FreightWaves LIVE: An Events Podcast

J.B. Hunt has committed to a technology evolution, but that journey has taken time, investment, and the right mix of people and innovative thinking. President & CEO John Roberts III sat down with J.B. Hunt’s EVP & Chief Commercial Officer Shelley Simpson to talk about that transformation. Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The need for deep industry knowledge and a deeper network of contacts has become key to competing in the crowded logistics venture capital arena. Zach Barasz, director at G2VP, and Ty Findley, managing partner with Ironspring, discuss the advantages startup and later-stage companies find when working with sector-focused VC funds. FreightWaves for Start Ups Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The freight business is both complicated and asset-heavy. To be successful, both tech startups and their VC backers need to know the freight business, its pain points and its limitations. Prologis Ventures’ Will O’Donnell speaks with Assembly Ventures’ Jessica Robinson on how the right combination of entrepreneurs and investors can create the most value in FreightTech. FreightWaves for Start Ups Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Venture capitalists Kunal Mehta with Hearst Ventures and Earnest Sweat with GreatPoint Ventures share perspectives on the changing venture capital markets in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Mehta and Sweat, both with backgrounds in the supply chain sector, discuss their recent experience with startup founders in those markets as well as in healthcare and other verticals. They also provide an outlook on how venture funding will progress over the next year and within the decade. FreightWaves for Start Ups Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FreightTech entrepreneur Kathryn Schifferle, the founder of Work Truck Solutions and Comvoy, shared with FreightWaves President George Abernathy her journey navigating the venture capital world during the virtual FreightTech Venture Summit. FreightWaves for Start Ups Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

George Abernathy, President of FreightWaves talks to Karen Jones, the Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of New Product Development at Ryder System on how funding logistics startups helps Ryder System gain tech insights. FreightWaves for Start Ups Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leaf Logistics CEO and Co-founder Anshu Prasad talks with Kinetic Co-founder Ryan Schrieber about figuring out whether to go VC or “bootstrap” in an industry that is “serious” but with some tough issues to overcome. FreightWaves for Start Ups Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shipwell has succeeded in securing three rounds of investment since its start in 2016. The millions of dollars have allowed the company to rapidly grow its business into an industry-recognized freight transportation management platform. However, as company CEO Greg Price said to Dynamo partner Ted Ailing, come to the venture capital table with your "A" game. FreightWaves for Start Ups Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FreightWaves Chief Financial Officer Spencer Piland chats with Kevin Diestel, managing director of venture capital fund Sapphire Ventures, to discuss the many opportunities available for venture capitalists wanting to be involved in freight tech. The multi-trillion dollar freight sector is rich in revenue-generating opportunities for those wanting to support data-driven start-up companies, Diestel says. FreightWaves for Start Ups Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Justin Bailie, co-founder and chief strategy officer for Rose Rocket, shared the company's journey from seedling to full-blown transportation management system provider with Brian Aoaeh, co-founder and general partner of REFASHIOND Ventures, during the FreightTech Venture Summit. FreightWaves for Start Ups Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ben Weinberg, the Managing Director at Susquehanna Growth Equity discusses with the Managing Director at DC Advisory US, David Dolan how the COVID-19 pandemic will accelerate a decade-long trend of supply chain efficiency advancements that have already drawn large sums of venture capital and private equity into the segment. FreightWaves for Start Ups Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ike Co-founder and CEO Alden Woodrow talks to Fitzmark Great Plains Region President Charley Dehoney about the company’s unconventional approach to securing funding and bringing its product to market. FreightWaves for Start Ups Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As co-founder of AOL and now CEO and Chairman of Revolution LLC, Steve Case knows a few things about building successful startups. He believes there are great business ideas and innovative founders in all corners of the country, and is on the hunt to find them, in this Keynote chat with FreightWaves Founder and CEO Craig Fuller. FreightWaves for Start Ups Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dooner and The Dude interview Ryder System's Vice President - Investor Relations, Corporate Strategy & Product Strategy Bob Brunn FreightWaves for Start Ups Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dooner and The Dude interview Forager co-founder Matt Silver. FreightWaves for Start Ups Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dooner and The Dude catch up with Eli Soler of Truckered-in at FreightTech Venture FreightWaves for Start Ups Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FreightWaves founder and CEO Craig Fuller talks to Dooner and The Dude about FreightWaves for startups at the FreightTech Venture virtual event. Watch FreightWaves for Start Ups Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s a recipe for trouble: COVID disruptions are pulling refrigerated containers away from food production areas. Twice this year, outbreaks stymied U.S. food shipments to China. Tariffs are still taking a bite out of ag sales. Trade tensions with China remain high. Trade negotiations with the EU are intensifying. And the presidential election could reset the entire equation in less than two weeks. To put the myriad issues faced by U.S. food exporters in perspective, FreightWaves Greg Miller interviewed Washington, D.C.