Logistics

The Meishan terminal at China’s second-busiest port reopened Aug. 25 following a two-week shutdown that further snarled already stressed shipping routes in Asia.

The New York Shipping Exchange, founded in 2015 by a former industry executive to make the container shipping market more efficient, is raising another $15 million to expand contracts that can help protect companies’ supply chains from price hikes and other uncertainties.

UPS Inc. started delivering coronavirus vaccines with the use of drones as part of a new initiative announced Aug. 24.

NEW YORK — Walmart said Aug. 24 it will start farming out its delivery service, using contract workers, autonomous vehicles and other means to transport rival retailers’ products directly to their customers’ homes in as little as a few hours.

LONDON — McDonald’s says it has pulled milkshakes from the menu in all 1,250 of its British restaurants because of supply problems stemming from a shortage of truck drivers.

Pilot Freight Services has formed a strategic partnership with American Linehaul Corp. to expand its middle-mile expedited less-than-truckload capabilities, the companies announced Aug. 19.

Cowan Systems has implemented an incentive program that guarantees every newly hired driver a $15,000 bonus, the company announced Aug. 19.

Hedge funds piled into Amazon.com Inc. in the second quarter, putting themselves on the front line of losses as the stay-at-home trade began to unravel.

Although career opportunities in trucking are abundant, the driver shortage has been a thorn in the industry’s side for years, and it has only become more severe as freight demand has surged amid the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

As retailers ramp up inventory for a fast-approaching holiday shopping season, experts worry that an already overextended domestic supply chain will be further tested amid overseas ports’ struggles with the COVID-19 delta variant, rising shipping prices and trucking’s persistent and growing driver shortage.