business as well as a site inspection. The certification process is designed to confirm that the business is at least 51 percent owned, operated and controlled by a woman or women.

Kenco became a woman-owned business when controlling interest in the company was acquired by chairwoman and CEO Jane Kennedy Greene in 2011. She provides strategic direction to the organization and leads the Kenco Board of Directors. “I am delighted that Kenco has been certified as a woman-owned business enterprise,” says Greene, who purchased controlling interest in Kenco from her father, Jim Kennedy, Jr. “This allows us to better serve our clients by helping them meet their supplier diversity initiatives.”

“Kenco has been a true partner to Cummins for over 16 years,” says Gordon Fykes, director, Diversity Procurement at Cummins Inc. “This certification supports Cummins in achieving our supplier diversity goals and exemplifies how Kenco continues to find new ways to drive uncommon value for our company.”

New Name, Same Trucks

H&M International Transportation Renames Trucking Division

H&M International Transportation Inc. recently announced that its trucking division will begin operating as H&M Terminals Transport Corp., effective Jan. 1, 2013. The change is part of the intermodal provider’s on-going efforts to better serve the shipping community.

The company will offer the same broad range of services; however, its local, regional and over-the-road trucking services will now be provided by H&M Terminals Transport Corp. H&M International Transportation Inc. will continue to provide warehousing distribution, container yard services, container freight stations, container and chassis maintenance and repair, and rail terminal operations.

Company ownership remains in place, and day-to-day operations in all current H&M locations will not be affected by this name change.

“We continually seek new ways to streamline operations while providing a comprehensive service package for our customers,” says Al Iannelli, executive vice president, H&M International Transportation, Inc. “Down the road, this name change will help to facilitate planned expansion of over-the-road operations and enable more comprehensive regional coverage.”

File Under “Feel-Good Story”

MOL Woodchip Carrier Rescues a Yacht Skipper

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd announced on December 14 that its owned and operated woodchip carrier Global Explorer rescued the skipper of a yacht Makalii that wrecked near the Line Islands, 1,500km south of the Hawaii Islands.

The Global Explorer was under way from Coronel, Chile, to Iyomishima in Ehime Prefecture, Japan, at dawn on December 3 when it received a request for assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard in Honolulu.

The ship rushed to the site, arriving in the area that evening, and began searching. Despite the darkness and heavy seas, the ship searched for nine hours before rescuing the stranded yachtsman. The size of the large-scale woodchip carrier made the effort all the more difficult, as it is very challenging to maneuver in extreme weather conditions, but the rescue was accomplished safely thanks to the training and judgment of the Global Explorer’s officers and crew.