TMC Blog

Natural gas is a cleaner fuel for trucks than diesel, but is it a more cost effective alternative?

The cost issue was explored at the American Trucking Association Natural Gas Summit in Washington D.C., on November 28^th, 2012. The operational case for natural gas was also explored at the conference, and I’ll be discussing this in an upcoming Logistics Viewpoints guest post titled Making Operational Sense of Natural Gas.

Diesel quantity is measured in gallons, while natural gas is typically measured in cubic feet. A commonly used equivalent is 145 cubic feet of compressed natural gas (CNG) or 1.7 gallons of liquid natural gas (LNG) per gallon of diesel. These are routinely referred to as Diesel Gallon Equivalents.  Read More...

Mobile communications is not only revolutionizing the way freight delivery is managed; it is also fundamentally changing the way people interact with co-workers and the extended supply chain.

The ability to access general work systems like email while away from the office is trivial, but the line between work and home life is beginning to blur. This is problematic for workers who typically use specialized work systems. Co-workers assume that, if they have access to sufficient technology to ask a question, their transportation managers will have access to the tools needed to answer it. Read More...

The future of oil may be different than you think.

With all the discussions of Superstorm Sandy, the elections, and the fiscal cliff, one of the stories getting less press is the future of oil. There has been a dramatic and, for some people, an unexpected change. Experts now predict that the US will surpass Saudi Arabia as the leading producer of oil by 2020.

Surprised? How can this be?  Read More...

Predicting industry trends is a risky business, and it’s gratifying when your view of the future turns out to be on track. In their most recent analysis of the transportation management systems (TMS) market[i], ARC Advisory Group introduces managed services as a growing product category. ARC also pays particular attention to software as a service (Saas)-based TMS models. We flagged these developments as the next phase in the evolution of transportation management services some two years ago. Read More...

We field a lot of questions on where technology is going. Some of the questions directly relate to global transportation management or logistics. Others relate to technologies that will change the way we live and work. This update is one of those.  Ever heard of resonant energy transfer?  Probably not… but soon we may all reap the benefits of this technology.  Give this a quick read and share your thoughts with us.  Read More...