MVT Archives | Page 12 of 12

Sustainability is good business

Jul 4, 2023 | Environment, MVT

As the effects of climate change intensify, the pressure on the food sector will increase over the coming decades, which is encapsulated by the FDF’s environmental ambition in creating a more sustainable food system.

Supply chain issues, labour shortages, threats to energy security and rising inflation have added a new set of challenges for the food and drink industry over the last 12 months, however despite these obstacles, FDF members remain focused on their ambition to reach Net Zero by 2040 – a decade earlier than government targets.

The oft-quoted Forbes survey found that 82% of consumers want brands to practice sustainability and while some cracks have crept into the sustainability narrative as the cost of living crisis bites, the global pandemic and recent environmental disasters have maintained demand for sustainable practices and products.

Sustainability is good for business; it builds brand value, meets consumer expectations, attracts talent and creates new opportunities, but only if you communicate your efforts credibly, and avoid being perceived as greenwashing.

According to NielsenIQ survey data, 46% of consumers still expect brands to take the lead on bringing about sustainable change, which means that brands can no longer greenwash themselves.

Packaging and last-mile delivery are primary sources of emissions with 53% of US and UK consumers wanting brands to produce less packaging and an average of 25% willing to pay a surcharge for eco-friendly delivery.

Manufacturers, producers, brands and retailers are already rethinking their practices, to find sustainable solutions, including the adoption of eco-friendly packaging, more climate-friendly shipping options, optimised waste management and completely eliminating packaging waste.

Despite today’s economic uncertainty, consumers are still open to sustainable products if they are affordable and offer value, which is why effective implementation and communication of these initiatives is critical.

Metro can help shippers switch to sustainable packaging for their products, by sourcing sustainable and ecological packaging materials, while our freight centres use renewable materials, which reduce packaging waste to a minimum.

Through our MVT ECO initiative, Metro is measuring and monitoring the emissions of every shipment, by every mode, for all of our customers, with offsetting alternatives, so they can work towards carbon neutrality in their global supply chain.

CO2 emissions caused by transport are calculated according to EN 16258 to provide data and reporting that complies with the most demanding frameworks and methodologies.

Using our latest generation MVT Eco module, we develop intelligent supply chain solutions. With accurate and representative data, that are respectful of the environment, we create low-carbon multi-modal solutions that blend air, road, sea, inland waterways and rail, together with NGV and electric vehicles.

The MVT ECO module is available free-of-charge to customers on their MVT dashboard. To request a demo or discuss your requirements, please EMAIL Simon George.

Visibility in the food supply chain

Jun 21, 2023 | Foodstuffs, MVT, Supply Chain

For many importers, the underlying problem that prevented them from pivoting their supply chain as the pandemic’s impact became more pervasive was lack of visibility and control upstream.

The food supply chain has stabilised since the pandemic, but new macro events continue to create disruption, including the war in Ukraine and the cost of living crisis and where there is a lack of visibility, it prevents the timely, proactive action that optimises operations in the face of disruption.

Participants across the food and drink sector still need that greater transparency and control, to ensure an effective, resilient and flexible supply chain is available, whatever challenges arise.

End-to-end visibility removes uncertainty in the supply chain, by providing the wider business with a view of inventory supply upstream and when they can expect to receive particular product batches.

With clearer visibility and transparency between production, shipping, storage and distribution, it is easier to anticipate any supply shortages or delays, so they can immediately overcome the issue, or update the business, so that alternative sources may be accessed and implications for customers avoided.

Delivering visibility in the food supply chain

This importer of food products and raw materials is a major international manufacturer of branded grocery products, that includes many market-leading household names and consequently has a vast integrated global supply chain, with many layers of complexity.

The supply chain visibility solution that has been developed for them by Metro comprises seven core functions, and a users portal with dashboard, which provides a real-time view of the entire supply chain, together with drill down options for each of the seven functions.

POMs (Purchase Order management)
- We receive a feed of PO/SKU data, with suppliers confirming quantities, dates and place a booking at origin. Tolerances are set and approvals required for anything outside of certain dates or other values.
EBSA (E-booking space and allocation)
- Vessels bookings are allocated to POs and carrier contracts.
Track and Trace with AI powered ETA
- SKU level tracking with market leading predicted dates. Vessel AIS images and automated delay logging - with reasons.
Report centre
- Key KPI reports such as average days a container is at port, transit and delivery times within SLA agreement, bookings per week by carrier split.
- Bespoke reports also built around financial reporting and inbound forecasting.
DCM – Distribution centre management for 3rd party DCs
- The DCM has been tailored to their requirements and includes integration with Port Health. Container landing, customs clearance, and released for collection are timed, so client can specify containers for priority, or ‘drill in’ to see the SKUs inside and prioritise collection accordingly.
My Notifications
- Client is closely monitoring inbound vessel movements based around a strict tolerance.
MVT Eco
- ECO tool measures emissions and GHG output, by individual shipment, within their supply chain.

EMAIL Simon George, Technical Solutions Director, to learn more.

Automotive trends – We are in lockstep

Jun 21, 2023 | Automotive, MVT, Supply Chain, Technology

In a sign of the growing strategic significance of supply chain management for carmakers, two major manufacturers have appointed chief supply chain officers (CSCO) this month. Their appointments come after the industry has battled disruption to production and supply chains, shortages in semiconductors, and supply and logistics cost and capacity challenges.

The Ford and Renault appointments come as automotive manufacturers increasingly put top priority on efficiency, capacity, quality and digitalisation across their supply chains, with UK car sales recovering from their slump in the pandemic and Ford reclaiming the best-seller title.

