The logistics and supply chain world has seen its share of upheaval in recent years. Following the height of the pandemic, when manufacturing and shipping lines were snarled by worker shortages, canal blockages and rapidly shifting consumer spending habits, there had been a “collective holding of your breath,” said Carly West, senior research director at Gartner Research within its supply chain practice. “What was going to happen coming out of all the disruptions from the pandemic?” What do I need to be prepared for next?”
What came next was even more disruption to the flow of goods around the world.
The thousands of truckers that flooded America’s highways to take advantage of the pandemic’s e-commerce boom have found themselves with much less product to move, as consumers shift their spending toward services and experiences. Terrorist attacks on cargo ships and tankers in the Red Sea have resulted in shipping companies diverting $80 billion in goods from the Suez Canal, which is responsible for 30% of global container trade. Climate change and intensifying weather events continue to pummel the industry; according to an annual outlook report by Everstream Analytics, extreme weather is the top risk facing supply chains in 2024.
The most innovative companies on this year’s logistics list have developed solutions to help clients (and even countries) navigate this turbulence. “The way that we’re guiding clients, they still need to be ready and planning for risk and investing in technology to help to optimize,” said West. “Where they can learn from the past instead of repeating it.”
Tomorrow.io topped Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list in logistics for its groundbreaking approach to weather forecasting: Last year, it launched its own satellite constellation into space, pairing those readings with artificial intelligence technology to generate hyper-local, real-time weather readings for any point on Earth. Clients like JetBlue, which uses Tomorrow to shorten flight delays during inclement weather, and e-commerce company Shipt, which uses it to assess ground-level conditions for customer deliveries, sing Tomorrow’s praises. Tomorrow has recently expanded its capabilities to protect lives and economies from extreme weather across geographies that stretch from the Bahamas to African nations.
Other innovative logistics companies recognized by Fast Company have developed tools or enhanced existing offerings to provide crucial insight into global shipments and the geopolitical forces that could affect them. Last year, Project44, which specializes in supply chain visibility, launched Movement GPT, a ChatGPT-based logistics assistant that can recommend real-time alternative routes for shippers and carriers. It also vastly expanded its dataset to include nearly 100% of railways in North America and Europe, providing clients with a radical view of shipments across all modes of transportation. More recently, it has been closely tracking the Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
“[Companies] are just looking for more transparency, so they can have more control,” said West.
Lastly, as truckers compete for fewer jobs amid what some analysts have dubbed a “global freight recession,” every dollar counts. That’s why Relay Payments, which makes an app that lets truckers get paid for their work, deserved a top spot for this year’s list of innovative firms in logistics. Last year, Relay partnered with several convenience station brands – including Pilot and Yesway – to let haulers pay for diesel digitally. The company says this can save carriers $20,000 per month through fraud mitigation. Though the transportation sector has been slower to adopt new technology, West said, she called Relay a “game-changer” for the trucking industry.
Explore the full 2024 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 606 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. We’ve selected the firms making the biggest impact across 58 categories, including advertising, artificial intelligence, design, sustainability, and more.
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