The number of shipping containers lost at sea more than doubled in 2025, driven by some major maritime accidents and severe weather, according to the World Shipping Council, which released its 2026 Containers Lost at Sea Report Thursday.

An estimated 1,478 containers were lost at sea last year, up from 576 in 2024 and above the recent three-year average. Despite the increase, container losses remain rare, according to WSC: The nearly 1,500 lost were out of approximately 280 million containers transported globally last year, which is equivalent to 0.0005% of container movement around the world.

One vessel loss alone accounted 43% of all containers lost during the year: The Liberia-flagged MSC ELSA 3 sank off the cost of Kochi, India, in May 2025, losing 640 containers.

Challenging weather and ocean conditions, particularly in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, were key contributors to container losses as well, according to the report.

WSC also reported that 128 containers were recovered in 2025—the highest recovery figure recorded since the organization began gathering recovery data in 2023.

The report, which is available for download, also highlights ongoing work to improve container and cargo safety.

Today’s warehouses are becoming showplaces for modern technology as companies seek to create more flexible, safe, and efficient workflows within their facilities. Warehouses buzzing with autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) or featuring high-density grid-based automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) are becoming increasingly common across the logistics landscape—and they require considerable care and attention when companies go to design and implement the best solutions for the job.

Workstations are essential components of those systems, providing places where associates interact with robotics and automated equipment to perform vital tasks—picking and placing items at a port connected to the AS/RS, for example, or packing items delivered to a station by an AMR. Although they are one small part of the larger system, workstations deserve the same scrutiny during planning and implementation, automation design experts say.

We asked Dan Cahalan, sales director at warehouse automation technology specialist Swisslog, and Ben Ferrell, senior director of product management for high-density case and tote storage solutions at automated material handling solutions provider Dematic, for their insights on what goes into designing the best workstations for today’s modern warehouses. Here are excerpts from our conversation.

DC Velocity: Let’s talk about the best approaches to take when designing warehouse workstations. What are the first steps you take with customers?

Ben Ferrell: The first step in recommending a workstation design is to fully understand the customer’s operation. This means mapping the process the workstation will support, identifying pain points, and having a clear definition of what success looks like.

Early conversations should focus on where the operation is losing time, space, labor efficiency, accuracy, or safety with very specific goals attached. Keeping ROI [return on investment] in mind as early as possible is key when designing a brand-new workstation.

A critical part of this early discovery involves both operations leadership and front-line operators. While leadership provides strategic priorities and performance targets, operators often surface practical, day-to-day insights that don’t appear in standard KPIs [key performance indicators] but can significantly impact the effectiveness of the solution.

Dan Cahalan: Typically, what we start with is understanding the business requirement for the system and the business requirement for an individual at a workstation. So if you’re at a picking port, what is this individual going to be responsible for? Are they going to be responsible for picking an item, scanning it, tagging it, applying a label, putting it in a box, [and/or] building the box? Describing the user process is always the first step. Then, we use that process to determine the approximate user rate [the speed at which an associate will work at a given workstation], and that’s how we determine the total number of workstations needed.

DC Velocity: How do ergonomics come into play, and what are best practices in that regard?

Ferrell: Ergonomics should be built into workstation design from the beginning, not only to protect worker safety but also because strong ergonomic design directly impacts throughput, quality, and employee retention, especially in labor-constrained markets. It also plays a key role in managing fatigue across shifts, helping sustain consistent performance over time. Best practices include minimizing bending, twisting, reaching, lifting, and repetitive motion; keeping products, tools, screens, and scanners within the operator’s optimal work zone; and using adjustable platforms or station features for different worker heights.

Our team uses the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) [ergonomic survey tool] to help ensure workstation solutions achieve a low-risk ergonomic score. Fortunately, implementing strategic robotic picking automation solutions reduces manual activities that cause repetitive stress injuries, and these solutions only continue to improve by the day.

Cahalan: Most equipment providers will have “standard” workstations that are designed to cover a wide range of applications—and designed to be widely ergonomically acceptable according to some industry standards—so you can generally trust that a workstation being implemented meets some level of physical ergonomic standards.

The less-frequently considered component of workstation ergonomics is noise. It’s something not every customer considers, but the ones that do take it very seriously. For example, some customers require that the noise level at a workstation be less than 75 decibels.

DC Velocity: How does customer input factor into ergonomics?

Cahalan: Customer input is arguably the largest factor. I previously mentioned standard workstation ergonomics, but a step further is to have a customer that takes ergonomics seriously and demands ergonomic advancement beyond the standard. As an example, I have a customer that takes safety extremely seriously, devoting a considerable amount of engineering effort to ergonomics. That customer has a robust ergonomic standard and challenged us to redesign a standard workstation in such a way that it accommodates all of its ergonomic standards. It is often a matter of how high the customer’s standards are for workstation design in terms of how ergonomically “thoughtful” the workstation will be.

DC Velocity: What are some common mistakes warehouses make when implementing workstations?

Ferrell: The most common mistake we see is treating workstations as an isolated piece of equipment instead of part of a larger fulfillment system. Even a well-designed station can underperform if the two are not aligned.

Another frequent issue we see is underestimating training and change management. No matter how well designed a workstation is, operations will struggle if operators aren’t brought along in the transition.

Other common mistakes include designing for average volume instead of accounting for peak demand; prioritizing speed while overlooking ergonomic risk; failing to account for product variability and SKU [stock-keeping unit] proliferation; and not planning for lifecycle support or future upgrades.

Cahalan: I think some mistakes that people make are projecting their own body into a workspace. Oftentimes, people project themselves into these workspaces without taking the extra effort of using an ergonomic chart or using a human-factors resource of some sort—failing to consider bodies (height, weight, reach) different from theirs. The other thing that happens often is that people will cut small, “penny” corners to save money that could have a massive impact on the ergonomics and on the sustained user rate.

Another mistake people make is forcing the user at a workstation to make too many decisions. Whatever you can do to make it so that the user can stay present with their hands and not have to move around to read a screen—that’s important. A user should only have to go to a screen if something is wrong.

DC Velocity: How do you plan and design for future growth?

Ferrell: Today’s workstations should be designed to be modular, scalable, and flexible. In many cases, systems can operate for 15 to 30 years. Because of these long lifespans, maintaining support and modernization while investing in upgrades if needed is extremely important to the long-term success of the workstation.

SKU proliferation, labor availability, and service expectation changes can all make for a more varied supply chain. Workstations must be designed to reflect this. Some options include:

• Leaving room for additional stations;
• Allowing for future robotic integration at the station;
• Designing layouts that can flex with changing volume;
• Using modular subsystems;
• Building in capacity for peak periods;
• Ensuring software and controls can support new workflows over time.The best workstations don’t just support today’s operation; they also evolve with it. When productivity, ergonomics, scalability, and lifecycle considerations complement each other, it sets operations up for success in the near term while preparing for the future.

Cahalan: I would say, build your system with expansion in mind.

Home delivery is more challenging than ever for retailers, as a survey from consulting firm AlixPartners shows that consumers now expect free delivery in under three days, 52% will boycott a retailer after just 1–2 botched deliveries, and 64% of executives say home delivery is not yet profitable.

Those numbers show that home delivery has become the decisive battleground for customer loyalty, yet the economics of fulfillment continue to deteriorate for most retailers. The figures come from 14th annual Home Delivery Survey of U.S. consumers and supply chain executives.

According to the firm, the most striking finding in this year's survey is the accelerating compression of consumer delivery expectations. Free shipping is now a near-universal demand. 94% of consumers say free shipping impacts their purchase decisions, with nearly 70% saying it has a 'great impact.' Two in three shoppers abandon their cart entirely when shipping fees exceed approximately $10, and more than 25% expect $0 shipping as a baseline.

Yet at the same time, speed expectations have tightened in parallel. Consumers now expect free delivery in an average of 2.7 days — down from 3.5+ days in prior years — with expectations varying sharply by category, from 0.9 days for grocery and food to 3.2 days for large general merchandise. More than 20% of demand is estimated to be at risk when these timing expectations are not met.

“The speed and free shipping expectations consumers hold today were once reserved for Amazon Prime members. They are now the floor — not the ceiling — for every category of retail,” said Marc Iampieri, Global Co-Leader of Logistics & Transportation and Partner & Managing Director at AlixPartners. “Retailers who treat home delivery as a cost line to minimize, rather than a customer experience to invest in, are quietly surrendering loyalty they may never recover.”

Additional results show that the delivery imperative comes at a painful financial cost to retailers. According to the executive survey:

• 83% of retailers report home delivery costs increased year-over-year (2025-2026)
• 64% say home delivery is not accretive to profitability, compared with in-store transactions
• 56% require a minimum order value for free shipping — half raised that threshold in the past year
• 22% now require both a minimum order AND paid membership to unlock free shipping

In response, retailers are taking a second look at their last-mile service providers. For the first time in the survey's history, reliability has displaced price as the primary criterion for selecting a lead carrier, researchers found.

