A flood of data on the truckload market presents an interesting conundrum for shippers and brokers. While more is better than less, too much can also be a bad thing. In other words, sorting through all the noise to find the signal that matter for an individual business can be a herculean task, one that is sometimes beyond the scope of a transportation department. And yet, each shipper and broker in the market needs to understand these signals to make critical pricing and service decisions. In this session, Ken Adamo, DAT Freight & Analytics' chief of analytics and vice president of strategy, will help attendees drill down to the data points that matter when dissecting the current and future states of the truckload market. The session will touch on: specific metrics that are important to track when it comes to truckload rates, service, and capacity; how to formulate a diversified but manageable data strategy; and determining whether data science capability should be handled in-house or outsourced.
Shippers have enjoyed sustained pricing power this year and recovered from the disruption of 2020-2022, but there are plenty of problems on their plates, from clouded supply chain visibility and service issues to exacting customer delivery demands and penalties. Add to that the unpredictable economic environment and an upcoming national election. This is a time for shippers to take stock and plan for what could be a recovery in freight demand in 2025. This panel of logistics executives will explore the way forward for US shippers.
More than a year after being lured from Uber Freight, where he was a key figure in building and scaling the freight broker, Bill Driegert now has a new challenge: taking the technology that powered Convoy and turning it into a differentiator for Flexport, the forwarder that hired him in May 2023. The challenge is multifaceted, from resurrecting the connections with Convoy’s carrier base to figuring out how a standalone domestic brokerage technology fits with Flexport’s suite of services and tech for its import and export customers. More broadly, there’s hardly anyone better equipped to understand the challenges and opportunities of technology’s impact on truckload procurement. In this one-on-one Driegert will help attendees better understand the role technology plays in empowering truckload carriers, brokers, and shippers.
Hardly a day goes by in the business press without a mention of the exploding trade between Mexico and the US. The potential is there for all to see in Mexico, either as an origin point for goods or as a way point for goods moving from Asia to the US. Mexico is now the US’s largest trading partner, supplanting China, and it feels as though the potential for growth of the trade can only be constrained by operational and political factors.
Many logistics professionals are having to account for Mexico as a new sourcing hub for their companies. That means establishing trusted carrier and intermediary partners as well as having an internal team that understands the market. But while it’s important to understand the transportation ramifications of cross-border trade growth – both in truckload and intermodal – there’s more to consider.
Doing business in Mexico is not like doing business in China or the US. It has its own distinct business environment, and freight transportation exists within that reality. While there are a handful of sessions at Inland24 dedicated to the rise of cross-border trade and its freight implications, perhaps the most important session is one in which S&P Global’s José Enrique Sevilla-Macip will map out the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Mexico at a broader level. Sevilla-Macip is a senior research analyst within S&P Global’s Economics and Country Risk unit covering Latin America and Caribbbean.