🚙 Waymo Races, Cruise Pauses
Good morning! Seventy-nine years ago, on December 7, 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor altered the course of history, thrusting the United States into World War II and reshaping global trade and transportation.
Today, we honor the sacrifices made and the resilience shown during those challenging times, recognizing the enduring importance of efficient and secure supply chains, especially in times of crisis. 🚢❤️
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Waymo Accelerates While Cruise Faces Safety Challenges and Regulatory Hurdles
Waymo, a member of that infamous Alphabet group, has been cruising along pretty nicely lately, especially when you size them up against one of their rivals, GM's Cruise. Cruise has been dealing with a bunch of safety hiccups and incidents, like a run-in with a pedestrian that forced them to recall almost 1,000 robotaxis and hit the brakes on their deployment permits.
But Waymo? Well, they've been on the gas pedal, expanding their turf. According to Saswat Panigrahi, the chief product officer over at Waymo, their secret sauce is all about putting in the miles, both on the road and in simulation. Plus, they're all about crunching numbers and keeping the regulators and local folks in the loop. Despite the bumps in the road, Waymo's got their eye on the prize: growing smart and safe, making self-driving cars a real thing, no matter the weather.
Check out today’s featured article from CNBC to learn more about why Waymo is gaining more speed than Cruise. Will this be the step up that Waymo needs to get above its competition?
Best Buy & Business Strategy
Best Buy Boosts Dependence on Distribution Centers for Customer Deliveries
Best Buy is shaking things up in its physical stores to keep up with the ever-changing world of shopping. After taking a bit of a hit with a 7.8% dip in Q3 revenue (blame it on the cooling demand for electronics), they're going all-in on making their in-store service and online shopping game top-notch. Sure, they've cut back on shipping stuff from their stores, but they've got their eyes on the prize - more room for stock and making sure your orders get to you without a hitch.
About one-third of the company’s U.S. sales happen online, and nearly half of those online shoppers swing by the store to pick up their goods. And here's the secret: they're all about being flexible with their staff. That way, they can move folks around to the spots where the action's hot, like handling online orders or getting your stuff ready for pickup.
Fuel Tech & Sustainability
Turning Blades Deliver Inaugural Commercial Wind Power to US Grid Decades After Europe
Off the coast of eastern Long Island, a massive 800-foot tall wind turbine has been fired up, and it's now pumping electricity right into the U.S. grid. This is the debut act for America's big-time offshore wind farm, the South Fork Wind Farm. This baby is a tag team effort by Danish Ørsted and the utility champs at Eversource. You'll find it about 35 miles east of Montauk Point, New York, and it's all set to be the state's first offshore wind farm.
Two of these hefty 11-megawatt turbines are already spinning, and the others will be joining the party early next year. Altogether, they'll be cranking out 132 megawatts of wind power - enough to juice up over 70,000 homes. It's a big part of New York's plan to kick carbon to the curb and go all green with their electricity by 2040. They've got their sights set on putting up a whopping 9 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2035.
Let’s Get Global 🌎
Checking out the scoop outside of the United States…
🇫🇷 Symbio Opens Europe's Largest Hydrogen Fuel Cell Gigafactory. Symbio just cut the ribbon on their new gigafactory in Saint-Fons, France, and it's a big deal - it's the largest place in Europe where they make hydrogen fuel cells from start to finish. Symbio is in cahoots with Forvia, Michelin, and Stellantis on this project, and it's all about pushing the envelope when it comes to hydrogen-powered rides, which is a pretty big deal for Europe's green dreams.
🇨🇳 China Reveals Plans for Nuclear-Powered 24,000 TEU Containership. China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) is cooking up a plan for a container ship that could break some world records. We're talking about a massive ship, with enough space for a whopping 24,000 TEUs. Now, here's the cool part: they're giving this behemoth a fourth-gen Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) under the hood. An MSR is a nuclear reactor that's safer and more efficient than the old-school ones.
iLevel With You 🏡
More topics for the average American household to consider…
💊 Dr. Jason Westin Addresses Critical Shortage of Generic Cancer Drugs. Dr. Jason Westin, the Director of the Lymphoma Clinical Research program at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, stepped up to the plate and shared his two cents with the US Senate Committee on Finance. What's the topic? There’s a shortage of generic cancer medication here in the United States. We’re talking about generic drugs that have been hanging around for ages - ones that most folks rely on for their prescriptions.
🥣 Cereal Factory Faces Closure in 2024 as Union Fights to Preserve Jobs. The Post cereal factory in Lancaster, Ohio, is pulling the plug come September 2024. It's a tough call, and it means 160 folks will be out of work. Post Consumer Brands, who scooped up the place back in 2021, says they’ve decided to cut down on production. However, the workers aren't just sitting back. The United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers union is in action mode, trying to keep those jobs. They've even got some big names like Sen. Sherrod Brown and Lancaster Mayor Scheffler in their corner, looking for ways to save the place.
📈 Global Fossil Fuel Emissions Set to Reach All-Time High in 2023. According to the Global Carbon Project, an international group of scientists, we're in for a 1.1% bump in global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels in 2023 compared to last year. This will set a new record at a whopping 36.8 billion metric tons. That is higher than what we saw back in 2019, even before COVID-19 hit. This report is waving a big red flag: we're headed down a path where we'll blow past our carbon budget to keep global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030, like the Paris Agreement wants. To hit that 1.5-degree bullseye, we'd need to cut emissions by a hefty 9% every year, which is way more than what we're doing right now.
Get Smart 🧠
Ramp up that brain power for these advanced topics…
📉 Market Pessimism Pushes Oil Prices Below $70 Despite Stockpile Decline. Oil prices took a nosedive, hitting their lowest point in more than five months. The US benchmark, known as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), dived about 4%. It even dipped below 70 bucks a barrel, the lowest it's been since June 29. And it's not alone in this slide - the global benchmark, Brent, also dropped by around 3.5%, slipping below 75 bucks. Some folks are saying the US is on the brink of exporting a whopping 6 million barrels a day, nearly a record. Even though OPEC and its associates are trying to cut back on how much oil they're making, traders aren't exactly convinced that it's gonna save the day.
💵 Stream Realty Secures First Tenant for 1 Million Square Foot Speculative Logistics Hub. Tigerhawk Logistics is the first kid on the block at the Portside Logistics Center. The company snagged itself a cool 135,000 square feet in this new industrial spot. The whole place, located at 4838 and 4908 Borusan Road in Baytown, is a massive 1 million square feet creation brought to life by Stream Realty. The Portside Logistics Center, all finished up in September, comes with a bunch of goodies: a 760,000-square-foot cross-dock building, a 258,000-square-foot front-load building, some office space, and a warehouse that's ready for action. And here's the kicker: it's sitting pretty close to Port Houston's container terminals, including Bayport, which got a $95 million facelift not too long ago.
🚛 Trucking Firm XPO to Acquire Bankrupt Yellow's Service Centers for $870 Million. XPO Inc. just scooped up a bunch of service centers from the bankrupt Yellow Corp. They won the bidding war, throwing down a cool $870 million for the prize. The whole auction was a big deal in the industry, and guess who came out on top? XPO, that's who. You might remember Yellow Corp, they used to go by YRC. Well, they hit some rough financial waters and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection back in August, blaming it on the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union. XPO hopes this move will start adding to their core profits by 2024, and adjusted profit per share from ongoing operations will kick in by 2025.
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.