The UPS-FedEx duopoly is meaningfully eroding: 55% of retailers now use carriers outside of UPS, FedEx, and USPS, and more than a third have actively shifted volume away from traditional incumbents in the past year. FedEx has overtaken UPS as the most-cited primary carrier, used by 38% of retailers, compared with UPS's 35% peak in 2023.

On the consumer side, Amazon leads all carriers in overall delivery preference — topping rankings for timeliness and condition of delivery — while USPS ranks lowest for both timeliness satisfaction and technology investment alignment. Notably, 84% of consumers say their past delivery experiences, including which carrier is used and whether the driver is a gig worker, directly influence where they choose to shop.

“Carrier diversification used to be a cost play. It is now a resilience and brand play,” said Chris Considine, Partner in AlixPartners’ Retail practice. “The retailers gaining ground are those who have built multi-carrier architectures that let them route around service failures in real time — and who understand that for their premium customers, the carrier badge on the box is part of the product.”

The humanoid robot maker Agility Robotics today announced plans to take the company public, saying the move could raise as much as $620 million to accelerate its mission “to build robot partners that augment the human workforce and lead the adoption of humanoids everywhere.”

Agility’s main product is the “Digit” model of humanoid robot, which it defines as a general-purpose, human-centric robot that is currently operating in manufacturing, distribution, and logistics environments to fill chronic physical labor shortages. Existing customers now using Digit to automate repetitive physical tasks include Schaeffler, GXO, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, and Mercado Libre.

According to the firm, humanoid robot deployments today require robots and people to operate in segregated environments. But Agility believes that cooperative safety – the ability for robots to safely work alongside people in dynamic environments – is the critical requirement for broad humanoid adoption.

xxx-based Agility plans to make the transition through a merger with Churchill Capital Corp XI, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). After the deal settles, the combined company is expected to operate under the name Agility and trade its stock under the ticker symbol “AGLT.”

Proceeds will support fulfillment of existing customer orders, expansion of commercial deployments, scaling of Digit v5 production, and continued investment in Agility’s integrated platform.

“Agility is at the forefront of a new era where safety-first, AI-powered technology can reliably work alongside people to bridge labor shortages, increase productivity, and strengthen the resilience of our supply chains,” Peggy Johnson, CEO of Agility Robotics, said in a release.

“We believe humanoids are at a meaningful inflection point in commercial adoption, and we are focused on meeting growing customer demand, expanding deployments, and advancing our roadmap across robotics, physical AI, safety systems, and enterprise software. As adoption accelerates, we believe Agility is positioned to address a market opportunity across manufacturing, distribution, and logistics environments in the United States that is estimated by management to be approximately $1 trillion,” Johnson said.

Healthcare logistics specialist McKesson Corp. will build a highly automated regional distribution center in Oklahoma, saying the $179 million facility will replace an existing distribution center, expanding capacity and modernizing capabilities to support future demand.

The 330,000-square-foot facility will serve as a regional pharmaceutical distribution hub, the company said. Located in Moore, OK, at the North Moore Industrial Park, the site will feature digitally enabled logistics, state of the art automation, precision inventory management, and expanded cold chain capacity.

In addition, the site will increase McKesson’s capacity and throughput, and strengthen operational resilience with 100% standby power to support safe operations in adverse conditions.

“The healthcare supply chain grows more complex, from supporting advanced therapies with specialized handling and storage to navigating modernization, security, and supply constraints. Patients are counting on consistent, reliable access to critical therapies,” said Gene Cavacini, President, U.S. Pharmaceutical Distribution, McKesson. “This investment strengthens our ability to deliver with speed, precision and resilience, while expanding capacity to better serve Oklahoma, Texas, and the surrounding region.”

There’s a trend emerging across the forklift market as more and more equipment users electrify their fleets: The rapid adoption of, and strong preference for, lithium-ion (Li-ion)–powered, battery-electric trucks is spurring forklift manufacturers to bring the production of those advanced power solutions in-house—as a way to both build revenue and provide customers with a one-stop shop on their electrification journey.

One of the latest manufacturers to do so is Hyster-Yale Material Handling, which launched lines of lithium-ion power solutions that are purpose-built for its Hyster and Yale lift trucks this past spring. With that move, Hyster-Yale joins the ranks of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including Big Joe Forklifts and The Raymond Corp., who already provide a single-source for trucks and Li-ion batteries.

Although their approaches vary, the companies’ efforts confirm the industry’s solid shift toward electric power: Recent industry research from Interact Analysis predicts that Li-ion–powered forklifts will make up more than 70% of the global, full-electric forklift market (which includes both Li-ion and lead-acid models) by 2034, for example—up from roughly 32% in 2024. As that market grows, a restructuring of business models is occurring as companies work to provide “full value-chain solutions,” according to the research.

Maya Xiao, research manager at Interact Analysis, explains that the combined design and delivery of forklifts, batteries, charging solutions, and infrastructure support—as Hyster-Yale, Big Joe, Raymond, and others are doing—helps lower barriers to adoption and reduce costs for customers.

And that’s a compelling reason for equipment makers to bring all of those services under one roof.

“For manufacturers, the ability to successfully build integrated service capabilities will be central to establishing a competitive advantage in the post-lithium battery era,” she wrote in the February report.

Ken Schreiber, energy solutions leader for the Yale brand and senior product director for electrical energy solutions for the Hyster brand, agrees.

“Our goal is to give warehouses as frictionless an experience as possible,” Schreiber said in a statement announcing the Yale launch in June. “The unified solution of advanced battery technology, chargers, and lift trucks delivers on that promise, with easy day-to-day usability and performance, backed by the one-stop shop convenience of support from our local dealers.”

As Li-ion power takes the forklift market by storm, those unified solutions are heating up as well.

THE RISE OF LITHIUM

Company leaders at Big Joe Forklifts anticipated the industry’s move to Li-ion power more than a decade ago, says Martin Boyd, the company’s chief marketing officer. He explains that Big Joe “skated to where the puck would be,” betting on lithium’s attributes as a cleaner, lower maintenance, and faster charging solution compared to forklifts powered by internal combustion engines (ICE) and lead-acid batteries. It also bet on the technology becoming more affordable: Ten years ago, Li-ion batteries were about three times as expensive as lead-acid batteries, putting them out of reach for most customers, Boyd explains. But prices have come down considerably, making them a more attractive solution to a broader range of users.

For those reasons and more, Big Joe decided to build on the experience of its parent company, China-based EP Equipment, which had already been developing Li-ion batteries for smaller trucks—pallet jacks and similar Class III “walk behind” forklifts. The result was EP’s launch of a purpose-built, integrated lithium-powered sit-down counterbalanced, or Class I, forklift, introduced in Asia and Europe in 2017. Big Joe launched the line in North America in 2020 and today primarily targets customers transitioning from Class IV and Class V ICE-powered forklifts to Li-ion versions. The integrated solution means that the battery is integrated into the design of the truck; Boyd explains the truck is comparable to an ICE-powered version in form and function.

“We have a distinct leadership position in developing integrated lithium battery solutions that were purposely built with a form factor that makes it easy for an operator to move from Class IV and Class V to Class I [electric counterbalanced trucks],” Boyd explains. “It will only be a matter of time before other OEMs start to develop the solutions Big Joe has, so with this being a window of opportunity, Big Joe is squarely focused on that opportunity while it’s front and center.”

Indeed, others are following suit—developing integrated solutions as well as building individual Li-ion batteries that can be dropped into existing trucks to replace lead-acid batteries. In both cases, the goal is to put the expertise for the truck and its power source in one place.

“I think there’s a clear trend toward forklift manufacturers developing their own [Li-ion] solutions or integrating with third parties,” explains Schreiber, emphasizing the advantages that come from having a single source of expertise about the machine, the power source, and the charging technology being used—not the least of which is having one point of contact when problems arise.

“It’s going to become increasingly important that we do this for our product and to take care of our customers,” Schreiber says, adding that Hyster-Yale offers both integrated and drop-in Li-ion power solutions.

And about those problems: Forklift users can choose from multiple third-party battery vendors when transitioning to Li-ion forklifts, a complexity in itself. The situation gets more complicated when there’s a problem or the truck breaks down: Is the forklift or the battery the issue? Or is it the charging infrastructure? It can take multiple phone calls and tech visits to get to the bottom of the problem.

Schreiber explains that the truck, battery, and charger represent independent systems, each with its own software and controls. When updates are made separately across any one of these components, it can create misalignment that prevents the overall system from functioning properly.

