Supply Chain Reality from a Major Forest Products Importer

CMPC moves pulp, lumber, plywood, and industrial and consumer packaging from 16 manufacturing sites across South America into North America. Roughly 10,000 TEUs and 300,000 tons of breakbulk annually, touching every Incoterm. Charlie sat down to break down what it actually feels like to run that supply chain through live tariff uncertainty, legacy system inertia, and a Manifest conference floor full of vendors asking for 25 minutes to understand how he procures freight.This conversation was originally recorded on March 11th 2026Connect with Charlie and CMPCCharlie's LinkedInCMPC WebsiteCMPC LinkedInWatch this episode on YouTubeOther episodes mentioned: Charlie's visibility panel at Manifest, which Blythe moderatedEiL's Shipper POV series Happy Robot Series B Raise and their founder Pablo Falafox on EiL -----------------------------------------THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!SPI Logistics has been a Day 1 supporter of this podcast which is why we're proud to promote them in every episode. During that time, we've gotten to know the team and their agents to confidently say they are the best home for freight agents in North America for 40 years and counting. Listen to past episodes to hear why.CargoRex is the search engine for the logistics industry—connecting LSPs with the right tools, services, events, and creators to explore, discover, and evolve.Digital Dispatch maximizes and manages your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. 

Most US logistics pros in the US talk about Mexico from a very surface-level approach. But most have never been on the ground to take in and appreciate the nuance that exists with our number one trading partner.I just got back from 8 days in Mexico City: four doing some hosting on the main stage at The Logistics World Summit and Expo, four wandering the Roma Norte neighborhood with my husband Badr. What I saw on the conference floor and in the streets gave me a different read on this industry's relationship with Mexico than any analyst report has and this episode talks about it all.Inside:The 26,583-person conference and 650+ booths most US freight pros have never heard ofWhy the driver shortage myth is spreading south of the border, and the pay arbitrage making it worseCargo crime realities: a transport vehicle is stolen every 38 minutes, 86% involving violenceThe USMCA July 1, 2026 deadline and why the rules of origin fight mattersHow the National Museum of Anthropology was built in 19 months with a 168-ton monolith moved 29 milesSupply chain anthropology, cacao as currency, and what ancient Mesoamerica still teaches modern freightWatch this episode on YouTubeResources:Everything is Logistics: https://everythingislogistics.comCargoRex: https://cargorex.ioInstagram: https://instagram.com/blythebrum -----------------------------------------THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!SPI Logistics has been a Day 1 supporter of this podcast which is why we're proud to promote them in every episode. During that time, we've gotten to know the team and their agents to confidently say they are the best home for freight agents in North America for 40 years and counting. Listen to past episodes to hear why.CargoRex is the search engine for the logistics industry—connecting LSPs with the right tools, services, events, and creators to explore, discover, and evolve.Digital Dispatch maximizes and manages your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. 

A 3PL moving 5,000 containers a year can bleed about $120,000 in avoidable detention and demurrage. Tyler Hughes says the fix is not another pretty dashboard. It is cleaner data, better reconciliation, and fewer blind spots when the container hits drayage.In this episodeWhy ocean visibility still breaks even when everyone says they have dataHow Vizion cleans carrier, vessel, terminal, rail, and truck events into something usableWhy standards matter less than the ugly backend work of mapping bad source dataThe real cost of dirty ETA data, including avoidable detention and demurrageWhat Tyler sees in the 2026 container trade outlook, from China to Southeast AsiaWhy drayage is still the biggest black box in end-to-end visibilityHow predictive ETA helps teams move from reactive updates to proactive planningWatch the episode on YouTubeLinksLearn more about Vizion: https://www.vizionapi.com/Follow Tyler Hughes on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerlh/ -----------------------------------------THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!SPI Logistics has been a Day 1 supporter of this podcast which is why we're proud to promote them in every episode. During that time, we've gotten to know the team and their agents to confidently say they are the best home for freight agents in North America for 40 years and counting. Listen to past episodes to hear why.CargoRex is the search engine for the logistics industry—connecting LSPs with the right tools, services, events, and creators to explore, discover, and evolve.Digital Dispatch maximizes and manages your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. 

