According to UNCTAD's Review of Maritime Transport 2025, global seaborne trade reached 12.7 billion tons in 2024, up 2.2% year-on-year, and still carries more than 80% of world merchandise trade by volume. Behind that figure sits a worldwide network of specialized port terminals, the backbone of modern intermodal logistics scheduling.

JIT logistics keeps production moving by delivering the right parts, in the right sequence, to the right station at the right time. At mega-factory scale, that timing depends on more than a few automated vehicles. Warehouse, line-side, yard and cross-workshop movements must share production data and operate under one dispatch logic. This article explains how to design that flow, where warehouse robots, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and autonomous trucks fit, and what manufacturers can learn from a live automotive deployment.

Airside decarbonization is the process of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from airport ground operations while keeping aircraft, baggage and cargo moving on schedule. Electric ground support equipment (eGSE) removes tailpipe emissions from individual vehicles, but fleet replacement is only one part of the job. A workable programme must also account for electricity supply, charging or battery swapping, vehicle availability, task scheduling and the systems that connect each operation. For a busy cargo hub, these choices cannot be made in isolation. A tractor that is charging during the evening export peak is unavailable, however clean its powertrain may be. A fully charged autonomous vehicle still adds little value if dispatchers cannot see the next task, cargo status or congestion ahead. The practical objective is a coordinated operating system that cuts emissions without weakening throughput or resilience.