Amazon will wind down parts of its Indian operations, showing that even the crucial growth market with 1.4 billion consumers isn’t immune to Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy’s cost-reduction campaign. The company said it is exiting meal deliveries as well as a service providing bulk doorstep deliveries of packaged consumer goods to small businesses. The exits will involve layoffs of just several hundred out of a workforce of thousands, leaving Amazon relying on its core offerings such as online retail in the country, according to a person familiar with the matter. Jassy is reducing expenses and jobs around the world amid slowing growth in several areas of Amazon’s business. In India, the pullback underscores Amazon’s struggles in one of the world’s fastest growing e-commerce markets, where it’s facing regulatory heat and competition from homegrown conglomerates Reliance Industries Ltd. and Tata Group as well as Walmart Inc.’s Flipkart.
Speaking of the strike, technology companies supplying critical semiconductor chips to the economy have started shifting cargo shipments from railroads to trucks with a national freight rail strike looming. The moves are being made in an effort to avoid any pre-strike rail preparations that would force freight rail companies to prioritize cargo. The tech cargo being sent to trucks include semiconductor chips critical to the high-tech sector and auto industry. According to federal safety measures, railroad carriers begin prepping for a strike seven days before the strike date. The carriers start to prioritize the securing and movement of security-sensitive materials like chlorine for drinking water and hazardous materials in the rail winddown. Ninety-six hours before a strike date, chemicals are no longer transported. According to the American Chemistry Council, railroad industry data shows a drop of 1,975 carloads of chemical shipments during the week of September 10 when the railroads stopped accepting shipments due to the previous threat of a strike.
A few days before Pepsi is set to receive its first Tesla electric semi trucks on December 1, Coca-Cola has exciting news of its own – the company has begun deliveries in its new electric truck fleet. After teasing Elon Musk and Tesla in early October, saying, “Some talk the talk. Some walk the walk,” on Twitter, Volvo-owned Renault Trucks announced Coca Cola has successfully implemented electric trucks for delivery. Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) will be using 30 electric trucks for last-mile deliveries to local Belgium customers, with the first five rolling out last week. Through its partnership with Renault Trucks, CCEP looks to establish one of the largest EV delivery fleets in Belgium by converting one-fifth of its truck fleet to electric.
That’s all for this week. Enjoy the weekend and the song of the week, I Am Santa Claus by Bob Rivers.
The post This Week in Logistics News (November 26 – December 2) appeared first on Logistics Viewpoints.