“One thing gets updated and then the whole system doesn’t work,” he says, citing Hyster Tracker telematics as a response to those concerns: The system monitors both truck and battery operation, streamlining troubleshooting by delivering information that may aid in identifying and understanding system issues while improving overall visibility across the system.

A COMPLEX PROBLEM

Jennifer Lupo, vice president of technology solutions for The Raymond Corp. (a brand of Toyota Material Handling North America), agrees that bringing power expertise in-house is a must as the industry transitions to advanced power solutions. She points to the complex nature of Li-ion compared to more traditional power sources as a case in point.

“It’s much less forgiving,” she says of Li-ion technology, noting the tighter requirements for matching the power source to the vehicle’s capacity demands. “You have to be more exact about the amount of power the vehicle needs and the amount of power the energy source can provide the vehicle. And no one knows better than a vehicle manufacturer, like ourselves, what the requirement of the vehicle is and what the requirement of the power source is.”

The Raymond Corp. released its first lithium-powered forklift in 2017—a pallet jack with an integrated lithium-ion battery. Since then, the company has taken an incremental approach to adding advanced power solutions and now offers its own Li-ion drop-in solutions as well as other advanced power sources, such as thin-plate pure-lead (TPPL) batteries, along with charging systems and more. Solutions are developed with partner companies and in-house. Raymond opened an energy solutions facility in Rochester, New York, in 2025 that develops, tests, and produces advanced power solutions, including Li-ion batteries and hydrogen fuel cells, for use in the Raymond and Toyota brands. Lupo says those efforts are part of a broader, more holistic approach to customers’ material handling needs—one that includes the truck, the power source, and even the data integration that helps the equipment maintain optimal uptime and efficiency. It’s all part of building the “future truck” that can power the most sophisticated warehouse operations.

“This is really an expansion beyond who we were in our core,” she explains. “To get to that end game—that future truck end game for those customers that are very sophisticated, that want to be running automated vehicles 24/7/365—and do that without interruption, you must use telemetry and you must use an advanced power source.

“We knew we needed to build this capability.”

And like Boyd and Schreiber, Lupo says she expects the trend to accelerate: “It’s not surprising that there are more [equipment manufacturers] in the material handling industry headed in this direction—because of the benefits.”

She says she also hopes the industry’s successes in developing battery-powered lift trucks will help boost confidence in the technology on a larger scale.

“There is so much in the media about challenges with EVs [electric vehicles] and lithium batteries,” she says, pointing to the consumer vehicle market. “I like to shed light on our industry and the success we have had. We’ve been electric vehicle manufacturers for decades, and we know that batteries can work in the most stringent applications. Commensurate with our brands in the marketplace being well known for quality and reliability, we would not bring any type of technology solution or power source to the market unless we were sure they were going to perform and deliver value.

AI is gaining ground in supply chains, as 40% of retail supply chain leaders report active use of the technology in 2026, up from 24% two years ago.

That’s according to the latest State of Supply Chain Report from AI platform Inspectorio, released Tuesday. The survey of nearly 200 brand and retail professionals details the impact of AI across the supply chain and points out gaps that hinder many brands and retailers from realizing its full potential. The research also reveals challenges and opportunities in traceability, sustainability, product integrity, and compliance.

Among the key findings:

• AI faces organizational hurdles. The primary obstacles to effective AI adoption are insufficient data quality, change management gaps, and lack of cross-functional integration. Organizations are deploying AI onto fragmented data environments and expecting transformative results. The research shows this consistently does not work.
• Managing compliance is increasingly stressful. Regulatory compliance is creating unprecedented organizational stress, with more than half of respondents ranking the strain of executing on compliance requirements as “4” on a 5-point scale. Compounding the issue, compliance budgets have plateaued, even as regulatory requirements continue to grow: Just 50% of survey respondents reported that their 2026 compliance budgets increased, compared to 75% in 2025.
• Sourcing diversification is eroding progress in sustainability. Thirty-seven percent of respondents shifted sourcing to new countries or regions in response to tariffs. The survey also revealed that 37% of respondents added secondary suppliers for critical products and 33% renegotiated supplier pricing or terms. But every time production moves to a new supplier, the sustainability infrastructure built at the prior location is left behind. Organizations are making sourcing decisions based on trade economics without accounting for the compliance cost of starting over in a new geography, with significant negative impact.
• Traceability is seen as a regulatory requirement, not a competitive advantage. Just 21% of organizations have a multi-tier strategy for traceability, and 79% are reactive to regulatory requirements. The majority of respondents allow their traceability strategy to be driven by regional directives, meaning traceability programs are scoped to what is currently required rather than taking a proactive approach with potential supplementary benefits related to supply chain visibility and resilience.

The research, available for download, also offers examples of how some companies are utilizing best-in-class strategies and technology to reap the benefits of AI in product integrity, sustainability, traceability, and compliance, according to Chirag Patel, Inspectorio's CEO.

Even as stratospheric fuel costs have eased slightly this week due to sporadic progress on reopening ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, container shipping rates continue to climb higher in response to hot demand during an early peak season, according to industry analysis.

The early start to peak season has been driven by multiple factors, according to a note from Freightos: frontloading ahead of increased fuel surcharges (known as bunker adjustment factors), coming Section 122 tariff expirations and Section 301 tariff introductions for transpacific shippers, and July manufacturer price hikes.

As evidence, Freightos pointed to statistics like a 19% rise in transpacific rates to the U.S. West Coast (to more than $5,700/FEU) and a 13% rise in transatlantic rates to the U.S. East Coast (to $7,400/FEU). Spot rates have soared even higher, already surpassing last year’s peak season high.

The sharp June rate gains show that even as the global fleet continues to grow, significant increases in demand and shipper urgency are still enough to push spot prices to “very elevated levels,” Freightos said. That shipper urgency has been sparked by variables such as a fuel price-adjusted elevated starting point, Red Sea diversions, and peak season congestion causing delays and likewise effectively reducing capacity.

A similar message came from freight broker C.H. Robinson, which found that ocean shipping conditions have tightened faster than expected, and the outlook is that the market will likely get worse for shippers before it improves.

“We’re seeing booking activity pull forward across Trans-Pacific lanes as shippers position inventory earlier and react to expected cost increases,” C.H. Robinson’s president of global forwarding, Mike Short, said in a release. “Peak season has effectively started early, and it’s shrinking the window to secure preferred departures. Shippers aren’t just competing for space right now, they’re competing for the right sailing.”

Collaborative robot arm manufacturers could soon see rising revenue by supplying their products to humanoid robot developers, according to a study from Interact Analysis.

While the near-term revenues of that new sales channel remain modest, the long-term upside could be huge, potentially adding 10% to 30% to cobot vendors’ revenues by 2030. That growth would come as humanoid robot revenue could reach $15 billion by 2030, the firm says.

The forecast implies that what began as occasional component sales is evolving into a structural trend for the cobot industry, the report said. For cobot vendors, the change would be a logical, low risk extension of their core technology, offering a promising secondary growth avenue without immediately cannibalizing existing cobot business.

According to Interact Analysis, recent months have seen a surge in cobots sold to humanoid makers. These are volume purchases, not small-scale evaluations, indicating that humanoid developers increasingly rely on mature cobot technology to accelerate their roadmaps. That strategy allows humanoid makers to bypass years of internal R&D by purchasing cobot grade actuators, force sensors, and control architecture that are already industrially proven.

Another driver of that trend is that a significant portion of new entrants to the humanoid robot market are AI-focused companies founded by researchers from leading AI labs. They possess strong algorithms but have no prior robotics hardware experience or established manufacturing. And building an in-house supply chain from scratch is prohibitively expensive and time consuming. Therefore, they outsource the necessary hardware; upper bodies such as arms and hands to cobot vendors, and lower bodies such as mobility bases to AGV or AMR suppliers.

However, the biggest impact could be overseas. While both China and the United States have humanoid production capabilities, only China possesses a fully integrated collaborative robot (cobot) manufacturing ecosystem and a mature supply chain. This unique advantage allows Chinese cobot manufacturers to capture demand benefits from the humanoid robotics boom right from the start—whereas the U.S., despite having production, lacks the same end‑to‑end industrial readiness.

Global parcel and logistics provider DHL plans to offer lower-emission shipping solutions on selected transatlantic routes by sending certain shipments in a ship powered by sails instead of an engine, the company said today.

The project comes from a partnership announced between DHL Global Forwarding France, the air and ocean freight specialist of DHL Group, and VELA, the operator of wind-powered cargo trimarans using wind as the primary propulsion when at sea.

This shipping solution will combine DHL Global Forwarding France's expertise in transport organization, pre-carriage, on-carriage, customs, warehousing, and associated logistics services, with the unique sailing maritime solution developed by French boatbuilder VELA.