Most warehouse operators have no idea what's actually happening on their floor right now. Not a rough estimate. No idea. The WMS says one thing. Ground truth is something else entirely. And the workers running the operation walk 12 to 15 miles a day on concrete trying to close that gap.In this episode, Blythe talks with Sankalp Arora, CEO and Co-Founder of Gather AI, live at Manifest 2026. Gather AI uses drones and cameras on forklifts to give warehouse operators real-time inventory visibility with no power drops, no new infrastructure, and a facility map completed in one to two weeks. Average customer payback: 4.5 months.In this episode:How drones and forklift cameras work together to turn a warehouse into real-time inventory intelligence -- no power drops ($15,000 each to install), no Wi-Fi constraintsWhy half of every warehouse's total cost is people and equipment traveling, and what that means for where automation investment actually pays offThe "Amazon Go store" analogy: what a fully instrumented warehouse looks like in practiceWhy the average warehouse worker walks 12 to 15 miles a day on concrete -- and why fixing that is as much a retention play as a productivity oneWhat the software stack looks like on a day-to-day basis and why workers end up living in Gather AI's dashboard instead of the legacy WMSThe 3-step buying framework for operators who've been burned by big capex automation projects beforeWhat Gather AI's $40M Series B is funding and what end-to-end warehouse orchestration looks like in practiceWatch this episode on YouTubeLinks and resources:• Gather AI website: gather.ai• Email Sankalp directly: [email protected]• Gather AI on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/gather-space-ai• Everything is Logistics: everythingislogistics.com• Freight tech vendor research: cargorex.io -----------------------------------------THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!SPI Logistics has been a Day 1 supporter of this podcast which is why we're proud to promote them in every episode. During that time, we've gotten to know the team and their agents to confidently say they are the best home for freight agents in North America for 40 years and counting. Listen to past episodes to hear why.CargoRex is the search engine for the logistics industry—connecting LSPs with the right tools, services, events, and creators to explore, discover, and evolve.Digital Dispatch maximizes and manages your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. 

Most people see a Ryder truck on the highway and think "trucking company." That's not wrong — but it's missing 100 million square feet of warehouse space and 2,000 autonomous robots.Gary Allen is the VP of Supply Chain Excellence at Ryder, and he stopped by the Everything is Logistics podcast booth at Manifest to talk tech selection, the build vs. buy debate, and what it actually takes to navigate a market with thousands of freight tech vendors when you're operating at this scale.Spoiler: it takes a team of 90 data engineers, a VC fund, and a willingness to evaluate 400+ companies before you commit to anything.——————————————IN THIS EPISODE——————————————□ Why asset ownership doesn't change the fundamental tech questions you need to answer first□ How Ryder evaluated 400+ warehouse automation companies in 3 years (and what makes the cut)□ Why Ryder runs ~30 different WMS systems across its network — and why that's a problem they're actively solving□ The Baton acquisition, Ryder Ventures VC fund, and why they decided to build what the market couldn't provide□ The "product mindset vs. project mindset" shift that changes everything about how you deploy tech□ Agentic AI real talk: what's actually working (call centers, document extraction, labor planning) vs. what's still early□ The warehouse automation ladder: AMRs → autonomous forklifts → storage/retrieval systems → humanoids□ What the timeline on lights-out warehouses might actually look likeWatch this episode on YouTube——————————————LINKS & RESOURCES——————————————□ Connect with Gary Allen on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/grallen1/□ Learn more about Ryder: ryder.com□ Ryder Ventures: https://www.ryder.com/en-us/ryderventuresPrevious Ryder episodes: □ VP of Supply Chain Ops Kristy Killingbeck□ Baton's Nate Robert -----------------------------------------THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!SPI Logistics has been a Day 1 supporter of this podcast which is why we're proud to promote them in every episode. During that time, we've gotten to know the team and their agents to confidently say they are the best home for freight agents in North America for 40 years and counting. Listen to past episodes to hear why.CargoRex is the search engine for the logistics industry—connecting LSPs with the right tools, services, events, and creators to explore, discover, and evolve.Digital Dispatch maximizes and manages your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. 

