Executive Observations

During the second quarter of 2010, Ariba experienced a slight downturn in sourcing activity as many modes of transport such as truckload and ocean freight started to show signs of tighter capacity. However, many shippers continued to examine their transportation spend to ensure they had competitive pricing in light of the market shift. The majority of project activity was centered on small parcel, freight forwarding, less than truckload, and European road freight. In addition to utilizing sourcing activities to source and secure new contracts, some shippers are using sourcing activities to gain market intelligence to optimize their current network and solidify their current contracts/relationships at market-competitive levels. As specific modes are starting to see rate increases, shippers are closely examining their current network to see if mode conversions such as ocean to air are able to produce savings at a time when resourcing within the same mode cannot. ... More