Procurement

Procurement

US sanctions Cuba’s Beijing military attache over China arms procurement

The U.S. sanctioned Waldo Perez Cortes, Cuba’s military, naval and air attache in Beijing, on 7 August 2026, accusing him of procuring military equipment from China for Cuba’s armed forces. He was among six Cuban nationals and five entities added to the Treasury’s SDN list. Perez Cortes, a senior colonel and MINFAR official, has publicly engaged with China’s People’s Liberation Army. The action reflects intensifying U.S. enforcement against third-country arms procurement networks — especially those involving China and Russia — and underscores rising geopolitical risk for supply chain actors handling defense-related logistics across Latin America.

2026-08-09

Procurement

Freight Hero raises $5M for broker back-office operations

Freight Hero, a Durham, North Carolina-based startup, has raised $5 million in seed funding led by Field Ventures to expand its back-office operations service for freight brokers. The company manages shipments end-to-end—from rate confirmation through proof of delivery—using AI agents that handle over 90% of load touches, supplemented by human 'Heroes' for exceptions. With more than 50,000 loads managed by end-July 2026 and customers reporting 100%-plus ROI, Freight Hero converts fixed labor costs into variable ones. Ally Logistics, a Michigan brokerage, achieved 82.4% year-over-year revenue growth without increasing operations headcount. The $19 billion brokerage sector faces margin pressure amid the aftermath of the Great Freight Recession.

2026-07-31

Procurement

Norfolk Southern-UP Merger Pledges 2.2M Truck Moves Without Lane Details

Veteran railroader Paul Tonsiger, CEO of Integrated Multimodal Solutions and former Maersk procurement head, questions the Norfolk Southern–Union Pacific merger’s pledge to divert 2.2 million truck moves, citing absence of lane-level details after roughly a year of proceedings. He highlights CN’s Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway — acquired 15 years ago — as an underreported asset granting UP a Chicago bypass. Tonsiger stresses railroads operate as wholesalers, dependent on IMCs and steamship lines like Maersk and CMA—not shippers like Walmart—to drive volume. The Surface Transportation Board holds final merger authority.

2026-07-31

Procurement

Dili raises $21.7M for AI compliance in U.S. infrastructure projects

Dili, an AI compliance startup, has raised $21.7 million — including a $15 million Series A led by Khosla Ventures — to automate regulatory adherence for U.S. infrastructure projects. Its platform handles Davis-Bacon wage rules, IRA-mandated PWA requirements, and OSHA/EPA standards across ~700 active projects. By using LLMs only for document parsing and deterministic logic for rule enforcement, Dili reduces compliance review time from one full day to minutes. Half its clients deploy it as in-house software; the other half outsource compliance entirely.

2026-07-31

Procurement

Freehand raises $75M to automate enterprise procurement and payments

Freehand has raised $75 million to scale its autonomous AI agents for enterprise procurement and payments. Deployed at Meta, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Dunkin’, Pfizer, and Cardinal Health, the platform recovers 5%–10% of spend in complex categories, accelerates workflows five to seven times, and shortens procure-to-pay cycles by over 70%. The funding round was co-led by Battery Ventures and NewRoad Capital Partners. A PYMNTS report shows 73% of enterprises now use or consider generative AI for procurement — especially those with $10 billion+ revenue.

2026-07-31

Procurement

Freehand raises $75M to scale AI agents for Fortune 500 supply chain spend

Freehand has raised $75 million to scale its autonomous AI agents that manage supply-chain spend for Fortune 500 companies including Meta, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Dunkin’, and Cardinal Health. Deployments have delivered 5–10% spend recovery, 5–7x faster workflows, and >70% reduction in procure-to-pay cycles. The company’s Category Context Graph unifies structured and unstructured data to enable auditable, context-aware decision-making. Investors include Battery Ventures, NewRoad Capital Partners, and PSP Growth — led by former U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker.

