Report: Last-Mile Delivery is the Most Inefficient Process for More Than Half of North American Companies
The transportation and logistics (T&L) industry has experienced significant disruptions due to the steep rise in e-commerce and rapidly changing consumer expectations. With a greater variety and quantity of purchases being shipped directly to consumers’ homes, combined with expectations that necessitate rapid, often same-day deliveries, last-mile delivery strategies have never been more important. Yet, in a new global report titled The Last Mile Sprint: State of Mobility in Transportation and Logistics, commissioned by SOTI in partnership with Arlington Research, last-mile delivery is the most inefficient process of the entire supply chain, according to 59% of T&L companies in the U.S. and 78% in Canada.
To create powerful and transparent customer experiences, 82% of respondents in the U.S. and 88% in Canada agreed that it is critical for T&L companies to ensure a mobile-first strategy around last-mile delivery. A mobile-first strategy is defined as viewing smartphones, tablets, and task-specific apps as the primary tools for getting work done.
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FAA clears airlines to remove passenger seats for cargo
The Federal Aviation Administration late Friday gave U.S. airlines permission to remove passenger seats and transport cargo on the floor of the cabin in aircraft being deployed on cargo-only flights. The exemption to existing regulations governing aircraft operations lasts for one year. The FAA also extended until July 10, 2021, its prior ruling that airlines could fly with cargo strapped into the seats through the end of this year. The decision comes two months after an airline trade group petitioned for an exemption from normal aircraft operating rules and three months after some international carriers began reconfiguring passenger cabins to create more room for boxes of goods.
At the height of the coronavirus medical crisis airlines grounded most of their passenger flights, which eliminated more than half of the global cargo capacity. Shippers were paying up to $1.5 million to lease pure freighter aircraft for one-way trips, with passenger airlines also commanding top dollar for auxiliary freighters and implementing scheduled cargo routes for customers leasing blocks of space.
In recent weeks, demand for emergency air shipments of personal protective equipment has waned with the build-up of sufficient inventories in many areas and airlines’ reintroduction of many passenger flights. Market watchers have also observed that airlines are decreasing the number of passenger freighters in operation.
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73% of companies experienced supply-side disruption due to pandemic
73% of companies experienced a detrimental supply-side disruption as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report from Resilience360 and Business Continuity Institute, which surveyed 350 global manufacturers and retailers in June through the first week of July.
The pandemic caused disruptions to many organizations’ supply chains with many European based manufacturers, for example, being heavily reliant on Asia for components. As a result, nearly 30% of respondents said their company would source less from the Far East as a result of the pandemic. Two-thirds of respondents also said they would work to move one or more suppliers to be situated more locally.
The survey found that nearly 20% of respondents expect to hold more inventory as a result of the pandemic, while another 27% don’t plan to change inventory levels but do plan to shuffle their supplier base “to ensure goods can be acquired easily.”
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