Industry Insights

Although the peak holiday season is still months away, shippers and logistics service providers should heed the lessons of past missteps in order to ensure that the upcoming season is a happy one for their customers. It’s this very time period – the day after Thanksgiving to December 23 – that many retailers earn the majority of their annual revenue so the stakes are high for everyone involved in the supply chain. In an article that appeared in DC Velocity, an online publication that serves the specific informational needs of logistics and supply chain managers and executives, several LSPs shared […]

In its annual Global Resilience Index, insurer FM Global revealed that cyber attacks, natural hazards and supply chain failure are among the top risks that businesses face around the world. The annual index, which is online and available for free, ranks 130 countries and territories by their enterprise resilience to disruptive events. It provides a unique resource to help business executives investigate 12 quantified resilience drivers related to each country’s economic strength, risk quality and supply chain condition. Cyber, natural hazards and supply chain failure were added this year as new measurements in the index to reflect escalating threats that […]

Shippers often mistake declared value coverage with Cargo insurance, but in fact they are quite different. It is important to understand these differences and how claims are paid under each type of policy. Following is a brief overview of how these policies work. The practice of declaring a value for carriage occurs when a shipper wants the option to pursue a recovery amount that exceeds the carriers stated limits should a loss occur. Declaring a value does not increase the carriers scope of liability, it simply allows the shipper to pursue a higher recovery. Consider a scenario in which a […]

The global insolvency of Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd. had a tremendous impact on cargo owners, including losses involving the need to move cargo from one carrier to another; making arrangements for additional transportation modes; and taking measures to minimize losses resulting in additional storage fees, charges and fines; among other claims. Hanjin, the largest shipping company in South Korea and the world’s ninth-largest shipping company, operated about 60 regular lines worldwide. In 2016, it faced a severe liquidity crisis, and was unable to negotiate an out-of-court restructuring with its creditor banks and ultimately filed bankruptcy. Because Hanjin did not have […]

The rise of e-commerce is helping to meet the demand of businesses and consumers for faster delivery times of goods and causing logistics service providers to look at their businesses differently including their use of different transportation modes. An article recently published by JLL on logistic trends points out that while mega ships (the largest ships are now 22,000 TEUs) are dominant in transoceanic delivery they are not conducive to the speed-to-market demands of today’s e-commerce groups. (JLL is a financial and professional services firm specializing in commercial real estate services and investment management.) “The problem is that “the really […]

Roanoke is pleased to be a Gold Sponsor for the second annual Advanced Topics in Customs Compliance Conference! This event, taking place in Houston, Texas from September 20-22, 2017, brings together experienced import and export professionals, legal counsel, customs brokers and other international trade professionals in a highly productive environment where knowledge, experience and expertise can be shared among peers, and where meaningful relationships can develop and evolve for the mutual benefit of participants. It’s also important to note that this conference has been approved for 13.5CCS/10 CES credits through the NCBFAA Educational Institute (NEI). Conference speakers, including Roanoke’s own […]