2026-07-30

Procurement

EU-LatAm trade growth remains one-way: 10.6% drop in Jan

EU-South America container volumes fell in three of the first five months of 2026, including a 10.6% year-on-year drop in January, despite the EU-Mercosur trade deal entering force. In contrast, LatAm-to-EU trade grew 9.2%, 4.8%, 12.7%, 0.1%, and 10.8% across those same months, building on 2025’s 8.7% annual growth. Forwarders report rising quotation requests from European shippers targeting Latin America, especially in automotive, machinery, and pharma sectors. Meanwhile, South American exporters cite strong demand in Europe for coffee, fruit, refrigerated cargo, foodstuffs, pulp, and leather — though capacity constraints and the EU’s May 2026 beef export ban pose near-term headwinds.

2026-07-29

Procurement

CMA CGM Q2 profit surges 42.4% amid Red Sea volatility

CMA CGM reported a 42.4% surge in Q2 2026 EBITDA to $2.26 billion, with maritime volumes rising 6% to 6.3 million container units. Revenue climbed 22% to $9.96 billion. The company credited sustained freight rates and strategic resilience amid Middle East conflicts—including Strait of Hormuz disruptions and Red Sea volatility—enabling continued Suez Canal-Red Sea services. It launched the 24,212-TEU LNG-powered vessel CMA CGM Notre Dame and introduced the Mekong Transpacific Express service between Vietnam and the U.S. West Coast. Net income rose to $770 million from $520 million year-on-year.

2026-07-29

Procurement

India’s Cold Chain Gap Hits 23M MT; Pharma Losses Top ₹7,000 Cr

India’s cold chain capacity falls short by 23 million MT against a 60–70 million MT requirement, with over 90% of existing infrastructure limited to single-commodity potato storage. Post-harvest losses reach 15–18% for fruits and vegetables and 30% for fish, while pharma cold chain failures cost ₹7,000–10,000 crore annually. The PLI scheme has allocated ₹10,900 crore for food processing, yet relies on cold chain continuity still absent in Tier II/III regions. Quick commerce players like Blinkit and Zepto now demand 10-minute perishable delivery — accelerating micro-fulfilment infrastructure. IoT monitoring and AI routing are scaling to SMEs, closing invisible gaps in transit temperature control.

2026-07-29

Procurement

Gap sources 100% sustainable cotton, cuts renewable power to 46%

Gap Inc. achieved 100% sustainable cotton sourcing and 65% recycled polyester use in fiscal 2025, per its June 2026 Impact Report. However, renewable electricity use for company-operated facilities fell to 46% — down from 52% in fiscal 2024 — and Scope 3 emissions rose 2.1%, while Scope 1 and 2 emissions dropped 7.3%. The retailer aims to double traceable U.S.-grown cotton via TextileGenesis. Published July 28, 2026, the findings highlight persistent gaps between material sustainability and energy-related decarbonization in global apparel supply chains.

2026-07-29

Procurement

GSK cuts $2.5B via supply chain, procurement overhaul

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) aims to cut $2.5 billion in costs through supply chain and procurement reforms, including a 5-year logistics contract with Kuehne + Nagel featuring four regional Logistics Control Centers. Former CEO Andrew Witty emphasized sustained cost pressure, while current CEO Luke Miels champions a 'product-centric' model targeting more than £40 billion in revenue by 2031. The initiative follows industry trends seen at Novartis and Teva, where supply chain improvements were expected to yield hundreds of millions in savings.

2026-07-29

Procurement

AIP acquires Honeywell’s warehouse automation units for $1B+ revenue

American Industrial Partners has completed its acquisition of Honeywell Technologies’ Warehouse and Workflow Solutions business, uniting Intelligrated, Trew, and Transnorm under a single warehouse automation organization. The combined entity generated over $1 billion in revenue in 2025 and employs more than 3,700 people across North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Alfred Rebello, with 35 years of industry experience and leadership roles at both Intelligrated and Trew, has been named CEO. The integration preserves all existing brands, contracts, and customer relationships while aiming to accelerate innovation amid projected double-digit growth in warehouse automation through the 2030s.

2026-07-28