On July 31 UPS and Coyote Logistics announced that Big Brown will buy the Chicago-based logistics/technology company for an eye-popping $1.8 billion. On August 5 XPO, another tech-leading logistics firm, saw its stock price plummet by ten percent in one day. Meanwhile on August 7 Flexport -- a wannabe Uber for ocean freight -- announced a new round of VC funding.
Friday PwC released an overview of Merger and Acquisition activity in transportation and logistics:
Deal activity improved in the T&L sector in 2Q15, as volume and value increased both sequentially and year-over year. Driven by substantial megadeal growth (more than 36 percent compared to 1Q15), average deal value also increased, to $564 million. 2Q15 saw strong megadeal activity (valued at $1 billion or more), with nine deals valued at $23.6 billion, almost 69 percent of deal value for the quarter.
What all this -- and much more freight-sector volatility -- indicates is the expanding role real-time data access and analysis is having and will continue to have on logistics. Rather than just moving stuff, logistics must increasingly anticipate and coordinate movement. As much or more choreography as cartage. Not just logistics, no longer supply chains, but complex adaptive networks of supply and demand.
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