Logistics

The first formal association of international shippers, including the National Industrial Transportation League, has formed under the banner of the Global Shippers Forum to raise the profile of freight groups in an increasingly global marketplace.

Because transportation costs outweigh warehousing costs several times over and continue to rise, most companies think outside that big box called the warehouse when the topic is logistics and concentrate instead on how things get to their destination.

Air and freight forwarder UTi Worldwide said Thursday its fiscal first-quarter profit fell to $8.7 million, or 8 cents per share, from $10.1 million, or 10 cents, a year ago.

NFI said Tuesday it has acquired the West Coast operations of Gilbert Co., a subsidiary of A.P. Moller-Maersk Group.

Third-party logistics provider Kane Is Able said Thursday it has named 30-year logistics industry veteran Pete Westermann its president and chief operations officer.

The successful application of just-in-time delivery requires every link of the supply chain to remain unbroken. Trucks and their cargo must arrive within a very precise, predetermined period of time — often only hours before the cargo is needed on the assembly line.

TransForce Inc. and DHL Express Canada agreed to enter a 10-year agreement under which TransForce will buy the assets of DHL Express’ domestic Canadian business, the companies said.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — The leadership of American Trucking Associations last week urged the federal government not to attempt to regulate the speed with which trucks are loaded and unloaded.

Although the U.S. economy continues to improve, there remains a spottiness within the freight-hauling sector, a logistics executive said.