The service for palletized LCL (Less-than-Container Load) shipments is primarily designed for customers seeking lower-emission shipping options with no compromise on speed, reliability, traceability or security, DHL said. That means it will be tailored to the pharmaceutical, high value & luxury goods, cosmetics, aerospace, and wine & spirits industries between Europe and the United States in both directions.

Each wind-propelled ship will carry 600 EU pallets per transatlantic trip operating as a direct route between strategic secondary ports, such as Caen-Ouistreham and New Haven.

“By partnering with DHL Global Forwarding France, we are making wind-powered freight for transatlantic shipping available to a broader range of customers,” said Michaël Fernandez-Ferri, Managing Director of VELA. “This collaboration aims to provide a lower-emission alternative that is designed to integrate into existing supply chains with standard logistics processes, while maintaining consistent service standards.”

The Dubai, UAE-based ports and logistics operator DP World is planning to develop a container terminal at Texas’ Port of Corpus Christi, in what could lead to a “major investment in U.S. Gulf Coast trade infrastructure.”

Specifically, DP World said June 16 that it has entered into an exclusive negotiation agreement for a long-term lease to develop and operate a container terminal at the port.

According to the company, that agreement marks a step toward expanding containerized cargo capabilities at one of the United States’ busiest ports, positioning Corpus Christi to capture new trade flows and support economic growth, as demand for port capacity across Texas continues to rise.

Under the proposed development, DP World would design, build, and operate a new container terminal, expanding capacity and strengthening supply chain connectivity across the Gulf Coast.

“The U.S. Gulf Coast is one of the nation’s most important trade and economic corridors, and demand for efficient, resilient port infrastructure continues to grow. The Port of Corpus Christi presents a significant opportunity to expand container capacity, strengthen supply chain connectivity, and create new pathways for American businesses to access global markets,” Brian Enright, CEO of DP World in the Americas, said in a release.

DP World already handles around 10% of global container traffic each year through a network of more than 60 ports and terminals worldwide. It operates many of those facilities far from its home nation of the United Arab Emirates.

For example, the company in 2025 announced a $760 million expansion of the Dominican Republic’s Port of Caucedo and its Free Trade Zone (FTZ). And in 2024, it launched an intermodal service to transport finished vehicles by rail from Mexico to the United States and Canada.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been maturing at breathtaking speed in recent months. And as often happens with new technologies, the single, umbrella acronym “AI” has splintered into an array of subcategories along the way. Today it’s common to hear people talk about conversational AI, generative AI, industrial AI, and agentic AI.

And now an additional variant—physical AI—has emerged, and the term is often mentioned in connection with logistics and supply chain operations. So exactly what is physical AI, and do you need it in your distribution center?

To answer that question, it helps to know a little about the older types of AI—or more specifically, their capabilities. Conversational AI, such as basic chatbots, can automatically reply to questions by choosing from a predetermined set of answers. Generative AI can analyze vast amounts of generic information to identify trends and provide unique answers. Industrial AI can combine those two capabilities but restricts its replies to appropriate, sector-specific business knowledge such as blueprints and manuals. And agentic AI can build on all three of those models by not just generating an answer but also instructing another program to digitally follow that advice.

Physical AI is different because it adds a connection to the three-dimensional, physical world.

“We’ve been talking about AI for decades; not so long ago, people might have said an ATM machine was artificially intelligent,” says Teddy Ort, senior vice president, robotics software and AI at the Massachusetts-based robotics and automation technology company Symbotic. “But all those [precursors to physical AI] live only in the informational space; they can’t actually do anything [physical] with their answers. They’re all talk and no action.”

That’s still the case in many parts of the logistics world. Most warehouse operators in recent years have abandoned their pencils and clipboards and adopted warehouse management system (WMS) software, Ort says. “A WMS can figure out which inventory should go to which truck and which store. And it can show that to you in a beautiful dashboard view. But as soon as it wants to do anything, it’s powerless; it has to call someone who can drive a forklift to come and move a pallet.”

According to Ort, the missing link is physical AI, which endows robots and automation with the “intelligence” to accomplish real-world tasks around the warehouse. That’s not to say that the typical autonomous mobile robot (AMR) needs access to the vast cloud-based computational power of commercial AI products like ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, or Gemini, he says. It just means they need basic problem-solving capabilities. For example, each Symbotic AMR comes equipped with a graphics processing unit (GPU) computer chip with enough smarts to handle relatively simple tasks like confirming the identify of a package or plan a route to move it across the building.

BUILDING A DIGITAL WORLD

Once they’ve decided on a strategy, physical AI platforms can then perform the necessary operations in different ways, navigating the world around them by using various types of sensors, such as radar, scanning, or machine vision.

Although the underlying technology may vary, all of those approaches share a common theme, according to Wiliot, a California-based provider of supply chain visibility technology. “You’re giving physical assets a digital identity and using AI to analyze that data,” says Amir Khoshniyati, vice president at Wiliot. “That means any digital trigger that comes from an asset, so it could be location, temperature, humidity, or light.”

As for what constitutes a “physical asset,” Khoshniyati says the definition varies by industry but notes that in the logistics world, common examples include pallets, crates, cases, and individual items.

Wherever they pull their data from, physical AI applications have gained traction in 2026 not only because of the wider availability of AI computing power but also because of foundational enabling technologies such as GPU chips and IoT (internet of things) tags.

Consulting group BCG says physical AI combines three things that have been around for years but have only recently started to be combined into a single platform: the physical technology of intelligent robots, advanced AI that provides instructions to those robots, and digital-twin environments that allow planners to simulate the intersection of those two things.

As exciting as the prospect of those combined capabilities may be, supply chain managers will have to be careful as they look to apply physical AI to existing workflows, like creating store-ready mixed pallets in a warehouse, cautions Alex Yurek, managing director and partner at BCG. “The idea of a completely dark factory or dark DC is still in the future, but people are now working alongside robotics more than in the past,” he says. “The days of the split between IT doing only digital operations and the operations department getting value out of it are over. They need to cooperate.”

As warehouses set out on their physical AI journey, it’s critical that all parts of the business work together as part of an integrated group—one that includes representatives from the physical hardware layer, the cloud infrastructure, and the operations team.

A.P. Moller - Maersk has launched a dedicated lithium-ion battery transportation solution within its North American ground freight network designed to meet the rapidly growing demand for safe, compliant, and reliable movement of Class 9 batteries across the continent.

The new capability positions the company’s Maersk Ground Freight division to serve a critical and fast-expanding segment of the energy transition supply chain — particularly for automotive, electric vehicle, and advanced manufacturing customers. Demand is growing fast in that area because the electrification of transportation is one of the defining industrial shifts of this decade, Maersk said.

The move extends Maersk's dangerous goods expertise from ocean and air into over-the-road logistics, and builds the “connective tissue” that the North American EV supply chain requires. Specifically, the program is built around strict eligibility and documentation standards, including:

• New batteries only — no damaged, defective, recalled, returned, or waste units accepted
• State of Charge (SOC) maintained between 10%–60% for all outbound shipments
• Full documentation required for every shipment: Safety Data Sheet (SDS), Dangerous Goods Declaration, UN 38.3 Test Summary, SOC declaration, and watt-hour rating
• Hazmat-trained drivers across the network, with no DOT placarding or CDL hazmat endorsement required under U.S. DOT regulations
• Cross-border capability across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, with compliance protocols tailored to each jurisdiction

Parcel and logistics giant UPS Inc. is continuing to grow its footprint in the lucrative niche of cold chain logistics, announcing today that it has invested $48 million in 27 temperature-controlled freight cross-dock facilities around the globe.

UPS said the facilities are optimized for speed and short-term storage between air and ground movements – all while maintaining specific temperature requirements.

The Atlanta-based company said it has made the move as demand grows for medicines requiring strict temperature ranges of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, 15 to 25 degrees Celsius, and frozen. More specifically, the rapidly growing biologics pipeline is increasing complexity across cold-chain logistics.

“Biologics and personalized treatments are driving better, more targeted care for patients,” said John Bolla, President of UPS Healthcare. “These investments reflect our commitment to continue to align our leading end-to-end supply chain to protect innovative treatments and diagnostics, supporting better patient outcomes.”

Meeting that demand requires cold-chain expertise to maintain product quality and safety from manufacturing to patient, UPS said. “We have aligned our investments with our Healthcare customers’ specialized needs. Our global cross-dock facilities strengthen our end-to-end cold-chain capabilities to ensure critical treatments are delivered safely and reliably to patients around the world,” said Kate Gutmann, EVP and President of International, Healthcare and Supply Chain Solutions at UPS.

Warehouse robotics provider Geek+ has invested in J-Elephant, a vendor of vertical pallet robot (VPR) technology, and will fold the two firms’ platforms together, saying the move answers growing demand for high-density pallet storage automation.

