The Department of Transportation assessment of the nation’s supply chain issues calls for new policies and utilizing funded resources to help expand truck parking and improve warehouse capabilities. The DOT also reports the “vulnerabilities in the U.S. freight and logistics supply chain and offers clear-cut actions needed to speed up the movement of goods from ships to shelves.” Read more…

With a shortage of 50,000 truck drivers in the American trucking industry, there are plenty of job openings in the sector for ambitious individuals, including jobs where you don’t even have to drive at all. Not only can you choose to work locally or to explore the land beyond the borders, but you can also choose to enter the industry by becoming a dispatcher or instructor. Other unique positions include: heavy equipment hauling, delivery truck driving, and bus driving. Read more…

Logistic firms are being forced to create new options for themselves to deal with the shortage of warehouse spaces, including “building multistory facilities and choosing locations farther from coastal ports.” The shortages across the US are coming from many companies stockpiling goods to hedge against supply chain issues, leaving hardly any space for others to stash their merchandise. Robert Thornburgh, the chief executive of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors, says “there is limited inventory of industrial space. It is almost evaporating before your eyes, if you are even lucky enough to know about it.” Read more…

The U.S. Department of Labor’s latest initiative of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division is meant “to focus on protecting the wages and workplace rights of the workers” in the warehouse and logistic industries as the global supply chain demand continues to impact them greatly. The initiative will focus on minimums and overtimes, workplace harassment, family and medical leave, and independent contractor analysis. Read more…

Veho, a logistics startup that uses technology to help with next-day package delivery, has raised “$170 million in an early-stage funding round led by Tiger Global that valued it at $1.5 billion.” This news comes only six weeks after the company raised “$125 million at a valuation of $1 billion.” The funds will go towards creating more automated warehouses across the nation and quadrupling its headcount to 2,000. Read more…

With truck companies struggling to meet CA emissions demand, many are worrying that not only will the supply chain issues get worse, but drivers could lose their jobs. These companies need to have engine models of 2010 or newer by 2023, but it’s becoming harder to afford newer models due to the ongoing semi-conductor shortage. According to the Western States Trucking Association, “40,000 vehicles in the state are older than 2010 models. If those don’t get upgraded, they won’t be allowed on the road.” Read more…

Logistic experts are prognosticating that “machines will take over 50% of workplace tasks by 2025,” according to a report released by DHL last week. Multitudinous changes, “from shifting demographics, technology advancement, to the COVID-19 pandemic,” are all leading to a massive change to the “long established status quo at a pace and scale never seen before in the logistics industry.” Read more…

With the mobile robotic industry growing immensely over the past few years, the advances in robotics and artificial intelligence may soon yield efficient and cost effective ways to assuage many of the labor issues blighting the global logistics industry. Mobile robotics can be used to help with “a range of logistics operations, including material handling, material picking, long-haul distribution, and last mile delivery.” Read more…