Biggest order of Tesla Semis yet
As you can see from my previous wrap-up, Tesla’s new electric heavy-duty semi-trucks are still making the headlines over a month after their unveiling. More and more companies are getting in on the trend of electric commercial vehicles and announcing their preorders of the Tesla electric trucks. The current reservation list includes at least 285 trucks. The latest preorder was announced on Tuesday by PepsiCo. The American multinational food, snack and beverage company has made the largest order yet and reserved 100 of the electric trucks from the new range.
With the help of the Tesla Semi’s, PepsiCo is working toward reducing its fuel costs as well as decreasing greenhouse gas emissions across all of its supply chain operations by at least 20 percent by 2030. The company plans on deploying the electric trucks alongside its existing fleet to ship snack foods and beverages between their production and distribution facilities, as well as directly to retail stores located within the trucks mile range.
To find out more about this, click here.
DHL has a renewed 15-year contract with Air Hong Kong
On Wednesday, DHL Express, a subsidiary of the logistics company DHL which provides courier, parcel and express mail services internationally, announced it had extended its partnership with Air Hong Kong (AHK). This involves a renewed block-space arrangement for a further 15 years where the airlines overnight services will still support the logistics network in the Asia Pacific region until 2033. However, the recent modification to the existing contract is that DHL will sell its share in AHK to Cathay Pacific, the parent company of the airline. DHL will then buy 8 of Air Hong Kong’s A300-600F cargo planes which will be leased back to the airline.
This improved agreement provides DHL with more growth opportunities and flexibility in terms of deploying aircraft and route scheduling to align with new routes, rapid increases in demand and unforeseeable changes. The new agreement will be carried out on January 1, 2019 and corresponds with DHL’s extensive growth strategy in the region to meet the strong market demand as Asia is expected to develop at an exponential rate in the trade industry.
To read more about this agreement, click here.
Target buys a Same-Day Delivery Startup
On Thursday, Target, the second largest discount retailer in America, announced its plans to acquire Shipt, a same-day grocery delivery startup. This acquisition is one of the biggest the discount retailer has made, costing Target $550 million in cash. This logistics strategy is an attempt to compete with their rivals, including Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy. As a result, with Shipt’s services, Target customers can order groceries and other products online and have them delivered straight to their door within a few hours from nearby stores.
Target has been developing its logistics operations over the years; it has previously launched Target Restock and Drive Up, acquired last-mile transportation technology company Grand Junction and has same-day delivery services in New York. This deal allows the company to expand its logistics operations even further by offering a same-day delivery service to approximately half of its 1,834 stores, which will be available in the summer of 2018 and hopefully integrated into its website and mobile shopping app. It is also expected that the service will be accessible in more Target stores by the next year’s holiday season. To have access to this service, customers will have to pay a $99 annual membership fee.
More information about this acquisition can be found here.
Have a great weekend!
Header photo: Stokkete/shutterstock.com