According to Geek+, pallets are the foundational unit of factory production lines and warehouse logistics, but tech firms have not yet offered an automated pallet handling system that is infrastructure-light and quick to deploy. Instead, conventional automated high-bay warehouse systems carry prohibitive costs, including substantial capital outlays, extended installation periods, and incompatibility with legacy facilities.

These hurdles have long kept pallet automation out of reach for the majority of warehouses worldwide, the firm says. To fill that gap, Geek+ says it will link its robotics platform with J-Elephant’s vertical pallet robot (VPR) technology. The VPR system supports pallet storage and retrieval at heights of 4 to 11 meters, ultra-narrow-aisle capability, zone-by-zone deployment without production downtime, and low upfront investment.

Terms of the investment were not disclosed.

But Geek+ also said that the new collaboration “marks a strategic shift for China's warehouse automation industry from simply exporting products to exporting an entire ecosystem.” And that change strengthens the global position of Chinese intelligent robotics within the broader logistics supply chain, Geek+ said.

I started covering supply chains as a journalist in 1999. When I told people what I did back then, their response invariably was, “What are supply chains?” Few outside the industry were familiar with the term. I used to tell them that supply chains were what enabled the stuff they used every day to get to them.

Fast forward 20 years and most people on the planet now understand the term. Pandemic-era shortages catapulted supply chains into the headlines, and people began to appreciate just how much their lives depended on the talented professionals in our industry who keep goods moving around the world.

That heightened awareness of the supply chain’s value has not been lost on world leaders (and aspiring leaders), who now see supply chains as a weapon to achieve their political goals.

For more than two years, Houthi rebels in coastal Yemen have attacked cargo ships in the Red Sea to express opposition to the war in Gaza. Backed by Iran, the Houthis are forcing ships to navigate around Southern Africa instead of sailing the much shorter route through the Suez Canal. They have effectively leveraged supply chains to elicit a political response.

Meanwhile, here at home, the U.S. government has pursued an erratic tariff policy designed to reshape sourcing and world manufacturing.

And of course the main supply concern this year has been Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has constricted the supply of the world’s oil, natural gas, and fertilizers. The Iranian government knows it lacks the military power to compete with the United States and Israel, so it turned to supply chains as a weapon. The strait’s closure forced up prices, especially for oil, and has fueled inflation worldwide. This supply chain weapon has been extremely effective.

However, Iran’s leverage may be nothing compared to what might happen if China invades Taiwan. This likely would result in the closure of another critical waterway—the Strait of Taiwan. Nearly half of the world’s cargo ships regularly traverse the Taiwan Strait, including about 80% of the largest ships. By closing off the strait, China would essentially be wielding the biggest supply chain weapon of all.

It is important that supply chain managers recognize this enormous risk and work now to diversify their supply chains. The U.S. should also work politically to shore up the supply chains of friendly nations, especially Mexico and Canada as we renegotiate the USMCA agreement. It is not too late to use the political clout our own nation holds to assure world supply chains are secure. It’s better to be proactive now than be forced to react later.

At a manufacturing facility in Detroit, the latest in drone technology is taking flight—and company leaders have their sights set on the supply chain.

Drone developer and artificial intelligence (AI) platform Birdstop counts airports, municipalities, and public safety departments among its earliest customers but is quickly moving into logistics as trucking companies and warehouse owners seek high-tech answers to their security challenges. Those companies are adopting Birdstop’s drones to monitor warehouses, yards, and truck stops and alert stakeholders and authorities to potential thefts and other hazards.

That work illustrates the growing use of drones beyond the four walls of the distribution center (DC), where inventory management drones tend to get the lion’s share of attention. Amid easing testing and usage regulations and a government push for homegrown drone technology, U.S. manufacturers are making strides across the industry. For example, last December, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned the use of all new foreign-made drones and components over concerns the equipment poses an unacceptable risk to national security—a move that has accelerated demand for domestically made drones, according to Birdstop and others.

Birdstop’s recent partnership with Detroit-based truck parking and lot management company TSPS Inc. provides a glimpse of the industry’s forward momentum.

EYES IN THE SKY

Birdstop was founded in 2018 in the Bay Area but relocated to Detroit last fall to take advantage of local manufacturing expertise and talent. The company builds its drones in a riverfront building that was once home to a department of the United Auto Workers union and counts the auto industry as a key customer: Its growing client base includes some of the large holding lots that house vehicles post-manufacturing. Those lots can span from five to 100 acres and are prime targets for theft, according to Birdstop’s Doug Muhlbauer, a senior software engineer with the company.

Birdstop’s autonomous drones deter theft by first detecting suspicious activity from a perch, or dock, high above the lot, using sensors, cameras, and AI-driven software. When an incident alert sounds, the drone takes off within three seconds, hovers above the incident, and streams live video back to a manned console. Muhlbauer explains that the deterrence is twofold: first by letting thieves know someone is watching and then by capturing up-close video of their activities, which is passed on to authorities.

“If you’re sneaking into a lot to steal a car and a drone flies over you and loiters—that’s a deterrent,” he says, noting that many thieves will abort their mission at the sound of the hovering drone, which travels at about 60 miles per hour and has four large propellers. “But if you are determined and keep going, we can get video of that incident.”

The same equation works in warehouse yards and truck lots, where theft is also a growing problem. Theft led to $725 million in losses in 2025, according to cargo theft prevention network CargoNet—that’s up 60% from 2024—with most instances occurring at truck stops and warehouses or DCs. Because of their size, those locations can be tough to monitor with human patrols, stationary cameras, and even traditional drones that conduct scheduled, periodic flights. Birdstop’s drones are different because they continuously monitor those large spaces from above and respond to incidents immediately.

“[Our drone] sits on a perch or docking station, [and] all of the sensors operate 24/7,” says Muhlbauer, explaining that Birdstop views itself as an AI company whose platform “happens to be on a drone. The drone [goes into action] when we need to get a closer look—[essentially], we take the sensor package to the area.”

Those advantages caught the attention of Detroit-based truck parking and lot management company TSPS Inc., which started using the technology to monitor two of its locations this past spring. The partnership combines drone-based sensing with a real-time parking platform to tackle two big trucking industry problems: truck-parking shortages—which contribute to driver fatigue, inefficiency, and safety risk—and cargo theft from truck lots.

The companies have deployed drone systems at two of TSPS’ Oasis Parking locations in Detroit. Perched atop the truck stop’s roof and on light posts, the systems capture aerial imagery and telemetry data processed using AI and computer vision models to detect trucks and identify available parking spaces. Those insights are integrated into a visualization platform and made available through the TSPS platform, providing real-time info on parking availability.

The “birds” also keep an eye out for suspicious activity.

“We’re not only tracking what trucks are in and out of the stop, what spaces are available, [and the availability] of outlets and electricity,” Muhlbauer says, “but also people sneaking into the lots and any type of curious behavior that they want us to identify.”

Birdstop has also begun working with security companies that monitor warehouses and yards. In one example, a company needed a way to monitor a large warehouse that had limited access points for manned patrols—essentially, it needed a real-time system that could monitor a remote area of the building before a patrolman arrived to make sure that patrolman wouldn’t be ambushed. Muhlbauer says Birdstop’s drones provide those real-time alerts.

AI ADVANCEMENTS FUEL DEMAND

Birdstop’s growing logistics business builds on its early work in another key segment of the transportation industry: airports. Some of the company’s earliest clients use the technology for both theft detection and to prevent another big aerial challenge: bird strikes. Airports across the United States and Europe are using the technology to monitor and secure airspace, including detecting and stopping birds from interfering with air traffic.

“[They are] using onboard AI to track bird flights, [identify] their location, and compare that to the broadcast location of the airplanes,” Muhlbauer explains. “[So they can] alert the tower to potential strikes.”

Global supply chains could be slowed this year by restricted shipping through the Panama Canal, according to forecasts for extended drought in the region triggered by a “Super El Nino” weather shift in the Pacific Ocean, analysts say.

El Nino weather cycles are marked by higher-than-average sea surface temperatures in equatorial Pacific waters, which typically leads to changes in weather patterns around the globe, according to supply chain risk analysis firm Everstream Analytics.

While such cycles alternate regularly with corresponding “La Nina” events of colder-than-usual waters, this year’s trend is more extreme, the firm said in a webcast.

“This is one of the biggest meteorology events we’ve seen many, many decades,” Everstream Analytics' chief meteorologist Jon Davis said in the video webcast. “And it is going to have major ramifications in supply chains as we go through the remainder of this year.”

“We’ve been in an El Nino event for basically a month, and it looks like it will strengthen to a major or a super El Nino event as we move through the summer and through the end of the year,” he said.

If that happens as expected, Everstream Analytics is predicting serious impacts on global supply chains, as occurred during the past three super El Ninos that happened over the past four decades, in the years of 1982, 1997, and 2015.

For the 2026 version, the firm is forecasting increased rainfall across North America and South America, bracketing increased dryness in Central America and Panama. Extended droughts in that region typically draw down the water levels in Lake Gatun, the crucial feeder to the Panama Canal. In the past, that has forced canal authorities to restrict the number of vessel crossings per day and to allow only ships with shallower drafts.

Meanwhile, the event could also lead to drought in India and Southeast Asia, which could harm industrial manufacturing, agriculture, food & beverage products, and transportation networks, the firm said. It could also raise the risk of major storms striking the area, with possible impacts on important industrial centers in China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Vietnam.

Commercial shipping analysts are giving wary support for the U.S. and Iran’s temporary peace agreement signed this week, but warn that even if it holds, a return to full container shipping volumes remains at least three months away.

Global maritime cargo flows in the region have been backlogged for months, due to Iran’s action to close the crucial waterway in retaliation for the U.S. and Israel launching a war against the nation in February.

The recent U.S.-Iran deal should allow a return of container shipping to the Strait of Hormuz, according to ocean and air freight intelligence platform Xeneta. But the sheer scale of disruption caused by the extended blockade means that even in a best-case scenario, a recovery of ocean supply chain networks wouldn’t occur until mid-September, and spot rates are forecasted to rise for at least another four weeks before the market peaks.

“This agreement should be greeted with realism and extreme caution,” Peter Sand, chief analyst at Xeneta, said in a release. “Even if the ceasefire holds, around 10% of global container shipping capacity is impacted by the blockade and freight rates are spiralling across major trades. This scale of disruption and market volatility cannot be reversed overnight.”

The exact timeline and mechanics of the reopening remain uncertain, according to a statement from Judah Levine, head of research at Frieghtos. Even with a reopening, a full return to normal traffic and an oil market recovery are expected to happen only gradually over the coming months, he said.

One reason for the delay is that vessel operators will be hesitant to rush back into the dangerous waters. To date, the Internation Maritime Organization (IMO) has verified at least 46 attacks against international shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz since the conflict began on February 28.

As well as restoring freedom of navigation through the international passage, the interim peace deal will also provide time for the IMO to advance its plan to evacuate the thousands of seafarers stranded in the area, since many were not allowed to disembark their ships while the embargo held. “The Organization is working in close collaboration with Member States and partners to implement this plan safely and effectively. However, its implementation will require time to ensure that all necessary safety and security guarantees are in place,” IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said.

The World Shipping Council (WSC) said it would follow a similar plan in coming days. “The immediate priority is safe passage for the seafarers and ships still stranded in the area,” WSC President & CEO Joe Kramek said. “That will require coordination between states, the IMO, and industry, backed by the necessary safety and security guarantees. Coordinated risk assessments, mine mitigation operations, and vessel traffic operations should be prioritized as part of these efforts.”

Analyst firm Gartner this week unveiled its annual list of the leading supply chain organizations, finding that Schneider Electric retained its top position in the rankings for the fourth consecutive year, NVIDIA placed second, and Walmart climbed 10 spots to third.

Schneider Electric maintained its leadership position by integrating autonomous workforce capabilities and end-to-end resource orchestration across its operations, Gartner said. The company is prioritizing generative and agentic AI to support human decision-making, enhancing real-time visibility, predictive insights, and coordinated action across the entire supply chain.

“Schneider Electric continues to demonstrate how organizations can balance bold transformation ambitions with disciplined execution,” said Laura Rainier, Senior Director Analyst with the Gartner Supply Chain practice. “Its approach to AI-enabled orchestration, circularity and workforce transformation exemplifies how supply chain leaders are preparing for the autonomous business era.”

Gartner creates its “Global Supply Chain Top 25” by compiling a list of companies from a combination of the Fortune Global 500 and the Forbes Global 2000. It then ranks them with two main components: business performance and community opinion. Business performance in the form of public financial and ESG (environmental, social, governance) data provides a view into how companies have performed, while the community opinion component gives a peer and Gartner expert view to companies’ past performance and future potential with a focus on maturity, leadership and innovation. These two components are combined into a total composite score.

According to Gartner, its 2026 listing revealed three macro trends: autonomous workforce, network-centric strategies, and end-to-end supply orchestration.

“This year, leaders are differentiating themselves by building autonomous workforces, investing in network-centric strategies, and orchestrating supply chains end-to-end across increasingly complex ecosystems,” Rainier said. “Leading supply chains are embracing AI not simply to automate tasks, but to fundamentally redesign how work gets done between people and machines.”

U.S. Imports from Hormuz-affected ports “collapsed” in May as the closure of the key shipping strait hit commodity flows, according to a report from supply chain software provider Descartes Systems Group.

By the numbers, total U.S. imports departing from Hormuz-affected ports¹ fell from 1.5M metric tons in May 2025 to just 100,591 metric tons in May 2026, a decline of 93.2% year over year.

Descartes defines Hormuz-affected ports as those where the country of departure (not country of origin) is reliant on the Strait of Hormuz for shipping activity; a list which includes Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.

For a point of comparison, that decline was far larger than the typical monthly swings observed over the prior 12 months. From May 2025 through February 2026, year-over-year changes ranged from a decline of 27.7% to an increase of 26.2%. March and April showed deeper declines of 33.0% and 34.7%, respectively, suggesting that import flows may have already been weakening before the full impact of the closure appeared in the data.

The category most affected was Mineral Fuels, Mineral Oils and Products of Their Distillation (HS27), the primary trade category under the Harmonized System (HS) for energy-related commodities (including crude oil and refined petroleum products, as well as petroleum gases such as LNG and propane, petroleum coke, bitumen, lubricating oils, and other mineral fuel products).

Consulting firm Accenture says a new acquisition will equip it to better help manufacturers to modernize product development, production, and supply chain operations through software, data, and AI-enabled technologies.

Accenture on Wednesday said it had agreed to acquire Rome and Chicago-based Industries eXcellence Group (IndX), a division of the Italian systems integrator Engineering Group.

IndX says it implements digital thread solutions that help clients connect engineering, manufacturing, and automation across IT and operational technology, from product lifecycle management, simulation, and digital twins to Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), industrial edge computing, and cloud computing. It specializes in providing technology from Siemens Digital Industries.

The company employs more than 650 professionals based in Italy, US, India, Germany, other European countries and Mexico.

Once the acquisition has been completed, IndX’s team and capabilities are expected to support the continued growth of the Accenture Siemens Business Group, a dedicated global business practice formed last year, which combines leading industrial technology with AI-enabled engineering and manufacturing capabilities.

“Manufacturers are increasingly investing in software, data and AI to make engineering and factory operations more flexible, intelligent and connected,” said Tracey Countryman, global supply chain and engineering lead at Accenture. “But many companies struggle to integrate these technologies across their products, factories, plants and supply chains. We will combine IndX’s proven expertise in Siemens technologies with Accenture’s AI capabilities and industry knowledge to solve this challenge for clients faster.”

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Robotic automation provider Berkshire Grey will expand its European operations with the opening of a new “customer innovation center” in Haarlem, near Amsterdam, further strengthening its presence across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), the Massachusetts-based company said on Wednesday.

Located near Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, one of Europe's leading transportation hubs, the facility will serve as a hub for customer engagement, solution validation, technical training, and regional support.

The location also places Berkshire Grey at the center of the logistics and warehouse automation market serving Benelux, an economic region comprising Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxemburg. That will provide proximity to retailers, logistics providers, warehouse operators, and systems integration partners.

The move comes as demand for Berkshire Grey's solutions has increased significantly across the region as retailers, e-commerce companies, and logistics providers seek proven automation technologies capable of delivering measurable operational results, the firm said.

The World Cup is well underway in America, and players and fans alike can thank the logistics professionals working behind the scenes to make it happen.

Recent survey data found that logistics jobs—specifically transportation, storage, and distribution manager roles—rank first among the strong and promising careers essential to tournament operations, based on their annual salary, projected growth rate, and operational relevance.

The information comes from career and job search firm Zety, which released its World Cup Career Index report earlier this month. The company analyzed World Cup planning information and Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data to identify the top 15 jobs most critical to tournament operations—jobs that also offer strong wages, long-term growth potential, and that typically don’t require a bachelor’s degree.

Transportation, storage, and distribution managers rank first overall with a World Cup Career Index Score of 84, reflecting high wages, above-average job growth, and overlap across all World Cup operational areas. The job category includes managers that plan, direct, or manage the movement of both people and goods.

To determine which industries are most closely tied to the event, Zety researchers analyzed publicly available World Cup planning materials and identified occupations aligned with at least one of five key operational areas: transportation and crowd logistics, venue operations, public safety, infrastructure, and tourism support.

Researchers then used salary and projected job growth data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), along with each occupation’s relevance across the five operational areas, to calculate a World Cup Career Index Score and determine final rankings.

By combining labor market trends with operational relevance, the analysis identifies jobs with no degree that are best positioned to benefit from both tournament-related demand and broader workforce growth, according to Zety.

Other key findings include:

• All top-ranked occupations report mean annual salaries of at least $60,000, with three exceeding $90,000.
• Occupational health and safety technicians and industrial machinery mechanics have the highest projected growth rates at 12% and 13%, respectively, compared to the national average of 3%.
• More than half of the top 15 occupations are tied to infrastructure, utilities, or facility maintenance, highlighting the workforce needed to support large-scale events.

For the foreseeable future, supply chain managers should view disruption and volatility as the norm rather than as an exception, according to the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals’ (CSCMP’s) Annual State of Logistics Report, which was released today.

“The changes we're seeing aren't temporary disruptions,” explains Korhan Acar, partner in the Strategic Operations practice of Kearney and lead author of the 2026 State of Logistics Report. “Tariff complexity, geopolitical uncertainty, changing trade flows, AI [artificial intelligence] adoption, and new network designs are becoming permanent features of the logistics landscape. Companies are redesigning how they operate rather than waiting for the old environment to return.”

The State of Logistics Report—produced for CSCMP by the global consulting firm Kearney and sponsored by Penske Logistics—provides an annual snapshot of the health and direction of the logistics industry. This year’s report, titled “Forged in Disruption,” argues that external geopolitical shocks and trade policy changes are having a bigger impact on the logistics market than traditional concerns such as demand or capacity.

These factors are causing market fragmentation as rates and capacity diverge by lane or corridor, forcing many supply chains to reset how they are structured and operate. The companies that succeed in this environment will be the ones that build resilience, adaptability, and better, faster decision-making into their operations, according to Acar.

​Understanding logistics costs

Historically the State of Logistics Report has concentrated on quantifying changes in the logistics market. This year’s analysis found that U.S. business logistics costs (USBLC) totaled $2.40 trillion, down 1% year over year. (The figure above shows the breakdown in costs.) According to Kearney, this amount translates to 7.8% of nominal U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), a decline from 8.3% of nominal GDP in 2024 and 8.4% in 2023.

Prior to the pandemic, USBLC had been hovering around 7.4% to 8.1% of nominal GDP. There was some speculation last year that the rise in USBLC during 2023 and 2024 was an indication that the cost basis for logsitics was settling higher post-pandemic. This year’s figure, however, seem to disprove that speculation, says Acar. Instead, the industry may be seeing a return to those previous percentages.

Acar attributes the drop in costs to the decrease in ocean freight expenditures, which dropped 36% as rates stabilized and overcapacity persisted, and to soft demand.

Acar is quick to emphasize that although costs are down, complexity remains elevated.

​Growing fragmentation

From a demand standpoint, transportation and logistics service providers will have to contend with global growth that is slower and more fragmented—with some regions, such as the United States and Southeast Asia, expected to grow while others, such as Europe and the Middle East, stagnate or even contract.

This uneven growth, layered on top of geopolitical disruption, is contributing to the structural shake-ups seen across major transportation modes and sectors. Here are a few key insights the report provides for each sector:

Trucking: U.S. truckload market has finally emerged from its prolonged “freight recession” with motor freight expenditures growing 1.7%, according to the report. The recovery, however, was driven less by an increase in demand and more by the approximately 89,000 carriers that exited the market since 2022, which helped to tighten capacity. According to the report, the trucking sector now behaves less like a single national market and more like a collection of lane-level markets with pricing, capacity, and service reliability varying sharply by corridor.

Ocean shipping: Ocean shipping capacity was greater than demand in 2025, which helped to normalize rates after the highs of 2024. The overcapacity was so strong it helped to mitigate the effects of disruptions in the Red Sea, Panama Canal, and Black Sea. The imbalance will only persist into 2026 as even more new ships enter the global fleet. While rates may spike for short periods on some lanes due to geopolitical developments in areas such as the Strait of Hormuz, the structural overcapacity will continue to keep cap rates capped for the long term.

Rail: Last year was challenging for the rail industry with Class I revenues remaining essentially flat, carload volumes growing only marginally, and intermodal revenue declining. If the proposed merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern goes through, the industry could see a significant structural change as the deal would create a single coast-to-coast railroad. The deal does faces strong resistance from other Class I railroads and many shippers, who are concerned about reduced competition, higher rates, and potential service degradation.

Air freight: The market saw record cargo volumes in 2025 as global demand grew by 3.4%. Yet that growth did not occur evenly across the global market. Rather some corridors—such as Asia-Europe surged—while others—such as Asia-North America—contracted due to tariffs and the end of the de minimis exemption. Furthermore, the demand growth was outpaced by capacity growth, which kept rates low. The report suggests demand will continue to be strong in 2026 but warns that rising fuel costs, the need to comply with Sustainable Aviation Fuel requirements in key markets, and geopolitical uncertainty could inject fresh volatility.

Parcel and last-mile delivery: The U.S. parcel and last-mile delivery sector saw significant changes in 2025. Right after the removal of the de minimis exemption, daily volumes for shipments from China dropped by 85%. Many companies have now shifted to a U.S.-based fulfillment model, and demand for parcel and last-mile services continues to be supported by the U.S.’s $1.23 trillion e-commerce market. After years of chasing increasingly shorter delivery times, the market has split between ultra-low-cost but slower regional delivery and premium, ultra-fast delivery. Costs have also risen with carriers imposing a 5.9% general rate increase and additional fuel and accessorial surcharges. Further disruption is sure to occur driven by the recent creation of Amazon Supply Chain Services.

Third-party logistics (3PL): According to the report, 3PL providers are facing an inflection point. The growing economic and geopolitical complexity is driving shippers to seek providers that can go beyond simply shipping freight to coordinating modes, data, and decisions across their supply chains. Providers are responding by expanding geographic coverage and deploying technology to improve visibility and reduce transaction costs.

Freight forwarding: The freight forwarding space has seen their margins from brokering freight squeezed due to increased competition from digital platforms and direct carrier sales. As a result, they are responding in a similar fashion as 3PL providers by broadening the services they offer to include customs brokerage, trade compliance consulting, warehousing, and supply chain financing.

Warehousing: Post pandemic, the warehousing market experienced a tumultuous time of labor shortages, rent spikes, and panic stockpiling. While those trends have settled down, the sector won’t be returning to a pre-2020 definition of normal. Companies are no longer scrambling to find all types of warehouse workers, but they are still struggling with turnover rates of 40% to 50% and filling higher-skilled technical roles. Meanwhile on the real estate side, vacancies are now at 7.1%, which is significantly higher than the extremely low vacancy rates of 2022, and new construction has slowed to the lowest level in nearly a decade. Finally, inventory management policies have moved away from the broad stockpiling approach of the pandemic era to more targeted buffer inventories for specific products where there is a risk of disruption.

​Additional pressures

While geopolitical volatility is forcing companies to restructure their operating models, the rapid adoption of AI is adding a second layer of pressure. “The case for AI is stronger today than it has ever been because we're moving beyond theory and seeing measurable results,” says Acar. “Organizations are using AI to improve forecasting, automate workflows, optimize transportation, and enhance warehouse operations—the focus has shifted from potential to proven value.”

Yet adoption remains uneven. Some companies have embedded AI into core workflows, while others have only deployed narrow point solutions, such as tools that compare modes and carrier options for a single load. Kearney believes that figuring out how to embed AI into logisticians’ daily work will be a key structural focus for supply chain leaders this year. “AI will bring big benefits over time, but right now many companies are still working out where it truly makes sense in logistics,” Acar says.

At the same time, slower and asymmetrical global growth means chief supply chain officers and chief operating officers will face increasing pressure from CEOs to drive profitable growth, not just expand revenue. Instead of chasing only top-line gains, companies will be looking to grow while also improving margins and cash flow—areas where supply chain decisions can have outsized impact.

Yet in spite of all these pressures, Acar remains optimistic that supply chain executives will be able to successfully make these structural shifts. “What is coming is resilience,” he insists, “Every logistician knows that every problem is just an opportunity in disguise. So, I suggest that next year’s report will be named, ‘Thriving in Disruption.’”

The report is available on CSCMP’s website free to CSCMP members and $299 for nonmembers.

At the halfway mark of 2026, U.S. small- and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) are recalibrating to a landscape defined by sticky inflation, ongoing tariff uncertainty, and an accelerating, but uneven, adoption of AI, according to a study from DHL.

Researchers found that SMEs remain broadly confident about the rest of 2026, yet margin pressure from tariffs, rising costs, and sustainability demands is reshaping priorities and investment decisions, according to a survey over 400 SME decision-makers across a variety of industries.