Supply chain storytelling isn't a nice-to-have skill. It's the reason deals fall apart before the demo starts.Sofia Rivas Herrera has spent years building one of the most recognizable personal brands in freight, from a full-time role in supply chain at HP, with her sister running the creative side. We recorded this conversation live at Manifest 2026.In this episode:▪ Why your freight tech pitch fails before it even starts (your sales team probably can't explain your own product)▪ The avocado supply chain from Mexico: why it's called "the green gold," how organized crime is embedded in it, and why Super Bowl season triggers a demand spike in December and January▪ Career minimalism: the Gen Z trend quietly reshaping who stays in logistics and who walks out▪ How to pass the "gardening neighbor test" for any supply chain message▪ Why blue is the most overused color in logistics branding, and what that means for companies willing to try something different▪ How Sofia and her sister built a brand from scratch after her sister told her "your branding sucks"Links & resources:Follow Sofia Rivas Herrera: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sofia-rivas-herrera/Watch this episode on YouTube -----------------------------------------THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!SPI Logistics has been a Day 1 supporter of this podcast which is why we're proud to promote them in every episode. During that time, we've gotten to know the team and their agents to confidently say they are the best home for freight agents in North America for 40 years and counting. Listen to past episodes to hear why.CargoRex is the search engine for the logistics industry—connecting LSPs with the right tools, services, events, and creators to explore, discover, and evolve.Digital Dispatch maximizes and manages your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. 

Freight fraud has moved way past the old stereotype of random cargo theft.Barry Conlon, CEO of Overhaul, joins Blythe from Manifest to break down what’s actually happening in the market: more sophisticated criminal networks, more pressure on shippers to own the problem, and a growing gap between how fast freight moves and how well it gets verified. He argues that prevention matters more than recovery, because by the time you’re chasing freight down, the damage is already done. A few standout points from the conversation:Barry says the last 24 to 36 months have brought a level of volume and sophistication he has never seen before. He ties part of the shift back to post-COVID buyer behavior and the ease of moving stolen goods back into gray markets. He says Overhaul protects about $1.4 trillion in cargo value on its platform and focuses on identifying non-compliance before it becomes a loss. He explains how fraud varies by geography, with North American fraud tactics spreading abroad while markets like Mexico and Brazil often involve more overt hijacking risk. He makes the case that cargo risk is now a boardroom issue because lost product often cannot be replaced fast enough, which turns a theft problem into a market share problem.Links from the show: Overhaul's latest insight on cargo crimeConnect with Barry on LinkedInWatch this episode on YouTube -----------------------------------------THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!SPI Logistics has been a Day 1 supporter of this podcast which is why we're proud to promote them in every episode. During that time, we've gotten to know the team and their agents to confidently say they are the best home for freight agents in North America for 40 years and counting. Listen to past episodes to hear why.CargoRex is the search engine for the logistics industry—connecting LSPs with the right tools, services, events, and creators to explore, discover, and evolve.Digital Dispatch maximizes and manages your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. 

