Month: January 2022

Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR) reported record quarterly revenue of $1.945 billion in the 2021 fourth quarter, a 50 percent increase over revenue of $1.296 billion in the 2020 fourth quarter.

Following a record-breaking 2021 third quarter, the 2021 fourth quarter once again reset the standard as the best quarterly financial performance in Landstar history. 2021 fourth quarter revenue, gross profit, variable contribution, net income and diluted earnings per share each set all-time quarterly records.

“As we look to the 2022 first quarter, we anticipate continued solid performance on the expectation that ongoing capacity constraints will support a strong freight environment in the near term. The strength in revenue per load on loads hauled via truck and the number of loads hauled via truck experienced in 2021 has continued into the first few weeks of January. Typically, revenue in the first quarter is expected to be lower than the revenue of the immediately preceding fourth quarter. Regardless, I expect the strong trends in revenue per load and loads hauled via truck to continue as we move through the remainder of the 2022 first quarter” said Landstar President and CEO Jim Gattoni.

Landstar’s financial performance in fiscal year 2021 was by far the best in the Company’s history. Revenue in fiscal 2021 was approximately $6.5 billion, an annual record, and was approximately $1.9 billion higher than the previous record set in 2018.

Growth + Change = Opportunity!

Two major players in the logistics industry are leading a group of companies investing millions in Phantom Auto, a fast-rising Silicon Valley company that has developed software enabling remote operation of forklifts and other material moving vehicles.

Phantom Auto software makes it possible for forklifts to be remotely operated from virtually anywhere in the world with strong internet connectivity. Operators located in off-site locations, including their homes, can operate multiple forklifts, making such jobs more convenient and attractive for potential hires.

ArcBest, a multi-billion dollar freight and logistics service provider, and NFI, one of the largest third-party logistics providers in North America, are the lead investors in a $42 million round of funding for Phantom Auto, the companies announced Wednesday. 

The technology behind Phantom’s remote operation software  delivers secure, low-latency communication over volatile and constrained wireless networks, enabling reliable sensor streaming and safe control of vehicle functions.

The goal isn’t to replace workers, NFI Chief Executive Sid Brown said, but to add capacity by having people work remotely, which he said would also help recruitment, including among people who like to play videogames.

The move comes as the supply chain and logistic industries continue to deal with a labor shortage that pre-dates the 2020 onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Growth + Change = Opportunity!

About 800 dockworkers, kind of 1 in 10 of the day by day group of workers on the ports of Los Angeles and Lengthy Seaside had been unavailable for Covid-related causes.

The Covid-19 Omicron variant is hampering efforts to transparent a backlog of about 100 container ships on the country’s busiest port as infections upward thrust amongst Southern California dockworkers.

Alan McCorkle, chief executive of Yusen Terminals LLC at the Port of Los Angeles, said the rise in coronavirus infections has extended a worker shortage that began over the Christmas and New Year holidays, reducing productivity at his terminal by about 20%.

Dozens of vessels have waited weeks or months to dump shipment on the ports of Los Angeles and Lengthy Seaside as a weigh down of imports has overwhelmed logistics operations that ship items to U.S. markets.

The Southern California port complex is the main ocean gateway for U.S. imports from Asia, handling about 40% of containerized cargo. The ports struggled last year to handle record import volumes that surged about 20% compared with pre-Covid levels in 2019 as businesses rushed to restock inventories and Americans switched their pandemic-era spending from services to goods.

The Biden management took measures aimed toward decreasing the backlog, together with efforts to prod Southern California terminals to transport towards 24-hour operations that had limited success.

Growth + Change = Opportunity!

The National Retail Federation expects some 20,000 people in New York City this month for its annual event, a major forum for supply-chain technology and logistics providers.
Big logistics-industry conferences are moving ahead with in-person events in the coming weeks even as the Omicron variant rips through the U.S. and snarls domestic and international travel.

Over 2200 exhibitors are confirmed to exhibit in person at CES 2022. In the last two weeks, 143 additional companies have signed up to exhibit in-person.
The Journal of Commerce and parent IHS Markit Ltd. also plan to go forward with their annual TPM conference, a pivotal gathering for the trans-Pacific maritime shipping sector that went virtual during the pandemic, starting in late February in Long Beach, Calif.
TPM, which begins on Feb. 27, usually attracts more than 2,500 attendees, about 80% of whom come from North America with most of the remainder split about equally between Asia and Europe.

Shippers, carriers and intermediaries have traditionally used the conference to get a sense of contract prices for the coming shipping season
Organizers of big shipping and logistics events say they are taking Covid-19 safety precautions as they kick off 2022 with in-person gatherings

Growth + Change = Opportunity!