Supply Chain weekly wrap-up: 10/6/17 – 10/12/17

Amazon may deliver to your car trunk

On Tuesday, it was revealed that Amazon is trying to improve unattended delivery. It has been brought to their attention that a fair amount of packages are stolen from doorsteps, lost or are delivered in bad conditions from being left unattended. Therefore, the ecommerce giant is looking at methods to deliver parcels to car trunks.

In April, Amazon previously tested in-trunk delivery with Audi and DHL but this time, Amazon is discussing a partnership with Phrame, to use one of their products that would grant delivery drivers access to customers’ trunks. This particular product is a secure box that stores the keys and is attached to the license plate of the car. The owner grants delivery drivers access to their trunk remotely through their smartphone. Moreover, it is assumed that these services would be offered to Amazon Prime subscribers. In addition to in-trunk delivery, it is reported that Amazon is also planning to deliver items inside customers’ houses through so called ‘smart’ doorbells.

To find out more about this delivery service, click here.

American President Lines (APL) will soon offer more sailing guarantees

This week, APL, the third-largest container transportation and shipping company in the world, announced a new addition to their sailing guarantee program: Eagle Guaranteed. In November, the Eagle GO service will be available for customers to use. With the Eagle GO service, priority shipments and equipment are guaranteed on 20 US-bound trans-Pacific routes. Therefore, containers holding US imports won’t be abandoned at Chinese and Vietnamese docks and shippers can take advantage of the year-end holiday shopping season. To be involved in the whole program customers must pay a surcharge. However, if problems arise and the shipment doesn’t arrive on the scheduled delivery date, the surcharge is refunded.

Other services included in the program are Eagle Get and Eagle Reach. Eagle Get ensures the cargo will be released from the ship quickly within at least 12 hours of discharge operations beginning. Furthermore, Eagle Reach guarantees containers will definitely arrive at six intermodal railyards, such as Chicago, Dallas and Kansas City, on the scheduled date. This program is an attempt to stand out in a highly pressurized and congested industry through the development of value-added services such as time-definite arrangements.

Read more about this here.

Flexport expands into supply chain financing

Flexport, a freight forwarding logistics network, has already confirmed its new investment of $110 million. This week, the startup company announced how the funding will be used for its expansion plans. Flexport already organizes freight transportation and tracks the data to improve every route. However, the company wants to not only ship customers’ freight, but finance it too. With the help of funding from Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, the startup intends to offer trade financing to businesses that have some short term issues with cash flow. One example is when manufacturers request payments up front but it takes some time before this is returned as revenue as shipping and retailing timeframes need to be considered.

Flexport would calculate the risk and credit worthiness of lending money to specific customers by using all of its shipping data. If the trade financing goes ahead, the company can gain an added percentage when it’s paid back. These new plans would provide customers with simpler business relationships as they can get their freight financed and forwarded simultaneously.

Find out more information here.

Have a great weekend!

Header photo: sebra/shutterstock.com