Keeping up with demand
New car registrations rose by 16.7% in May, the 10th consecutive month of growth as supply continues to improve. Large fleet registrations continued to drive the growth, up by 36.9%, which has been attributed to greater availability following challenging supply issues in 2022.

British car manufacturing continues its resurgence, with output growing 9.9% in the latest monthly figures and exports up 14.7%, with 80% of UK-made cars being exported

UK car production is up 13.1%, driven by uplift in exports, with the EU the largest market, followed by the US, China and Australia.

The global volume challenges of RoRo PCC and PTCT services are well-document in the trade press and are likely to remain a serious challenge for several years.

Metro is supporting exports by shipping cars in containers, with significantly lower port to port freight costs, to avoid the long wait for delayed RoRo services, which have seen freight rates spiral due to congestion and shortage of space.

Standard 40’ containers can accommodate two large cars, properly secured and, with a rack, four small vehicles can be loaded which, with container rates falling to new lows, offers massive efficiency gains and costs that are in line with historic RoRo levels.

Digitalisation
David Leich, executive director of global supply chain at General Motors said last year that those working in supply chain faced up to 200 unique global supply chain disruptions a week impacting the delivery of inbound parts and the delivery of finished vehicles, while only 6% of them have full visibility of those supply chains.

To monitor its supply chain for potential risks that could delay or halt shipments JLR is planning to use a combination of Artificial Intelligence, predictive analytics and machine learning in combination with “human intuition”, to help avoid industrial disruption that could affect production and increase costs.

The introduction of the technology, by JLR and other manufacturers, is part of a wider move to digitally enable supply chains, with end-to-end visibility and security.

Metro is increasing use of predictive and AI technology, to collate real-time carrier updates, to maintain accurate vessel ETA’s, data for purchase order management, route optimisation and supply chain visibility.

We are developing our telematics capability, to offer shippers a much more effective alternative to the data aggregators, who are quite simply compiling data from open APIs and screen scraping historic data. We favour the ‘smart container’ technology that a number of carriers are developing, and are actively involved with UN CEFACT in creating industry standards for sharing this data.

In addition to creating visibility along the supply chain, Metro’s technical solutions team have worked hard to ensure the quality of data and provide a suite of reporting tools that make it easier to interpret and implement actions in a meaningful way.

Lithium Batteries
Growing demand from consumers and government incentives are driving demand for EVs globally and with more EV models coming out from more brands over the next two or three years, the added growth in battery demand means that manufacturers and supply chain infrastructure will struggle to satisfy demand.

Bloomberg Intelligence, told Automotive Logistics that while the semiconductor supply constraints are now beginning to ease, battery supply to meet demand will be the next problem, with potential bottlenecks from 2025 for the supply of lithium batteries into electric vehicle (EV) production.

Metro’s automotive teams handle the movement of thousands of EV’s and battery components every month, by all modes of transport including - when appropriate - the use of refrigerated equipment, to maintain ambient temperature levels, for additional safety precautions.

We started developing our Lithium battery logistics platform over six years ago and since then we have invested in the resource to serve this vertical, including training to cover all modes.

Our Li-ion transportation expertise is increasingly recognised as market-leading, with our automotive team’s manager invited to address the International EV battery conference.

If you would like to learn more about our automotive logistics capability, or to discuss any of the issues raised here handling, please EMAIL Ian Tubbs, Automotive Manager at our Birmingham HQ.

European division continues expansion

Jun 21, 2023 | Customs, EU, MVT, Technology

Five months ago European Director, Richard Gibbs, outlined his vision for Metro’s road freight and short sea services, in developing the business’ capability across the EU. Today, he updates us on his progress and next priorities.

“Since the start of the year we have been working very closely with our continental partners and carriers to add new ‘lanes’ to our transport network, extending the scope of our regular services, alongside our daily EU-wide FTL and LTL services.”

“At the same time we’ve been increasing our operational capacity, by growing the European team and adding new freight centres and groupage hubs in Leicester (Desford) and Manchester.”

“Service design has a been a primary point of focus, but so too has customs compliance solutions and advanced technology, to deliver visibility, control and supporting services.”

“The development of the CuDoS customs platform by our technical services team and the digitising of customs compliance has been a ‘game-changer’ for our customers and particularly those trading with Europe.”

“Using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning CuDos optimises data capture and customs declaration processes, with an SLA of 98% on turnaround times of under two hours and record turnaround speeds under 8 mins.”

“Since Brexit, the UK is considered as a third country and transactions with the EU are no longer intra-community, but considered as imports and exports, which means that VAT and duties need to be paid in the country of import, creating a trade barrier for many exporters.”

“Some EU importers are comfortable arranging import clearances and our standard T form services accommodate these movements, across single and multiple borders. However, some EU importers do not want to arrange import clearances, which is why we have created a range of options that allow UK exporters to complete transactions with their EU customers simply and seamlessly and even as if it were a domestic transaction.”

“The options are varied and can be adapted to suit specific transactions and customer relationships. They are listed below, but really require further explanation, which we will provide in a future post - or you can EMAIL me now.”

The Delivered Duty Paid or ‘DDP’ Incoterm means the exporter takes responsibility for the transport of the goods and customs formalities in the UK and EU, by becoming the ‘Importer of record” in France (or another member state) taking the burden away from your customer.

- Regime 42 is for DDP transiting France for another EU destination.

- Regime 40 is for DDP shipments where the exporter has a French VAT number enabling clearance in France for free circulation in the EU.

- DDP Light is where the consignee authorises their VAT number to be used as the importer of record but any duty is paid by the exporter.

To learn more about our expanded European capability, including our CuDoS and EU/DDP solutions EMAIL Richard Gibbs.