Monday, 09 September 2019
7:30 AM — 6:00 PM
Registration
Location: Cedar Prefunction
7:30 — 8:30 AM
Networking Breakfast
Location: Room 261-264
8:30 — 9:00 AM
Welcome Remarks and Industry Overview:
Shipper Pain Points — Separating Perception From Reality
Location: Room 250-253
Eric Johnson
Senior Editor,
Technology,
JOC, Maritime & Trade,
IHS Markit
Peter Tirschwell
Vice President,
Maritime & Trade,
IHS Markit
In this kickoff to LogTech 2019, the JOC will outline the findings of research into which areas shippers truly struggle with, and which types of service provider — whether software company, 3PL, or carrier — are best equipped to manage those pain points.
9:00 — 9:30 AM
Keynote Address
Location: Room 250-253
Technology is often presented as the answer to all shipper ills. But often, shippers juggle an array of problems for which they see technology as a solution, not the solution. The challenge of keeping up with the latest and greatest software bumps up against the need to keep the business moving. And logistics practitioners believe the ability of their teams to innovate in creative ways sometimes can eliminate the need to invest in new systems. In the kickoff keynote to LogTech 2019, Abir Thakurta, vice president of supply chain for home furnishings retailer Haverty’s, will discuss how a shipper decides where and when to invest. He’ll also discuss what value technology does and doesn’t bring to an international logistics organization, and what technology mosts interests him going forward.
Introduction
Eric Johnson
Senior Editor,
Technology,
JOC, Maritime & Trade,
IHS Markit
Keynote Speaker
Abir Thakurta
Vice President,
Global Supply Chain,
Havertys
9:30 — 10:15 AM
The Future Is Not History:
Learning From the Past While Not Repeating It
Location: Room 250-253
Session Chair
Eric Johnson
Senior Editor,
Technology,
JOC, Maritime & Trade,
IHS Markit
Panelist
Jack Oney
CEO,
Oney Consulting
Panelist
John Urban
Strategic Advisor,
Slync.io
Panelist
Mitch Weseley
CEO,
3Gtms
It’s certainly instructive to look at the current infusion of capital and entrepreneurial verve into the logistics industry through the lens of history. But it’s also not advised to dwell on the past when considering what changes will take place. Three highly regarded veterans of logistics technology talk about what excites them in the current market, the parallels of the past, and what lessons can be learned for current buyers of software.
10:15 — 10:45 AM
Networking Break
Location: Room 261-264
10:45 — 11:45 AM
The Dividing Line: Tech Ushers in a New Age of Logistics Customer Acquisition and Retention
Location: Room 250-253
Session Chair
Eric Johnson
Senior Editor,
Technology,
JOC, Maritime & Trade,
IHS Markit
Panelist
Nina Luu
Co-Founder and CEO,
Shippabo
Panelist
Cory Margand
Co-Founder and CEO,
Simpliship
Panelist
Graham Parker
CEO,
Kontainers
Panelist
Matthew Tillman
Co-Founder and CEO,
Haven
Logistics software can roughly be broken into two buckets: technology to be used for a single enterprise and technology designed to scale across enterprise. Nowhere is this split more apparent than in the plethora of startups selling themselves as digital freight forwarders or brokers (the single enterprise approach) and those selling software-as-a-service (SaaS) products. At the root of which approach a technology company takes is a key question software providers in all industries face: reducing the cost of customer acquisition and retention. There’s also the issue of these two models colliding in some instances. A diverse panel of technology providers will discuss the merits of these two competitive approaches.
11:45 AM — 12:30 PM
Tech as an Enabler of New Capital Strategies
Location: Room 250-253
If shippers, carriers, and 3PLs could know the exact location and conditions of their goods at all times, would that change the risk profile of financing a global shipment? Would banks be more apt to finance such shipments earlier, on better terms, or at all? Alternatively, would shippers be compelled by an offering from a freight forwarder or tech platform that bundled day-to-day logistics services with capital offerings? The collision of tech with traditional freight services is opening up new opportunities when it comes to financing international cargo moves. This isn’t just logistics service providers offering credit to customers, but in some cases also providing the capital to buy the goods. This panel will look at specific use cases where visibility or single-platform services might change the way banks and financiers look at global trade.
