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Near-shoring is one of the biggest economic transformations sparked by the pandemic: Shrink the length of the supply chain to keep production closer to its final destination and reduce the risk of some snag messing things up along the way.

Ryder System Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire e-commerce and omnichannel fulfillment provider Whiplash, the company announced Dec. 13.

Roadie, the same-day delivery startup that UPS Inc. acquired in October, said its package volume more than doubled in November from a year earlier as shoppers heeded the call to make holiday purchases early.

More Retail, an Indian grocery chain backed by Amazon.com Inc., is considering an initial public offering that could value the company at as much as $5 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

DHL’s supply chain unit doubled its use of robots in the U.S. this year and now has about 1,500 picking robots at its warehouses around the country, on top of adding 15,000 seasonal workers, Oscar de Bok, chief executive of the unit, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Dec. 10.

The first major update of U.S. international ocean-shipping laws in more than two decades, which passed in the House this week, will help boost transparency in the industry if passed by the Senate, the head of the Port of Los Angeles said.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s cargo division said it’s seeking more freighter planes to keep pace with booming global demand and that purchases could include Airbus SE’s new A350F model.

More U.S. drivers could find themselves stuck on snowy highways or have their travel delayed this winter due to a shortage of snowplow drivers — a reality that could hit home as winter storms start dumping snow from the Intermountain West to the Upper Great Lakes.

United States Steel Corp., Norfolk Southern Corp. and The Greenbrier Cos. collaborated to create a new high-strength railcar, the companies announced Dec. 9.