Trending Transportation Updates: February 2017

1. “Trucking Futures Exchange” Could Launch This Summer: DAT Solutions and Transvix have teamed up to create a futures exchange that will allow trucking companies, 3PL’s, and shippers to better combat spot market rate uncertainty. The Exchange would use a similar process to the New York Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade. Futures contracts will be bought and sold on commodities like fuel, oil, or grain. (Read more: The Interrelated Issues Facing the Trucking Industry)

1. Diesel Inches Up 0.7 cents to $2.572 a Gallon: The stronger bite of OPEC production cuts lifted the price of crude to nearly $54 a barrel, analysts said. This is diesel’s second increase after four consecutive weeks of declines. Diesel now costs 58.9 cents more than it was a year ago, when the price was $1.983 a gallon, DOE said.
2. UPS Moves Closer to Octocopter Drone Deliveries: On February 21, UPS launched an unmanned aerial vehicle from the roof of a UPS truck in Florida. The drone successfully dropped off a package at a home nearby, and then returned to the truck after it moved 2,000 feet from the launch location. UPS hopes the drone implementation will cut costs and ease delivery in complicated places, such as rural areas that have a large distance between stops. However, Mark Wallace, UPS Senior Vice President of Global Engineering and Sustainability, assures customers that the drones will not replace the brown-clad service providers we know and love. (Read more: 5 Common Problems Vendors Have with Routing Guides)
3. UPS Moves Closer to Octocopter Drone Deliveries: On February 21, UPS launched an unmanned aerial vehicle from the roof of a UPS truck in Florida. The drone successfully dropped off a package at a home nearby, and then returned to the truck after it moved 2,000 feet from the launch location. UPS hopes the drone implementation will cut costs and ease delivery in complicated places, such as rural areas that have a large distance between stops. However, Mark Wallace, UPS Senior Vice President of Global Engineering and Sustainability, assures customers that the drones will not replace the brown-clad service providers we know and love.

Read Next: 6 Trending Transportation Updates: January 2017

‍