Session Chair
Eric Johnson
Senior Editor,
Technology,
JOC, Maritime & Trade,
IHS Markit
Panelist
Dan Glazer
Vice President,
Flexport
Panelist
Jonathan Loomis
Chief Financial Officer, Baseballism
Panelist
Bhavani Rawla
Head of Trade Finance
Product Development,
North America,
Maersk Group
Panelist
Stefan Reidy
CEO,
Arviem AG
12:30 — 1:45 PM
Networking Lunch
Location: Room 261-264 and 254-255
1:45 — 2:30 PM
Concurrent Breakout Sessions
Where the Rubber Meets the Ocean:
How Technology Is Smoothing Freight Interchange Between International and Domestic Modes
Location: Room 250-253
Billions of dollars have been invested in logistics software over the last few years, but an asymmetry persists in what that funding targets. While shippers generally want fewer systems and want to manage more modes on single platforms, investment in systems tends to focus on domestic or international freight. In this session, a diverse range of experts in the logistics and transportation space will discuss how they view the importance of technology to their operations, and, more broadly, whether technology can be a true bridge to managing domestic and international freight.
Session Chair
Hilary Garner
President,
Garner Enterprises
Panelist
Toni Ann Careccio
Associate,
Edison Partners
Panelist
Charley Dehoney
CEO,
Manning’s Truck Brokerage
Panelist
Daniel Gardner
Vice President,
Global Logistics
and Corporate Training,
Lakeshore Learning Materials
Panelist
Michael Kroul
President,
KTI
Location: Room 256-257
Automated Procurement:
Will Bots Do Our Freight Buying?
Session Chair
Eric Johnson
Senior Editor,
Technology,
JOC, Maritime & Trade,
IHS Markit
Panelist
Florian Dussler
General Manager
and Vice President,
Xeneta
Panelist
Carolyn Glynn
Director, Imports,
Sealink International Inc.
Panelist
Alan Holland
CEO,
Keelvar
Panelist
Zvi Schreiber
CEO,
Freightos
Logistics practitioners aren’t robots. They make decisions based on intuition, experience, data, and current dynamics, synthesizing those components in a way that computers can’t — yet. But there is a school of thought that humans on their own simply aren’t capable of synthesizing the volume of data required to make key decisions around areas such as route and mode optimization, and procurement. The theory is that programs — designed to account for an exponential number of variables, and able to learn new variables on the fly — eventually will enable companies to make smarter, more sober decisions about where to source freight capacity across transportation modes. Wrapped into this discussion is whether shippers need to be more agile when it comes to the broader discipline of freight procurement — whether they need to build the capability to source on the fly rather than rely on long-term contracts. This panel of procurement experts will discuss how advances in automation are changing the way procurement might be conducted in the coming years, where people fit into the equation, and whether shippers and logistics service providers are better off letting the bots do the buying.
2:30 — 3:15 PM
Concurrent Breakout Sessions
The Expanding Edges of TMS
Location: Room 250-253
Session Chair
William Cassidy
Senior Editor,
Trucking,
JOC, Maritime & Trade,
IHS Markit
Panelist
Adam Robinson
Marketing Manager,
Cerasis
Panelist
Bart de Muynck
Vice President,
Research,
Gartner
Panelist
John Golob
Chief Marketing Officer,
Winmore
By most analysts’ counts, there are more than 1,000 transportation management system providers in the market, and likely many more if you consider proprietary systems used by freight forwarders and brokers. With so many choices in the market, it can be highly confusing to potential buyers looking to invest in their first system, or to upgrade from an existing one. But an important factor in those considerations is that the nature of TMS is changing. Or rather, it’s expanding to include management of more modes, to incorporate new ways of procuring, such as digital freight matching, and is blurring into other processes, such as customer relationship management systems. This session will examine the ways in which TMS is becoming a force to unify more decision-making and execution processes across transportation modes, including parcel and global, and touching other internal systems for logistics services providers to enable them to sell more effectively to their customers. JOC Senior Editor Bill Cassidy will lead this lively discussion of some of the industry’s most interesting vendors that are enabling these expansions.
