GT Nexus reported that the amount of ocean and air transportation spending managed on its Trade and Logistics Portal surpassed the $10 billion mark in 2009. The volume was calculated from the collective buying power of all GT Nexus customers, who share a single Web platform to manage transportation rates.

"Despite the global economic crisis, we experienced a major increase in new business for our transportation management services," said John Urban, President of GT Nexus. "Companies need to reduce costs, and our solutions give proven return on investment. Even better, we deliver our services on-demand, which is a low-risk, low-cost alternative to traditional software. Taken altogether, you could call it a proposition that's too good to turn down."

"GT Nexus has served as our central ocean procurement and contract management system for many years," said Neal Donaghy, Manger of Global Liner Operations at The Home Depot. "Our carrier partners are very familiar with the system because they work with many other customers on the Portal. We move hundreds of thousands of TEUs each year, and this technology is a key tool for us."

Major shippers that use the GT Nexus Portal include Nestle, Hewlett Packard, The Home Depot, Caterpillar, Liz Claiborne, DHL, Weyerhaeuser, and Procter & Gamble. All the top international ocean carriers are also active on the platform, interacting with multiple customers.

The ever-increasing complexity of international supply chains makes it extremely challenging for large shippers to effectively procure services and manage global freight spending. Most companies still rely on Excel spreadsheets, which quickly become out of date. With the GT Nexus freight contracting capabilities, shippers can dynamically execute a better transportation plan at lower cost through ongoing online evaluation of offers, strategic allocation optimization, and freight audit.

Carriers also benefit from GT Nexus because the Portal offers them a single gateway for interacting with multiple strategic customers. Just as a shipper user can log in to see proposals and rates from all carrier partners, users at carriers can log in and get the corresponding view, showing contracts across their customers.

The GT Nexus Portal is a fully Web-based platform that blends a broad set of well-established, industry-focused applications with a global network of connected partners. As shippers begin executing against their contracts, the system is configured to capture status messages and documents, which can be used for auditing and performance measurement.

GT Nexus is also frequently integrated with other software systems inside customers' own IT infrastructure, which, in effect, extends the reach of existing installed software beyond the four walls of an enterprise and into the global partner community. Common integrations between GT Nexus and customers' internal systems include ERP, domestic TMS, and order management.

ProLogis announced the release of a new research report, entitled "Network Reconfigurations - Springboard for Supply Chain Efficiency."

The report discusses long-term trends in how companies have redesigned and reconfigured both their distribution networks and individual distribution facilities to adapt to changes in the economic environment and reduce overall distribution costs.

"Network consolidations and reconfigurations have been one of the main drivers behind the substantial improvements in supply chain efficiency recorded during the past 15 to 20 years," commented Leonard Sahling, first vice president of the ProLogis Research Group. "Companies continue to dedicate considerable resources to analyzing and streamlining their distribution networks, typically reviewing and redesigning them every few years."

Detailed findings in the report include the following:
• Optimizations to distribution networks have led companies to occupy fewer distribution facilities than they previously used, however, the new facilities are much bigger.
• The average size of distribution facilities has more than doubled during the past 15 years - growing from 124,000 square feet in 1994 to approximately 300,000 square feet today.
• Higher fuel prices are unlikely to result in major large-scale revisions because many companies have already optimized their networks to accommodate transportation costs.

For a copy of the report, please visit: http://ir.prologis.com/NetworkReconfiguration-SupplyChain.cfm.

International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) recently serviced the largest vessel to dock in the Philippines, the APL Bahrain, which called at two of ICTSI’s Philippine terminals: the New Container Terminal-1 (NCT-1) in Subic Bay Freeport, and the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT), ICTSI’s flagship operations, in the Port of Manila.

American President Lines Ltd. (APL), one of the world's leading container shipping company based in Singapore, deployed the 4,330-TEU capacity APL Bahrain for special calls in the country. The vessel was newly built by Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co. Ltd. in its shipyard facility and production at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Zambales.

APL Bahrain, which has a length overall of 259.80 meters, had its maiden voyage from the Hanjin Subic shipyard to the nearby NCT-1, operated by ICTSI subsidiary Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. After NCT-1, the vessel’s next stop was the MICT, the country’s premier international trading gateway. The vessel’s next destination was Hong Kong.

“The calls of APL Bahrain at our Subic and Manila terminals show ICTSI’s capability to service new generation container vessels. We have been expecting the upsizing of vessels coming to the Philippines. At the MICT, the terminal has enough capacity, equipment, facilities and the technology to service much bigger vessels,” says Christian Gonzalez, ICTSI Vice President and MICT General Manager.

Before APL Bahrain, the largest vessel serviced by MICT was a special call in 2007 by the 3,614-TEU capacity MOL Thames. In terms of capacity, APL Bahrain is the largest vessel to dock at the MICT. However, MOL Thames retains its record as the longest vessel to dock at the terminal, which had a length overall of 289.32 meters.

MICT is the busiest and largest container terminal in the Philippines. With an annual capacity of 1.6 million TEUs, the 75-hectare terminal is equipped with 10 post-Panamax and Panamax quay cranes (QC) and 40 rubber tired gantries (RTG).

The MICT can accommodate four to six containerships at one time at its 1,300-meter straight wharf. Supplementing its operations are state-of-the-art safety, security and surveillance installations, fully automated gates, and leading edge information and communications technologies to ensure seamless operations.

