Check out this brand-new eBook from Management Dynamics - Direct Import Strategies for Retailers: How to Take Control Over Your Supply Chain.

Reuters announced that the US and South Korea have plans to meet to further discuss the KORUS Free Trade Agreement.

In this video, Nathan Pieri, Management Dynamics Senior VP of Marketing & Product Management and Russell Goodman, Editor-In-Chief of SupplyChainBrain discuss what is making Management Dynamics, and its global trade management software, such a valuable partner to its clients.

Upcoming Webcast, Sponsored by Management Dynamics: Results of the 19th Annual Study of Logistics and Transportation Trends

Wednesday, September 29, 2010 | 2:00 p.m EST - Register Today!

According to the results of the 19th Annual Study of Logistics and Transportation Trends (Masters of Logistics), the current uncertain economic environment is also reflected in transportation and logistics practices across companies of all sizes. In fact, the study shows that a majority of shippers, both large and small, have yet to significantly alter their logistics management operations from our 2009 findings.

In this Exclusive Webcast, Mary Collins Holcomb, Ph.D., of the University of Tennessee, and Karl B. Manrodt, Ph.D, of Georgia Southern University reveal the findings of Logistics Management's annual study of logistics and transportation trends, also known as The Masters of Logistics.

Key takeaways from this year's webcast will include:

• The percentage of freight dollars being spent by mode
• The percentage of overall transportation budget spent by mode
• Shifts in transportation spending
• The economy's impact on transportation management
• How the world's largest shippers run their logistics operations

Panelists:

Although international trade has been contracting throughout the world, the Global Trade Management software market has been faring quite well, according to ARC Advisory Group, a leading research firm in the supply chain industry, which discussed these interesting results in an article in SupplyChainBrain.com.

Wednesday, September 29, 2pm EST. Register Now!

Emerging economies are increasingly contributing to the ranks of manufacturing and logistics services suppliers that are already well established along the Pacific Rim. This trend not only heightens the ever-shifting economic activity between and within regions, but also the numbers of global trade end-points and transportation management complexity. For global traders, increasing logistics complexity increases levels of risk.

In this video, Nathan Pieri, Management Dynamics Senior VP of Marketing & Product Management and Russell Goodman, Editor-In-Chief of SupplyChainBrain discuss what is making Management Dynamics such a valuable partner to its clients.

The below question was posted on LinkedIn, and although I don't have any stories of my own to share, maybe some of my readers do! Follow the directions below to submit your funny & amazing import/export stories.

A recent decision by the U.S. District Court served as a major victory for Agility Logistics, a global supply chain management company who has been charged with defrauding the U.S. military of $68 million on a food supply contract with several countries in the Middle East. U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Baverman ruled that the Justice Department failed to properly serve the company with an indictment. Agility argued that the U.S. government should have delivered papers to its parent company, Public Warehousing Co, which is in Kuwait. Instead, papers were delivered to the U.S. office of its Agility Defense & Government Services unit.

Here is an online tool I found that could be very useful for those of you who trade across borders. It shows the main indicators for importing and exporting to or from specific regions, with detailed drill-downs by country. Please visit http://www.doingbusiness.org/ExploreTopics/TradingAcrossBorders/ to use the tool.

The USDA's Economic Research Service has issued a report on Karnal bunt (KB), a wheat disease of limited distribution in the United States, as affected areas are quarantined to limit spread of the disease. Currently, the KB regulatory program allows the USDA to issue phytosanitary export certificates stating that a wheat shipment is from an area where KB is not known to occur. Some in the wheat marketing chain, particularly elevator operators, find the regulatory program burdensome and advocate ending it. A model developed by the ERS was used to analyze the market effects of ending the certification. An average annual loss of 15.1% in export markets for US wheat producers would be only partially offset by increased use of lower priced wheat for domestic livestock feed.

Today's IFW Newsletter featured an article that, as the author of a transportation management blog, I found intriguing: The impact of social media in the logistics sector. The author explains how in a field characterized by fast-paced communications and technology, in the past social contact was limited and depended on personal relationships that may have developed over many years. The many social media outlets that are available these days changes that: