Logistics

Another firm has joined the competitive same-day delivery space, facing off against major logistics firms as it works to find a niche in moving and delivering bulky, heavy items for retailers and consumers. Seattle-based Dolly recently expanded to serve seven large cities and has teamed with such merchants as Costco Wholesale Corp., Crate & Barrel, Lowe’s Cos. and The Container Store.

Canada’s biggest printer says its latest deal opens the door to making Amazon.com a customer as the online retail giant tries to break into the fresh food delivery business.

A pair of recent events helped underscore the key role video is playing in fleet operations: Lytx, a video telematics provider, received a $700 million capital infusion from private equity firms; and Penske Logistics launched a video-based safety program in 2,800 of its heavy-duty trucks in its North America operations using equipment from SmartDrive Systems.

The average age of warehouses in the United States is 34 years, making them ill-suited for the demands of e-commerce, according to an analysis by commercial real estate firm CBRE.

After a string of high-profile acquisitions pushed XPO Logistics to the top of the Transport Topics Logistics 50 list in 2017, the company kept its No. 1 ranking this year by growing its business organically and by effectively cross-selling transportation and logistics services to shippers.

Here's what some industry professionals had to say about what the future may hold.

Amazon plans to open an 800,000-square-foot fulfillment center in North Las Vegas, Nev., that will employ more than 1,000 full-time staff. The center will join three Amazon fulfillment facilities in North Las Vegas and Reno that employ more than 3,000 full-time workers.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said there is “a level of risk” that the tariff dispute between the United States and China will erupt into a full-scale trade war, though he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the world’s two largest economies will resolve differences through negotiations.

Senior ministers from the three NAFTA countries are gathering in Washington amid growing signs of optimism that they could find common ground on the toughest issues.