So far we have managed to not eat the Halloween candy that has been safely tucked away for expected trick or treaters in a few weeks. If you can say the same, give yourself a pat on the back. If you can’t, no worries!
I. A third runway has been added to one of the world’s largest airports. According to the WSJ, many are celebrating this announcement.
“That’s welcome news for the freight industry, which has long complained that Heathrow lacks the capacity to handle Europe’s imports and exports. Cargo volumes have migrated to fast-growing hubs in the Middle East, which offer close proximity to both Asia and Europe, and face fewer hurdles to expansion. A third runway could help Heathrow, still Europe’s fourth-biggest cargo airport, win back some freight traffic, building on nearly 6% growth this year.”
II. The Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore, MD is looking for federal funding to make necessary improvements. As the Tunnel exists now it is creating a bottleneck for port traffic. From the Baltimore Sun, “Although the newly deepened port of Baltimore is one of just a handful that can accommodate giant ships moving through the newly widened Panama Canal, the Howard Street Tunnel bottleneck limits how quickly cargo can move through the port.”
III. Reebok is looking to bring their sneaker manufacturing back to the US. A new high-tech laboratory would be built in Rhode Island to make sneakers by pouring liquid plastic.
“Brands want to move closer to the U.S. to get products to market faster,” said Matt Powell, a sports industry analyst with The NPD Group. “Today when you make a shoe in Asia, it spends months on an ocean freighter.”
IV. Uber’s self-driving trucks have made their first delivery. If you guessed that the first cargo for such a voyage would be beer, you were correct! Wired has a fantastic look at all that goes into autonomous truck driving. “Autonomous cars are sexy, but trucks are more practical. And they’ll almost certainly be here sooner than cars, because the industry desperately needs them. The trucking industry hauls 70 percent of the nation’s freight—about 10.5 billion tons annually—and simply doesn’t have enough drivers. The American Trucking Association pegs the shortfall at 48,000 drivers, and says it could hit 175,000 by 2024.”
Image Credit: Otto
As of September 8, 2020, Crimson & Co (formerly The Progress Group/TPG) has rebranded as Argon & Co following the successful merger with Argon Consulting in April 2018.