-based Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC), during the Cold Chain Summit Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Brewer, director of distribution and logistics for CKE Restaurants, has been in the food distribution business for close to two and a half decades, a span that included 9/11 among other natural and human-caused disasters. But the impact of COVID-19 on the supply chain was an entirely new experience for him, as refrigerated capacity tightened and reefer tender rejection rates shot to new heights. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire career,” said Brewer, during the FreightWaves Cold Chain Summit on Friday. CKE is the parent company for fast food chains Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. In his role, Brewer manages distribution and logistics for all 50 states, a position that includes distribution centers, redistributors, carriers, final-mile delivery “and anything else that crops up at the moment,” he said. CKE operates 3,000 stores coast to coast and in Alaska and Hawaii. Brewer’s team delivers to each of those stores at least once a week and the majority at least twice a week. Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Building speculative space in traditional industrial warehousing has been a long-standing market segment, but it’s relatively new in the cold storage world and both real estate developers and design-build companies are positioning to take advantage. “I will tell you that the amount of interest from developers and other investors – even developers that were in something other than industrial real estate – [they] see the allure of cold storage and want to get in and build spec freezer/cooler buildings,” said David Sours, senior vice president for CBRE Food Facilities Group, part of commercial real estate giant CBRE, during a fireside chat Friday during the FreightWaves Cold Chain Summit. Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The cold chain logistics industry is a tough environment in which success requires selecting the right equipment while keeping costs in line, according to industry professionals. “Of all the different manufacturers and transportation logistics companies and wholesale distributors that we work with, the cold chain is certainly one of the most challenging environments from an equipment standpoint,” said Tim Wills, chief marketing officer at Peak-Ryzex Inc. Wills was part of a fireside chat with Larry Klimczyk, president of the Americas region at FarEye, during the FreightWaves Cold Chain Summit Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the temperature-controlled supply chain continues to call for greater transparency to ensure food quality and safety, Penske Logistics welcomed the opportunity to ensure its cold chain operations were the gold star in the industry. Penske Logistics’ Jeff Jackson, senior vice president, operations – dedicated contract carriage, shared his insight on how his company earned the first-of-its-kind cold chain certification that focuses on excellence in refrigerated transportation with George Abernathy, president of FreightWaves, in a virtual talk at the FreightWaves Cold Chain Summi Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Refrigerated shippers and their carrier partners have been under increasing pressure in recent years due to new regulations centered on ensuring safe and sanitary delivery of temperature-controlled products. On Tuesday, SkyBitz announced a partnership with Coretex, which provides sensor-based refrigerated solutions. The sensors, combined with Coretex’s cloud-based platform, will work in conjunction with SkyBitz’s trailer-tracking technology, giving pharmaceutical and retail customers visibility into where their trailers are located and the condition of temperature-controlled loads. Terri Lucas, vice president of sales for SkyBitz, and Craig Marris, president of Coretex, discussed the new partnership and combined solution on Friday during FreightWaves’ Cold Chain Summit virtual conference. Both SkyBitz and Coretex are regional sponsors of the event. Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sam Saad, head of operations for Gatik, an autonomous vehicle startup, explained during a fireside chat Friday as part of FreightWaves’ Cold Chain Summit, that the company could have driverless vehicles on roadways by next summer. Speaking with Kevin Hill, director of research and editorial for FreightWaves, Saad said that fully autonomous vehicles might be on the road “before summer rolls around next year.” “The short answer is we are quite ready to go on the tech side,” Saad said. “We want to ensure we can work closely with our customers and with regulators when we start doing the first unmanned runs. I can’t give you an exact timeline, but I will say that before summer rolls around next year we certainly plan to have that well in the bag.” Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The instability of early-stage COVID-19 vaccines will push the limits of supply chain capabilities worldwide, but as more traditional medicines enter the market, distribution will become easier for many logistics companies and regions of the world, a key figure in DHL’s preparations for the blockbuster shipping event said. At least 10 billion doses of coronavirus vaccine will likely be required to immunize 7.8 billion people worldwide, according to some estimates. More than 220 vaccine candidates are under development, including nine in Phase 3 trials that could be approved in the coming weeks and months. Some drug companies are using new technologies to speed up development, but these vaccines contain a high-protein base and need to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures as low as minus 80 degrees Celsius. “In the initial phases it’s quite plausible we’ll see many shipments that are direct to the point of inoculation,” Larry St. Onge, president of life sciences and health care for DHL Customer Solutions, said in a virtual presentation to the FreightWaves Cold Chain Summit Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As e-commerce sales are projected to hit over $709 billion in the U.S. in 2020 in large part because of the COVID-19 pandemic, logistics companies are focused on last-mile delivery and improving customers’ experience. JT Engstrom, chief strategy officer of FreightWaves, and Lakshmanan Chidambaram, president of the Americas for Tech Mahindra, discussed the evolution of e-commerce over the next two years during FreightWaves’ virtual Last Mile Logistics Summit Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Responding to pressure to be more transparent about their service performance following the major railroad mergers of the 1990s, the freight railroads began providing shippers and regulators weekly data on metrics such as rail car velocity and terminal dwell times. But one measure that they haven’t been providing, asserts an executive at one of the country’s largest agribusiness companies, is how well they’ve been performing against the promise of Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR), an operating methodology adopted by most of the railroads and one that can have a significant effect on first-mile and last-mile delivery for customers. “As far as a rail shipper is concerned, the game is won or lost in that first-mile, last-mile segment of the supply chain,” said Brad Hildebrand, global lead for rail and barge at Cargill Inc., during a fireside chat Thursday with FreightWaves Senior Staff Reporter Joanna Marsh at FreightWaves Last Mile Logistics Summit. “If that’s not going well, it can have a huge impact on operations.” Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purchase returns and the reverse logistics portion of last-mile delivery have become a focal point as more consumers settle into the lifestyles and purchasing habits that have become the new norm in a COVID world. Consumers’ acceptance of a digital retail channel has provided salvation to many retailers that have seen pandemic-related shutdowns choke off traditional in-store buying. At the FreightWaves Last Mile Logistics Summit on Thursday, Tony Sciarrotta, executive director, Reverse Logistics Association, and Nicholas Isasi, executive VP, DM Transportation Management Services, chatted about some of the issues and best practices used in reverse logistics and processing purchase returns. Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To put the U.S. last-mile trucking market in broader perspective, look at non-U.S. markets. Things are really different over there across the border. In a fireside chat during the FreightWaves Last Mile Logistics Summit, Liftit co-founder and CEO Brian York outlined how his company is growing its last-mile operations in Latin America, which now span Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Ecuador. With Andrew Cox. Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is nothing simple about providing a reverse logistics service, especially for large replacement or return items that do not fit neatly into a small package. However, more U.S. third-party logistics service providers (3PLs) and trucking companies in recent years have found this to be the type of niche service where their expertise can shine. “We have found this especially important to our appliance customers and anyone doing furniture delivery,” Jason Neal, manager of dedicated accounts at Kenco, told Andrew Lockwood, senior manager of solutions design for Suddath Global Logistics, during a virtual FreightWaves Last Mile Logistics Summit fireside chat Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Grocery stores in Canada need to invest in robust e-commerce capabilities to prevent a repeat of stock-outs and long delivery delays that disappointed large numbers of customers who opted for virtual shopping at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a food industry expert at the FreightWaves Last Mile Logistics Summit. Canadians are hungry to shop online for food and staples, but the grocery sector’s infrastructure significantly lags demand, said Gary Newbury, who spent 30 years reshaping distribution networks for Gordon Food Service in the U.K. and Canada. Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U.S. Postal Service faces a set of conditions that no other business in the U.S. confronts on a daily basis, and it isn’t helping that its potential and actual competitors get a seat at the table in determining its fate. That was the view of Gordon Glazer, a senior consultant with Shipware LLC and a specialist on the Postal Service. Glazer was interviewed by FreightWaves senior writer Mark Solomon as part of the FreightWaves Last Mile Logistics Summit. Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The head of J.B. Hunt Transportation Services Inc.’s (NASDAQ:JBHT) final-mile operation said Thursday that significant investments must be made in the home delivery of big and bulky items because it is fast becoming the most critical part of the supply chain. Nick Hobbs, who runs the Lowell, Arkansas-based company’s Dedicated Contract Services (DCS) and Final Mile Services operations, said during the FreightWaves Last Mile Logistics Summit that Hunt is aggressively investing in its final-mile network for heavy goods ordered online. That’s because it is a relatively new area and it is critical to its brand and its customers’, Hobbs said. Since the reputations of both brands are at stake, carriers and their customers must invest the time and resources to collaborate for the benefit of the end consumer, he said. The key difference between home deliveries of heavy goods and small packages is that large-format items are typically brought into people’s homes. This requires an entirely new level of interaction that many companies with roots in truckload and less-than-truckload (LTL) services are not accustomed to or trained for. Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As e-commerce continues to take market share from brick-and-mortar retail, the heavy bulky last-mile market is seeing rapid growth, with reverse logistics as a particularly strong revenue driver. That was one of the takeaways from a fireside chat between Kirby Fine, principal, ATL Partners, and Gordon Branov, CEO of Pilot Freight Services, during the FreightWaves Last Mile Logistics Summit on Thursday. Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite the hype surrounding the Tesla Semi truck, the future for electric vehicles in the transportation and logistics industry seems to be coming sooner and on a larger scale for fleets serving the last mile. Case in point: Amazon’s order for 100,000 customized electric delivery vehicles produced by Rivian. “It just makes so much sense for an electric vehicle with that stop-and-go application and that high idle time, inner-city traffic kind of environments,” said Chris Nordh, senior director of Advanced Vehicle Technology and Energy Products for Fleet Management Solutions at Ryder System. He is joined by Bob Stojanovic of ABB. Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The coronavirus pandemic forced many companies to adapt the way they manufactured and packaged their products, as well as how they shipped them to their final destination, according to Karen Tyndall, GlobalTranz Inc.’s director of customer solutions. “What we found was that [customers] were buying online and ultimately making those purchases from their living room,” Tyndall said. “The unique challenge to final mile is that when you have the challenge of getting products into a customer’s hand safely, and also in a timely manner, many companies that were not prepared or aligned with providers to even facilitate that service were scrambling to buy capacity within the market.” FreightWaves Market Expert and analyst Zach Strickland talked with Tyndall during a virtual Fireside Chat, “B2B vs. B2C Last Mile Strategies,” during the FreightWaves Last Mile Logistics Summi Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An XPO Logistics (NYSE: XPO) executive forecast Thursday that XPO might need an additional 25-30% of delivery capacity during this fall’s strong peak season. “We want to go into this peak period and really prove that we’re ready for the Super Bowl and ready to do this,” XPO Last Mile President Erik Caldwell told FreightWaves President George Abernathy during the keynote event, “How Changes in Consumer Demand Are Reshaping the Last Mile,” as part of Thursday’s virtual FreightWaves Last Mile Logistics Summit. That additional 25-30% of additional delivery capacity would be on top of what XPO was running this summer, Caldwell said, noting that the company’s summer volumes were even higher than what was delivered during the 2019 peak season. Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Using data collected from innovative technology such as wearables not only supports safety measures and productivity, according to Cormac Gilligan, global vice president of environment, health and safety for PepsiCo Inc. .t can also provide employees with a sense of ownership because of the data’s real-life applications. Gilligan pointed to PepsiCo’s adoption of employees using wearables during certain work shifts or manufacturing plants and distribution centers. The wearables allowed employees to see how they moved, collecting data on “high-risk postures” such as twisting and turning one’s body. PepsiCo then used that data to identify and fix work design issues or process problems, Gilligan said during a virtual fireside chat on the roles of digitization and automation in frontline safety during FreightWaves’ The Future of Logistics Real Estate Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The coronavirus pandemic has solidified the status of e-commerce in the global economy while becoming even more a part of modern life, said Melinda McLaughlin, vice president, global head of research for Prologis. “What happened really was COVID-19 pulled a lot of adoption that would have happened and customers were, frankly, planning for over three, five, to 10 years, but pulled it all into one year,” McLaughlin said. “So when we emerge from this crisis, it’s not like we go back on that trajectory that we were pre-COVID; a lot of that adoption stays and is persistent.” FreightWaves’ chief strategy officer JT Engstrom talked with McLaughlin during the FreightWaves Future of Logistics Real Estate Summit Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Changes in technology, labor regulations and emissions, as well as a potential driver shortage and rising insurance costs, are just some of the challenges facing the surface transportation industry, according to Dave Belter, vice president and general manager of transportation management with Ryder System. Belter told FreightWaves Chief Strategy Officer JT Engstrom during a virtual fireside chat at The Future of Logistics Real Estate summit Tuesday that there are “a lot of uncertainties and a lot of changes in the industry as a whole” for carriers trying to serve their customers and grow their businesses. Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As e-commerce sales are projected to hit $709.78 billion in the U.S. in 2020, logistics companies are turning to the virtual world to hire, onboard and train employees. Prologis Inc.the world’s largest developer, owner and operator of logistics warehouses, is partnering with tech startup Strivr, which has developed a virtual reality-based platform, to provide hands-on learning and realistic decision-making practice to help workers maximize efficiency and reduce safety incidents. Steven Hussain, director of community workforce programs for Prologis, and Derek Belch, founder and CEO of Strivr, discussed using virtual learning to train the industrial workforce of tomorrow during FreightWaves’ virtual Future of Logistics Real Estate Summit Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robotics startups Third Wave Automation and Outrider are taking on forklifts and yard trucks in a way that is advancing automation and zero-emission technology on both sides of the warehouse wall. Participating in a fireside chat during FreightWaves’ Future of Logistics Real Estate Summit on Tuesday, Third Wave Automation CEO and co-founder Arshan Poursohi and Outrider founder and CEO Andrew Smith spoke of their common goal of automating freight and cargo movement inside and outside the warehouse without ignoring the importance of human interaction. Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Had Amazon not purchased Kiva Systems for $775 million in 2012 and stopped selling its robots, Locus Robotics might not have become a spinoff of 3PL Quiet Logistics. “The management team at the time had a choice of whether to not use robots, buy a robot or build their own,” Locus Robotics CEO Rick Faulk said during a fireside chat with Tony Palchek, managing director of Zebra Technologies, during the FreightWaves Future of Logistics Real Estate Summit on Tuesday. “I think they made a really smart decision.” Watch Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dooner and The Dude talk with Matthew Cherewka Director Of Business Development at Vecna Robotics Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The logistics warehouse of the future will be heavily automated, purpose-built for e-commerce and ready for tenants to “plug in” and go live almost immediately, a top executive for distribution giant Ingram Micro said Tuesday. Keynoting FreightWaves’ daylong webinar on the future of logistics warehousing, Ken Beyer, executive vice president and president of commerce and life cycle services for the Irvine, California-based company, said developers must focus on building design and construction to fully support the e-commerce requirements of small to midsize businesses that will enter the segment in droves in the years ahead. Speaking with Prologis Inc. COO Gary Anderson, Beyer said developers would be well-served to follow the “data-center” model in which businesses outsource their information management needs to companies with massive data centers and have their data reside in the cloud for easy, secure access. Gone — or fast going — are the days when companies kept servers in large data rooms, and maintained them at huge financial and manpower costs, he said. Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Watch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Roughly a decade ago, in anticipation of changes in the supply chain and logistics sector, investment firm Saybrook Management started buying companies in that space – not so much because they were great opportunities, which they were, but because the firm wanted to understand how the various pieces of the supply chain worked. Then came COVID-19. “There’s nothing that compares to this from a logistics perspective,” Saybrook CEO Jonathan Rosenthal told FreightWaves technology reporter Vishnu Rajamanickam during a fireside chat Thursday at American Shipper’s Global Trade Tech summit. Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Watch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transship founder and CEO Amit Hasak’s vision for the future of transporting perishable goods across the world involves fewer phone calls and emails and a lot more automation. The result: potentially knowing that a malfunctioning reefer unit spoiled that shipment of frozen pork long before someone opens that container at a Chinese port. “We provide that information in real time,” Hasak said during a virtual fireside chat at American Shipper’s Global Trade Tech summit on Thursday. He spoke with Brian Laung Aoaeh, a co-founder of REFASHIOND Ventures, a New York-based venture capital fund. Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Watch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Labor and employment attorney Gerald Maatman Jr. is tasked with advising clients on avoiding potential legal pitfalls that may arise in the workplace because of the coronavirus. However, he admits that nothing in his 40-plus years specializing in labor law has prepared him for the challenges employers face because of the coronavirus, which has infected more than 6 million people in the U.S. and killed more than 196,000 people since January. “I thought I had seen everything and then COVID-19 occurred,” said Maatman, senior partner of Chicago-based Seyfarth Shaw LLP, on Thursday at the virtual American Shipper Global Trade Tech summit to FreightWaves; John Kingston. “I’ve worked harder and longer hours to assist employers with all of the challenges and the changing playing field that they find themselves on today. It’s been extraordinary times.” Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The air cargo market has exploded in the age of COVID, but a lot of paper still clogs the system. Joshua Wolf is seeking to change that. Wolf, the founder of Cargo Sprint, was one of the two participants in a fireside chat at American Shipper’s Global Trade Tech summit. He spoke with Scott Case, the founder and chief storyteller of Position: Global. Case is also president of the Chicago branch of the International Air Cargo Association and said he came from a period early in his career where as a freight forwarder he would often “hop in the car” to get a process done that now might be completed digitally. Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Watch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With bookings of U.S. imports from China currently up 89% year-over-year (y/y), ocean freight out of China is surging during the COVID-19 pandemic. Steve Ferreira, CEO of Ocean Audit Inc., and Daniel Gardner, president of Trade Facilitators, recently discussed what’s causing the surge of goods from China and how long it will last. Apple Podcast Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts Watch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices