Category: Technology

The outsourcer’s outsourcers

We have been providing outsourcing services since our inception 40 years ago and this critical service has grown over four decades, with the development of our UK and two international business process outsource (BPO) operations. Metro has spent 40 years managing and transforming the outsource... Read more

The 40 year Metro journey

2021 should be a year of celebration for Metro, as it was officially our 40th birthday since commencing trading, but unfortunately, it also sees us dealing with the COVID pandemic and all its associated challenges. The continued home-working of many colleagues and the unprecedented supply chain d... Read more

Disruption highlights competitive advantage of supply chains

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed key differences between “fit” and “fragile” supply chains, says advisors Gartner, and how businesses deal with the disruption may provide competitive advantage across market verticals and specific industries. While the most fragile focu... Read more

Metro move quickly to maintain visibility of freight movements after the Suez episode

One of the first casualties of the Ever Given’s grounding in the Suez Canal was vessel visibility and shipping line schedule integrity. With so many vessels delayed, out of position or diverted, visibility of their cargo’s location was critical for shippers but, with most shipping lines unabl... Read more

Metro prepare for digitalisation with key role appointment

Metro’s drive towards increased digitising of all business operations and customer interfaces is accelerating with the appointment of industry tech leader, Claus Rasmussen to the technical solutions team, in the new role of Director of Information Systems. Claus will take the quality, resili... Read more

Making your supply chain carbon neutral

In an interview with the BBC, Maersk chief executive Soren Skou says greener shipping would cost the world’s biggest shipping lines billions of dollars and while he wants the consumer to pick up the bill, we think that low-cost action can be taken now to offset the carbon emission that shipping... Read more

EU border disruption impacting trailer availability

Problems finding import trailers from the EU is being blamed on the slowdown in exports from the UK, which are currently 30% below normal levels, but with continuing delays at the border, the more likely issue is it is less financially or operationally attractive for European hauliers to send the... Read more

Taking positive eco action – going greener

While our technical solutions team get ready to launch our CO2 monitoring and off-setting tool, we have note-worthy initiatives going live in Argentina and Switzerland. Our project-shipping arm, Fracht organised the shipment of 15k tons of sand (that’s 15 million kilos) in industrial poly-ba... Read more

Metro’s role in government border strategy

On the 17th December 2020 HM Government (HMG) released its 2025 Border Strategy document, which outlines its intentions for modernising the UK frontier and embraces many technologies and ideas pioneered by Metro. The 2025 UK Border Strategy sets out the government’s vision for the UK border ... Read more

Selling sustainability to the board

The case for sustainability depends on debunking false mindsets around cost, outlining the value it brings to the business and clarifying the benefits to supplier relationships. Metro helps shippers reduce the environmental impacts of their logistics activities. One of the big myths to overcom... Read more

The mind-boggling logistics of Singles’ Day

Singles' Day is an unofficial Chinese holiday celebrating people who are not in relationships, with the unmarried commemorating the occasion by treating themselves to gifts, making Singles' Day the largest online shopping day in the world, by quite some margin. With 1.9bn products ordered in 2... Read more

Metro’s supply chain excellence recognised

Publisher and Events organiser, Akabo Media, is one of the most influential voices in supply chain, freight and logistics. Its annual Supply Chain Excellence awards uniquely feature clients and service providers, to emphasise the value and innovation delivered across the sector. Despite the ch... Read more