ICTSI is further improving MICT’s capacity and facilities with the ongoing Berth 6 project, which will expand the MICT to a further 14 hectares, 375 meters of berth, and additional equipment of three QCs. Eight RTGs were recently delivered for the project.

On the other hand, NCT-1 is an alternative port to the Port of Manila serving trade in the northern and central regions of the island of Luzon especially industrial locators in Subic. It is also being primed as an alternative hub for transshipment in Southeast Asia.

The Kuehne + Nagel Group has founded a wholly-owned subsidiary in Belarus, based in the capital of Minsk. The new entity is a decisive step to further integrate this market into the Company’s global logistics network and comprehensive service offering.

“With its geographical position between Europe, Russia, Kazakhstan and China, Belarus is a strategically important country in which we see an interesting potential," commented Bob Mihok, Kuehne + Nagel’s Regional Manager Eastern Europe. "Our own subsidiary will enable us to better integrate the country into our worldwide network and to accelerate our strategic expansion in Eastern Europe. It will also help to leverage our globally standardised processes and to offer our customers the full range of our integrated logistics service portfolio.”

Kuehne + Nagel has been active in Belarus since 1996 with representa¬tive offices in Minsk and in Brest and is providing services to an increasing number of customers, particularly from the automotive, pharmaceutical, chemical, retail, wood production and power engineering industries. Apart from FTL, LTL and weekly groupage services between Belarus, Europe, Russia and Kazakhstan, Kuehne + Nagel also offers global airfreight transportation through Minsk airport as well as LCL and FCL services via the ports of Klaipeda and Riga.

Elena Dushnjak, Managing Director of Kuehne + Nagel Belarus, says: “Belarus is an attractive region for large international companies from Europe and Asia doing business in Eastern Europe. Our integrated logistics services combined with our proven knowledge of the local market can support them in improving supply chain efficiency and reliability."

Descartes Systems Group announced New Trend International Logistics Technology Ltd. (NTI), a leading Chinese material handling technology provider and Descartes United by Design reseller, has signed its first customer, Jiangsu Tobacco.

Jiangsu Tobacco selected Descartes’ Routing and Scheduling solution, combined with a global positioning system (GPS) solution to provide real-time visibility and security for vehicles in the field. Descartes’ routing and scheduling solution streamlines delivery routes by maximizing Jiangsu Tobacco’s asset utilization and enables performance measurement against an actual plan. Descartes’ Routing and Scheduling solution re-optimizes deliveries in real-time, allocating resources to help maximize operating efficiencies; deliver priority service to the most profitable accounts and routes; and maintain overall customer service objectives.

Descartes’ Routing and Scheduling solution is designed to integrate easily with existing order management or transportation planning systems, and can help companies reduce costs as a result of shorter routes, reduced fuel consumption and enhanced fleet utilization.

Jiangsu Tobacco is the first project since the December 2009 announcement of Descartes’ alliance with NTI to combine its federated platform that unites hardware, software, networks and a community of logistics organizations, with NTI’s local business network to provide a comprehensive logistics information management system. This information management system includes logistics management information system (LMIS), warehouse management (WMS), transportation management (TMS) and GPS technologies. NTI provides project management, system integration as well as the LMIS platform for the project.

Descartes’ federated network combines the power of the Descartes Global Logistics Network (GLN), a community of over 22,000 companies in over 165 countries exchanging logistics information, and value-added applications working together to standardize and streamline business processes.

“We are excited about signing Jiangsu Tobacco to use Descartes’ Routing and Scheduling solution,” said Raymond Cheung, Vice President of NTI. “Our alliance incorporates our local business network with Descartes' state-of-the-art distribution solution, to meet the requirement of the Chinese government to speed up the construction of information technology in the logistics industry. We look forward to continuing to work together with Descartes to improve the productivity and performance of logistics-intensive organizations across China.”

"Signing our first customer through our ‘United-by-Design’ alliance with NTI is proof that joining our networks to provide a comprehensive federated platform enables our customers to accelerate the time-to-value and results for organizations,” said Art Mesher, CEO of Descartes. “We look forward to continuing to work together with NTI to standardize and automate logistics processes for organizations in China.”

About Jiangsu Tobacco
Jiangsu Tobacco is one of the 33 provincial tobacco companies of China Tobacco.

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd.("K" LINE) announced that an agreement has been reached with Air Tiger Express Companies, Inc. (ATEC, US based Logistics Service Provider) for acquiring 51% of ATE's stake (26% at first, with option for additional 25%). "K" LINE Group has been pursuing enhancement of its Logistics business, and will continue such pursuit in Vision 100 KV2010.

ATEC (head-quartered in NYC) with offices and agents worldwide, is a leading international freight forwarder and provider of integrated logistics services. For over 33 years the company has delivered its customers assets globally, has provided outstanding services that have positively resulted in its customers bottom lines. It's major subsidiaries are, Air Tiger Express (USA) Inc., Air Tiger Express (Asia) Inc. and Shenzhen Airport ATE Int'l Freight Co., Ltd. ATEC, though medium-sized with around 750 headcounts, is a promising company with its strong link to fast-growing international logistics market in China.

"K" LINE's current international logistics business mainly consists of "K" LINE Logistics (its major business is Air and Ocean freight forwarding) and Century Distribution Service (its major business is buyer's consolidation), "K" LINE believes that capital participation in ATEC will bring both enhancement of business area and profit opportunity.