Most logistics companies are holding their back office together with "shoestring and bubble gum." When 25% of your bills get rejected on the first pass, you aren't just dealing with paperwork -- you're dealing with a liquidity crisis.In this episode, Upwell CEO Charley Dehoney explains how to automate the "messy middle" of the delivery-to-cash process. We dig into why your TMS probably isn't talking to your accounting software and how to get your money out of your customer’s bank account and into yours.Checkout Upwell's websiteUpwell on CargoRexConnect with Charley Dehoney on LinkedInWatch this episode on YouTube -----------------------------------------THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!SPI Logistics has been a Day 1 supporter of this podcast which is why we're proud to promote them in every episode. During that time, we've gotten to know the team and their agents to confidently say they are the best home for freight agents in North America for 40 years and counting. Listen to past episodes to hear why.CargoRex is the search engine for the logistics industry—connecting LSPs with the right tools, services, events, and creators to explore, discover, and evolve.Digital Dispatch maximizes and manages your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. 

Blythe and Grace Sharkey (Orderful; formerly FreightWaves) break down what everyone’s been talking about coming out of Manifest: agentic AI moving into real workflows, drones/computer vision becoming more practical, freight fraud getting more coordinated, and why “end-to-end visibility” still isn’t end-to-end (spoiler: carrier adoption and execution still run the show).The gist (what we cover):Agentic AI: not just demos—people are pushing it into rate negotiation and booking workflowsThe uncomfortable question: what happens to brokerage models when humans aren’t the bottleneck?Drones + computer vision: still early, but moving from “cool tech” to real use casesFreight fraud: it’s coordinated—and most companies still fail at the basicsVisibility: we keep selling the dream, but execution (and carrier adoption) keeps punching it in the faceQuick time-capsule: what 2016 taught us, what 2026 is repeating, and why insurance keeps winningTimestamps / chapters (approx):00:00 – Intro + Grace joins04:35 – Agentic AI: what’s real vs what’s marketing10:10 – What this changes for brokers and carriers15:25 – Drones + computer vision17:30 – Fraud: why basic controls still matter25:40 – Visibility + ocean integrity31:40 – 2016 vs 2026: the industry memory test39:50 – Wrap-up + Manifest Europe noteWatch this episode on YouTube -----------------------------------------THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!SPI Logistics has been a Day 1 supporter of this podcast which is why we're proud to promote them in every episode. During that time, we've gotten to know the team and their agents to confidently say they are the best home for freight agents in North America for 40 years and counting. Listen to past episodes to hear why.CargoRex is the search engine for the logistics industry—connecting LSPs with the right tools, services, events, and creators to explore, discover, and evolve.Digital Dispatch maximizes and manages your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. 

CargoRex.io 2.0 is live and this isn’t a paint job. It’s a rebuild around how people actually research logistics tech when they don’t know what to search for yet.In this episode, I break down what changed, why it changed, and how to use CargoRex to move from “I think we have a problem” to “here’s the shortlist and the questions we need to ask.”What’s inside:-- A redesigned site built for faster discovery (not endless scrolling)-- A revamped search model: broad-match exploration + tighter category paths-- 3 live Buying Guides (with more coming): LogTech Implementation, Buying a TMS, and Visibility-- A stronger company listing page: integrations, associations, awards, news, white papers, case studies, and more-- Save-and-export Lists (CSV) so your research isn’t trapped in browser tabs-- Logged-in dashboards that separate your activity from what’s trending site-wide-- New contributor submissions so operators, consultants, and creators can add real-world lessons to the guidesIf you’ve got a logistics-adjacent business, claim your listing (free), fill it out, and make it easier for the right buyers to find you. And if you’re researching tools, use the lead form on listings so companies can see the signal that CargoRex is driving the conversation.Watch this episode on YouTube -----------------------------------------THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!SPI Logistics has been a Day 1 supporter of this podcast which is why we're proud to promote them in every episode. During that time, we've gotten to know the team and their agents to confidently say they are the best home for freight agents in North America for 40 years and counting. Listen to past episodes to hear why.CargoRex is the search engine for the logistics industry—connecting LSPs with the right tools, services, events, and creators to explore, discover, and evolve.Digital Dispatch maximizes and manages your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers.