✈️ Sky Cargo Breakthrough
Good morning! Welcome to "The Workday Dash," your trusted source for the latest supply chain and logistics insights, right here on December 11th, a special day dedicated to making a positive change worldwide. As we commemorate UNICEF's National Day of Change, we are reminded of the transformative power of collaboration, innovation, and humanitarian efforts in the realm of logistics and supply chain management.
So, let's dive into the latest developments and trends shaping the logistics landscape as we celebrate a day dedicated to making the world a better place. 😀❤️
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Unmanned Cargo Plane Makes History Over San Francisco Bay Area
In a groundbreaking 12-minute stunt over at Hollister Municipal Airport near the San Francisco Bay Area, there was a Cessna 208B Caravan up in the sky, and… guess what? Not a single human was in that plane! It was a game-changer in aviation. This whole event went down on November 21, thanks to the folks at Reliable Robotics. They made the world's favorite cargo plane fly all by itself, showing that this tech is possible in practice. The plane was flown remotely by a pilot named Danah Tommalieh from Reliable's control center, 50 miles away.
Reliable Robotics has kept an eye on the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) rules, making sure everything's up to snuff with the FAA's Part 23 airworthiness standards. Safety is key when it comes to flying these things around, after all. But here's the twist: It's not your typical remote control deal. Instead of someone steering the plane with a joystick, the remote pilot picks safe options from a menu. And the best part? The takeoffs and landings are 100% automated.
Check out today’s featured article from Forbes to learn more about the first flight that has been remotely flown over San Fransisco Bay for 12 minutes! Will this help create an even more sophisticated technology for autonomous flying?
Featured Article
Historic Pilotless Cargo Plane Takes Flight Over San Francisco Bay Area | Forbes
“Over the course of about 12 minutes, a Cessna 208B Caravan airplane took off, cruised and landed with not a single human on board.”
Car Carrier & Grants
World’s Largest Car Carrier Design Granted Approval in Principle
Deltamarin just got the green light from DNV for their massive 11,000 CEU (Car Equivalent Unit) pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) design. It's a real game-changer, setting a new size record in the car carrier world. This ship runs on LNG, and they're all about being super energy-efficient, nailing that EEDI (Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index), and throwing in some additional perks such as solar panels, waste heat recovery, and air lubrication.
It's worth noting that this big news is happening while the car carrier business is booming. We're talking about ships like Hoegh Autoliners' Aurora class, which is about to outsize the current champs at 9,100 CEU capacity, and Seaspan Corporation's 10,800 CEU PCTCs that are hitting the market. A lot is happening, especially with all the talk about safety and the rising demand for electric vehicle transport.
PepsiCo & Sustainability
PepsiCo's Announces New Ambitious Mission of Achieving Net Water-Positive Status by 2030
PepsiCo, that big name in snacks and drinks, has a new mission. They're dead set on becoming net water-positive by the time 2030 rolls around. This means that they want to give back more water than they use across their whole supply chain. Water is crucial for them – it's involved in everything from growing crops to making their products. To pull this off, they're all about teamwork, coming up with new ideas, and getting suppliers and local folks in on the action. David Grant, the Senior Director of Global Climate and Water Solutions at PepsiCo, is all about getting everyone involved in this journey.
So far, they've made some big strides, boosting their water-use efficiency by 22% since 2015 and replacing 45% of the water they use in places where it's pretty scarce. The company has also launched an online course with Coursera, all about water stewardship. It's open to everyone – employees, and everyone else out there – and it's all about teaching responsible water management.
Let’s Get Global 🌎
Checking out the scoop outside of the United States…
🛳 Challenges Loom for American Importers in 2024 With Shipping Chokepoints, Labor Strikes, and More. Crucial spots where containerships pass through, like the Panama Canal and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, are in a tight spot right now. The shippers in charge are feeling the pinch in their wallets, and that's causing more and more sailings to get canceled. Additionally, the union that represents the workers at the ports on the East and Gulf Coasts is talking about going on strike come October. Importers are sweating bullets about whether their cargo will get here on time and in one piece.
