• TPM25
  • March 2-5, 2025 | Long Beach Convention Center

Eric Johnson

Journal of Commerce by S&P Global

Senior Technology Editor

Eric Johnson is the Journal of Commerce's Senior Editor, Technology, where he leads coverage and analysis of technology’s impact on global logistics and trade. Johnson regularly reports on how shippers, carriers across all modes, and logistics companies use software, as well as new concepts impacting core freight transportation processes like procurement, execution, visibility, and payment. Johnson is a regular presenter and moderator at industry events and webinars. Prior to joining the Journal of Commerce in May 2018, Johnson spent 13 years with American Shipper in a variety of roles, most recently covering logistics technology and leading the production of a series of benchmark studies on the logistics industry. Johnson has a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s in international business from the University of Leeds, UK. He has lived and worked in Southern California, the UK, and India, and now resides in the Washington, DC, area.

Sessions With Eric Johnson

Monday, 3 March

  • 02:00pm - 02:15pm (PST) / 03/mar/2025 10:00 pm - 03/mar/2025 10:15 pm

    TPM Tech Welcome Remarks
  • 02:15pm - 02:45pm (PST) / 03/mar/2025 10:15 pm - 03/mar/2025 10:45 pm

    TPM Tech: Cracking the Ocean Network Design Code
    Google researchers announced in June that they had made a breakthrough in ocean carrier network design and scheduling, one that would make carriers more profitable by allowing them to use fewer ships while carrying more cargo. The claims seemed ambitious, if not fanciful, yet barely a month later Google announced a broad AI partnership with liner carrier CMA CGM. The June announcement centered around a plug-in Google’s team said would change the nature of vessel optimization and routing decisions by considering scheduling, routing and port call orders simultaneously, rather than sequentially. This kickoff session at TPM Tech will explore Google’s specific work in liner network design, while also considering a bigger-picture question: How radically can a physically network of independent companies changes? And how would such changes benefit the customers and partners of shipping lines?
  • 02:50pm - 03:30pm (PST) / 03/mar/2025 10:50 pm - 03/mar/2025 11:30 pm

    TPM Tech: A Primer on AI in Logistics
  • 04:00pm - 04:30pm (PST) / 04/mar/2025 12:00 am - 04/mar/2025 12:30 am

    TPM Tech: An eBL Status Check
    In 2023, the Digital Container Shipping Association got a joint commitment from its container line members: Each carrier vowed to migrate fully to electronic bills of lading by 2030. The ambitious target wasn’t just about the need to digitize a primarily paper-based and inefficient promise, but a signal of things to come. The eBL, after all, is just one document, but there are dozens of documents accompanying ocean freight shipments and each would ideally be available in a digital format. What’s more, digitizing the data within those documents might herald a new paradigm for understanding and enabling trade flows. In this session, a trio of protagonists in the move to digitize eBLs will provide an update on the state of play, addressing these and other questions: Who is leading the charge? What hurdles still need to be overcome? Are shippers on board with this change? 
  • 04:35pm - 05:05pm (PST) / 04/mar/2025 12:35 am - 04/mar/2025 01:05 am

    TPM Tech: Making Shipper Technology Approachable

    Selling into shippers is hard for software vendors. Aside from the generally long sales cycles that predominate in global logistics across all buying entities, shippers are a particularly difficult nut to crack because each BCO is unique. Even shippers in the same vertical and of roughly the same size might view their technology needs from vastly different perspectives. Some might look to outsource their technology needs to 3PLs. Some might channel budget toward broader supply chain needs in lieu of focusing more narrowly on freight transportation. In this session, a trio of shipper-focused technology providers will discuss how they aim to make technology for shippers easier to consume, more valuable, and with a quick return on investment.

  • 05:10pm - 05:40pm (PST) / 04/mar/2025 01:10 am - 04/mar/2025 01:40 am

    TPM Tech: The State of Ocean Carrier APIs
    At some point over the last decade, the term application programming interface, or API, went from being an obscure computer programming expression to a customer-facing product selling point about system connectivity. In that time, some ocean carriers began to see the potential of providing self-service tools directly to shippers and small forwarders via their websites, leading to a focus on driving business directly via carriers’ own portals. APIs’ progression in logistics, however, has largely been driven by software-as-a-service vendors that provide APIs to their shipper and forwarder customers. But to what extent do carriers provide APIs to software vendors and tech-focused 3PLs? And what is the quality of those APIs? This session will examine this critical connective tissue, taking in the perspective of both providers and consumers of ocean freight APIs.

Tuesday, 4 March

  • 08:30am - 08:45am (PST) / 04/mar/2025 04:30 pm - 04/mar/2025 04:45 pm

    Welcome Remarks and LOG-NET E-Commerce Excellence Award
    LOG-NET's Electronic Commerce Excellence award has consistently reinforced the partnership between carriers and their customers and the fundamental importance of data quality in that relationship. Digitization has made data management and data quality foundational elements of successful global supply chains. Whether the data is coming from smartphones, web forms, Internet of Things devices, AI, or EDI, it needs to be complete, timely, and accurate. Data quality is critical, considering the consumers of this information now range from import and logistics specialists to business intelligence and machine learning platforms that demand ever more granular information. Since 2003, LOG-NET CEO John Motley has presented the LOG-NET E-Commerce Excellence award at TPM. The award recognizes the efforts of the international carrier community and its outstanding daily performance with LOG-NET's Trading Partner and Data Quality teams. 
  • 04:50pm - 05:25pm (PST) / 05/mar/2025 12:50 am - 05/mar/2025 01:25 am

    TPM Tech: The Time to Value Hurdle
    The glacial pace of technology adoption in the logistics industry has never been more apparent than in the aftermath of the pandemic, when the sugar high of investing during a crisis gave way to a more considerate approach to software investment. As the market normalizes in late 2024, the key for vendors will be in proving that time to value — a software term indicating how long it takes a company to see a measurable return on its investment — shrinks such that buyers feel there is no friction in their buying decision. This won’t be easy, as logistics remains an industry where decision-making on software is slow and methodical. But solving the time-to-value riddle could herald a new era for logistics. This session will discuss how software vendors are changing their approach to improve time to value, and whether shippers and 3PLs need to adjust their buying habits when it comes to buying products.
  • 05:30pm - 05:35pm (PST) / 05/mar/2025 01:30 am - 05/mar/2025 01:35 am

    TPM Tech Closing Remarks

Wednesday, 5 March

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