For example, for U.S. SMEs considering international expansion, tariffs and shifting trade policies remain the single greatest deterrent to going global: 35% cite import duties and regulations as their top hurdle, eclipsing logistics challenges (18%), finding reliable local partners or suppliers (13%), market competition (10%), and geopolitical issues (10%).
Reflecting that challenge, 53% of respondents say they have delayed or reconsidered expansion plans this year, and 42% said they will not pursue new foreign markets in the second half of 2026.

And rising expenses are dominating business planning. Nearly eight in ten SMEs (78%) say tariffs and trade restrictions have driven up their costs, and almost half of those firms (45%) report an increase in business costs by 10% or more this year. As a result, two-thirds (66%) have already raised prices in 2026—16% significantly and 50% slightly—while another 4% expect to follow suit before year-end.

Seeking solutions, SMEs say technology could also help with growth and reducing costs, yet only 7% selected AI or automation as their top investment priority. And 43% are not using AI at all. The good news for the workforce is that those SMEs that are using AI are using it to enhance (not replace) people; just 2% deploy the technology with the explicit goal of reducing headcount. The findings suggest many SMEs still view AI as either too complex or too resource-intensive to implement, despite its potential business benefits.

But despite those external headwinds, most SMEs have proven more adaptable than they anticipated when setting 2026 plans and goals. Six months into the year, more than one-third of respondents reported outperforming their 2026 business plans: 14% say they are “far exceeding expectations,” and another 24% are “slightly exceeding” them. An additional 36% indicate they are meeting forecasts, while 21% are running slightly behind and just 5% describe results as “significantly below expectations.”

“One of the most striking findings from our Mid-Year 2026 SME Survey is just how optimistic U.S. small and medium-sizes businesses are right now, which is not something you'd necessarily expect given the environment,” Greg Hewitt, CEO, DHL Express U.S., said in a release.

“Tariff policy is still evolving, inflation has proven stickier than most projected, energy costs have spiked again, and global conflicts are adding new layers of uncertainty. And yet, 85% of SMEs say they're confident in meeting their goals for the rest of the year. That's not a number you manufacture. That reflects real operational discipline built up over several very hard years,” Hewitt said.

“That said, the pressures are real. Nearly eight in ten SMEs tell us tariffs and trade restrictions have pushed their costs higher, and two-thirds have already passed some of that on to customers. The margin squeeze is forcing businesses to make sharper decisions about where and how they grow internationally; they’re not abandoning global ambition but recalibrating it,” he said.

A coalition of industry groups for goods transport have launched a technical expert group to advance logistics sector uptake of eCMR, the digital protocol to the UN’s CMR Convention that governs legal and commercial standards in road freight.

First adopted in 1956, CMR is the United Nations Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road, which establishes uniform and mandatory rules for international road freight contracts. CMR harmonizes the rights and obligations of the sender, carrier, and consignee, ensuring legal certainty, transparency, and predictability.

Until recently, CMR notes were only in paper form, but supporters of eCMR say it is now time to go digital, according to IRU, the Geneva, Switzerland-based world road transport organization. The group says that eCMR speeds up invoicing, increases transparency and visibility, and supports compliance with eFTI, the EU’s new digital freight framework.

Accordingly, IRU has led an effort to create an expert group, which includes eCMR solution vendors FIELDEAS, Pionira and TransFollow; digital security and services firm IN Groupe; and FIATA, the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations.

Given the high degree of fragmentation between existing offerings, IRU says the group’s primary focus is to improve interoperability among eCMR solutions, helping transport operators, shippers, freight forwarders, and authorities to seamlessly exchange information.

Specifically, the group will develop a new, open, scalable and global interoperable B2B industry standard approach, fully compliant with the CMR Convention, the eCMR protocol, and UN functional specifications for operationalising eCMR.

Live testing will begin later this year with real users. The group aims to expand to other solution vendors to further strengthen the standard as it is rolled out.

“Logistics needs practical and interoperable digital solutions that work across systems and borders. This expert group is an important step towards making eCMR simpler, more scalable, and easier to implement,” IRU Senior Director for Strategy and Development Vincent Erard said in a release.

The best way to combine humans and robots for ideal results in warehouse work is for employees to circulate between working with various co-bot partners, not with a single dedicated robot, according to new research from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Under many real-world conditions, warehouse workers achieve higher productivity when they dynamically switch among multiple autonomous mobile robots rather than work exclusively with a single robot.

That was the conclusion of a study titled "Picking the Best Bot: Collaboration Strategies for Humans and Bots in Order Pick Systems with Traveling Salesman Problem Routing." The research applied analytical modeling and simulation to evaluate more than 12,000 warehouse scenarios. It was recently published in Transportation Science, a journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).

According to researchers, the findings challenge a common assumption that fixed human-robot pairings are the most efficient approach. Instead, they found that a flexible "swarm" policy, in which workers collaborate with different robots throughout a shift, often outperforms more rigid one-to-one assignment strategies. And as robots become faster and more plentiful, the advantages of the swarm approach grow even stronger.

"This is not simply a question of adding more robots," said the study’s lead author, Mahdi Ghorashi Khalilabadi of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. "Our findings show that the way humans and robots are organized can have a major impact on throughput. When robots are faster or more plentiful than human pickers, allowing flexible collaboration can significantly improve performance."

The study is significant because the rapid growth of e-commerce has increased the demand for efficient order picking systems in large warehouses. Many facilities have replied by deploying autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to assist human pickers and improve throughput performance. This study focuses on two popular policies: the swarm policy, in which pickers switch between AMRs while picking, and the system-directed policy, in which a picker completes an order with a single AMR.

The results indicate that the swarm policy generally provides higher throughput than the system-directed policy, with gains increasing in the AMR-to-picker count and speed ratios. The system-directed policy is more effective when AMR and picker speeds are similar, the orders are large, and there is a limited number of AMRs.

The $3.4 billion annual budget for the Port of Los Angeles is built on an economic forecast that the port will see a decline of 7% in container volumes next year, port leaders said Thursday.

“Continued volatility in global trade and uncertainty about trade policy are factors contributing to a more cautious cargo volume outlook for the coming year,” the port said.

Specifically, the Port’s FY 2026/27 adopted budget is based on predictions of steady, yet slightly lower cargo demand of 9.3 million container units, 7% less than its current forecast for FY 2025/26.

While volumes might be down, spending will be up. The $3.4 billion budget total represents a 25% increase, or $665 million, over the Port’s FY 2025/26 adopted budget. The year-over-year increase is primarily due to a significant boost in the Port’s capital improvement spending program—up 31% over the previous fiscal year. It also reflects subsidy increases in the Port’s Clean Truck Fund Rate; cost-of-living increases across staff salary and benefits; and outside inflationary pressures, the port said.

Those capital improvements will have the highest budget in more than a decade at $302 million. Projects will focus on container terminal modernization, enhancing public-access infrastructure, and improving transportation in and out of the Port. Signature projects include the $154 million Avalon Pedestrian Bridge and Promenade Gateway project, which kicked off construction in March 2026. Construction is underway on the $74 million rail expansion at Berths 302-305 and $130 million SR 47/Vincent Thomas Bridge interchange reconfiguration.

“Over the last decade, we’ve built a strong financial foundation that allows us to continue investing in the projects, programs and people that keep cargo moving efficiently,” said Port Executive Director Gene Seroka. “This budget advances infrastructure modernization, sustainability initiatives, community programs and technology deployment, while creating opportunities for Port employees, workforce development and the broader community through the Port’s training campus.”

The American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN) has opened nominations for its 10th annual Humanitarian Logistics Awards, and will collect entries until June 30.

Presented each fall, ALAN’s Humanitarian Logistics Awards are open to any logistics professional, academic, organization or department. They are awarded in four categories, each of which can have multiple honorees:

• Outstanding Contribution To Disaster Relief
• Employee Engagement
• Research/Academic Achievement
• Lifetime Achievement

“While we at ALAN know what many organizations and individuals are doing to support disaster relief, there are many others whose life-changing work we won’t be aware of – or be able to honor – unless someone lets us know about them. So we encourage everyone to nominate the best examples of our industry’s service to others,” Fulton said.

Last year’s winners included:

• Continental Logistics, which received ALAN’s Outstanding Contribution To Disaster Relief Award
• Fleet Advantage, which received ALAN’s Employee Engagement Award
• Niagara Cares, which received ALAN’s Employee Engagement Award
• Partners Warehouse, a Flex Logistics company, which received ALAN’s Outstanding Contribution To Disaster Relief Award
• Dr. Burcu Balçik of Ozyegin University, who received ALAN’s Research And Academic Contributions Award
• And ALAN’s founders, who received ALAN’s Lifetime Achievement Award.