🔋 Europe's EV Boom Poses Grid Challenges as Demand for Charging Infrastructure Surges. Setting up EV charging stations in Europe is proving to be quite a hassle. There are challenging permitting processes, and the EU needs more grid connections and power capacity. This is causing problems for the EU's plan to go all-electric by 2035. Plus, every country involved has its own rules and regulations, making things even more confusing and slowing down the whole charging station setup - sometimes taking up to two years.
iLevel With You 🏡
More topics for the average American household to consider…
⛏ Mining Industry Faces Workforce Shortage Amidst Growing Demand for EV Minerals. The U.S. is running into a bit of a pickle with its mining workforce: over half of the miners, that's about 221,000 individuals, are planning to kick back and retire by 2029. The pool of fresh faces ready to step in is getting pretty shallow, and it has become a headache for the mining industry. To make matters more interesting, there is a growing hunger for rare earth minerals like lithium, cobalt, and copper - minerals that are crucial for making the batteries for our electric cars and smartphones. Around the world, we're going to need at least 384 shiny new mines by 2035 to keep up with the electric vehicle craze.
💵 Hormel's $200 Million Investment Signals Commitment to Supply Chain Enhancement. Hormel, the company behind some of your favorite packaged goods, is shelling out $200 million to jazz up its supply chain in the next three years. They're turning their Barron, Wisconsin plant into a cool "value-added" hub for their brands. Oh, and by 2024, they're giving the turkey harvest manufacturing lines the boot as part of a plan to streamline their supply chain.
🚄 President Biden to Unveil $8 Billion Funding Initiative for High-Speed Passenger Rail Projects. President Biden is about to drop a whopping $8.2 billion on ten passenger rail projects, and the main goal is to supercharge high-speed trains. One of the coolest projects is the Brightline West High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail System, getting a sweet $3 billion boost. This bad boy will zip folks from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga, California, in just over two hours. Plus, there's cash to extend the high-speed rail in California's Central Valley and improve railroads in the Southeast Corridor and along the Potomac River, making train travel even better.
Get Smart 🧠
Ramp up that brain power for these advanced topics…
🚛 Torc Partners with Uber Freight to Leverage Data for Autonomous Trucking Network Development. Daimler Truck North America's self-driving truck squad, Torc Robotics, just teamed up with Uber Freight. They're all about using data from Uber Freight's digital freight magic to supercharge their self-driving tech. Torc will be digging into all the info from Uber Freight's logistics playground, where they handle $18 billion in freight action and rock with over 100,000 high-tech carriers. It's all about learning how to move stuff across the country like a pro.
📉 Analyzing Losses in the Trucking and Associated Industries. A recent study by Motive spilled the beans that trucking, logistics, and oil and gas companies are taking quite a hit. On average, they've lost over a cool million bucks each, all thanks to some economic ups and downs, tricky labor situations, and not-so-smooth operations. The Motive Physical Economy Outlook 2024 shows that these industries are looking to AI for some solutions. Turns out, 2023 was a rough year, with rising costs, an on-again-off-again economy, not enough folks to do the job, supply chain roadblocks, and just some not-so-great operation vibes.
🚫 Yellow Rejects Bid to Revive Company. Yellow Corp. has said ‘thanks but no thanks' to an offer that could've brought them back from the dead. Yellow Corp. has been in hibernation mode for a while now and they're almost done with an auction that's supposed to rake in at least $1.9 billion for the entities they owe. If all goes well, that might be enough to pay off what they owe and maybe even toss a bone to their shareholders. But let's not kid ourselves; bringing this trucking behemoth back to life isn't going to be a walk in the park. They need to get those trucking deals back and cozy up to their money people, including the $700 million they owe to Uncle Sam during the pandemic.
The Workday Dash is an aggregation of articles regarding the transportation logistics, trucking, and supply chain industries for November 22, 2024, from iLevel Logistics Inc.