16 DC VELOCITY JANUARY 2019 www.dcvelocity.com
newsworthy
Venture Research Inc., a supplier of radio-frequency identification
(RFID) and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, has received a con-
tract through the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences to
supply mobile passive radio-frequency identification systems for
the U.S. Navy. … Software developer InMotion Global Inc. has col-
laborated with third-party logistics service provider C.H. Robinson
to integrate C.H. Robinson’s loads directly into InMotion’s cloud-
based AscendTMS platform. The deal opens up access to C.H.
Robinson loads to any carrier or owner/operator. … To optimize its
intermodal transport service offerings, BNSF Logistics has selected
Blume Global as its digital supply chain platform. In other Blume
news, the company recently announced that it has entered into
a partnership with Infosys, a next-generation digital services and
consulting firm. Infosys will implement and host Blume’s platform
and digital transformation solutions for logistics service provid-
ers, retailers, and manufacturers. … Haas Alert, a Chicago-based
startup that is building a real-time roadway hazard streaming
data service, and Zenuity, a Sweden-based ADAS (advanced driver
assistance systems) and automated driving software company,
have entered into a strategic partnership to enhance their respec-
tive automotive product offerings. … Tailwind Transportation
Software, a Web-based transportation management software
(TMS) provider, has partnered with Trucker Tools LLC to integrate
Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity platform into its Pro and Enterprise
TMS subscription products.
alliances
Amazon expands
airfreight network with
Texas facility
E-commerce behemoth Amazon.com Inc.
said in December it is building an airfreight
facility at Texas’s Fort Worth Alliance
Airport and could begin launching daily
flights from the site within a year, as the
company continues to build out its logistics
and transportation infrastructure.
Seattle-based Amazon said in an e-mail
that it is tailoring the regional air hub to the
large-scale regional needs of Amazon Air,
the company’s initiative to support two-day
parcel delivery for its Amazon Prime service.
A spokesperson for the Fort Worth
Alliance Airport said the facility is the
centerpiece of the Alliance Global Logistics
Hub, which also includes BNSF Railway’s
Alliance Intermodal Facility, the FedEx
Southwest Regional Sort Hub, and BNSF
and Union Pacific Class I rail lines. The Fort
Worth Alliance Airport, which offers access
to several highways and interstates, is locat-
ed at AllianceTexas, a 26,000-acre mixed-
use development that was built through a
partnership between the city of Fort Worth,
the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA), and real estate developer Hillwood.
The project is Amazon’s latest step in the
expansion of its private airfreight network.
The company is also building a $1.5 bil-
lion hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky
Airport and conducts additional operations
at an air park in Wilmington, Ohio.
Amazon’s first branded aircraft, Amazon
One, took to the skies in 2016, the company
said. Since then, the fleet has grown to 40
airplanes flying out of more than 20 air
gateways across the country.
Features at the new Dallas-Fort Worth
area site will include sortation capability
and the necessary infrastructure to handle
multiple flights daily, the company said.
“We are excited to build a brand-new facil-
ity from the ground up at the Fort Worth
Alliance Airport,” Sarah Rhoads, director
of Amazon Air, said in a statement. “The
new facility is the first of its kind for us, and
we’re thrilled to ensure we have the capacity
to continue to delight our customers.”
ple, U.S. trucking rates were up more than 25 percent, according
to FreightWaves’ data. Spot rates can fluctuate throughout the day,
week, and year, the company also said.
Fuller uses the trucking industry’s driver shortage to illustrate how
this can affect the industry. “People will say, ‘Why not just pay [driv-
ers] more?’ The reason is, [trucking companies] don’t know how long
the cycle will continue,” he explains, noting that it’s hard to provide a
15- to 20-percent pay increase when you don’t know whether or not
the market will hold up. “If the market slows down, which we are see-
ing now, that downward cycle will drag on truckloads .... With futures,
you’re protecting [against that] downward cycle.”
The freight futures market is likely to be made up of both physical
traders—those who are exposed to the price risk, including shippers
and trucking companies—and financial traders or speculators, Fuller
and others said during a panel discussion on the topic during the
MarketWaves18 conference. Paul Cusenza, CEO of Nodal Exchange,
said he expects freight futures to work much like the electricity futures
market, which he said is 60 percent physical and 40 percent financial.
Fuller said Freight Waves and its partner companies will host a series
of “mini road-shows” about the exchange, with stops in Chicago,
Houston, and New York, “where there’s an awareness of futures markets [along with] large brokers and freight companies.”
—Victoria Kickham