Location: Room 256-257
How Logistics-Focused VCs
Are Changing the 1 in 10 Paradigm
Session Chair
Eric Johnson
Senior Editor,
Technology,
JOC, Maritime & Trade,
IHS Markit
Panelist
Julian Counihan
Partner,
Schematic Ventures
Panelist
Kevin Meredith
Co-Founder,
The WESEE Collective
Panelist
Matthieu Somekh
CEO and Co-Founder,
ZEBOX
Panelist
Earnest Sweat
Director, Investments,
Prologis Ventures
The going theory with venture capital investment is that only some bets will pan out, and an even smaller number will pan out in a big way, creating so-called unicorns that forever shape the way business is transacted. There is little doubt that VC groups have fallen in love with the enterprise B2B space in recent years, and a primary focus of that infatuation is logistics and transportation. The size of the market, the fragmentation, and the relative lack of automation are all indicators of great promise. But more recently a select group of VC investors — from the bedrock venture firms in Silicon Valley and independent early stage investors in New York to corporate venture arms of established logistics companies — have started to change the math. Their growing expertise, industry networks, and experience is leading to highly informed decisions that are more likely to connect. This development comes as even the most optimistic venture investors understand that it’s unlikely there will be single “winners” in any category of logistics software, and that industry transformation will take longer than in other industries because of the dispersed and complicated nature of global logistics. In this session, a group of such investors representing the gamut of incubation stage, seed stage, early stage, and corporate will discuss this changing equation and the ramifications on logistics industry software buyers.
3:15 — 3:45 PM
Networking Break
Location: Room 261-264
3:45 — 4:15 PM
Freight Forwarders Never Left the Game
Location: Room 250-253
Session Introduction
Mark Gamble
Director Product Marketing, Winmore
Session Chair
Eric Johnson
Senior Editor,
Technology,
JOC, Maritime & Trade,
IHS Markit
Panelist
Patrick Lo
President and CEO,
Canaan Group
Panelist
Chris McClincy
Senior Vice President
and Chief Information Officer,
Expeditors
The rise of the digital freight forwarder concept has brought into stark relief the degree to which established forwarders have innovated. But the reality is that most forwarders didn't need a kickstart to invest in technology. Most successful ones have long invested in systems and people to keep a necessary competitive edge. If the digital forwarder model has done anything, it's amplified the need for forwarders to explain the investments they've made to eke out margins in a highly fragmented landscape. In this rapid-fire session, two veterans with established logistics providers — one mid-sized and one small — explain how they view innovation in the current environment, and how established providers view the potential threat of new digitally oriented counterparts.
Sponsored by:
4:15 — 5:15 PM
The Rise of Cross Border E-Commerce
Location: Room 250-253
Session Chair
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey
Co-Founder & CEO,
Shipz Inc.,
and Founder and Host,
"Let's Talk Supply Chain" Podcast
Panelist
Brian Bourke
Vice President,
Marketing,
SEKO Logistics
Panelist
Augustin Ceyrac
Co-Founder,
Easyship
Panelist
Beth Pride
President,
BPE Global
Panelist
Rathna Sharad
Founder and CEO,
FlavorCloud
E-commerce has indelibly changed the landscape of goods movement by giving end consumers greater choice and faster delivery. But it’s also placed expectations — sometimes unreasonable ones — on retailers and suppliers. These expectations get more complex when you factor in the rise of cross-border e-commerce. Whereas international sales online are relatively easy to consummate, the supply chains that underpin those sales are complicated, and the companies receiving those orders often are unprepared to deal with those complications. But, as with every other corner of logistics, technology providers and tech-minded 3PLs are stepping in to ease the burden on suppliers and e-commerce sellers. They are providing platforms that automate duty calculations, logistics costs, and some link directly with freight forwarders to smooth the coordination of goods movement tied to online orders. This panel will explore how systems, connected through APIs, are changing the way international sellers operate, and the impact that has on ocean freight, airfreight, and trade compliance.
5:15 — 6:45 PM
Networking Reception
Location: Room 261-264
STATEMENT OF JOC CONFERENCE EDITORIAL POLICY: All JOC conference programs are developed independently by the JOC editorial team based on input from a wide variety of industry experts and the editors' own industry knowledge, contacts and experience. The editorial team determines session topics and extends all speaker invitations based entirely on the goal of providing highly relevant content for conference attendees. Certain sponsors may give welcoming remarks or introduce certain sessions, but if a sponsor appears as a bona-fide speaker it will be because of an editorial invitation, not as a benefit of sponsorship. Sponsorship benefits do not include speaking on a program.