IN D U ST RY N EW S FIDI Focus needs you for next industry report FIDI Focus is calling for your input into its 2024 State of the Industry report. Its the fourth edition of the annual publication, which looks at the key developments impacting the international moving business. Those wishing to contribute to the report should answer the following questions: 1. What three trends have affected the moving industry most in the past 18 months how do you see them impacting the business in the next 10 years? And why? 2. How is technology including digitalisation, AI, and cybersecurity changing the business? 3. What changes and challenges do you foresee from client demands on sustainability and new legislation? Comments on other relevant topics are also welcome. Please email contributions to FIDI Focus editor Dominic Weaver at: editor@fidifocus.org Survey questions will also be released to readers of the fortnightly FIDI Focus News Drop newsletter. The 2024 State of the Industry report will be launched in March 2024. Benets ahead from tech rms partnership Two technology providers to the moving industry have announced an integration that they say will cut the time needed to complete digital inventories signicantly. Yembo.ai and Move4U say the strategic partnership will provide seamless data-transfer capabilities for movers, using a combination of Yembos pre-move survey technology and Move4Us CrewPro digital inventory platform. Yembos articial intelligence technology will allow quick transfer of pre-move survey data to a driver and packing team, removing the need for manual entry during the inventory process. This will reduce the risk of error and save moving companies time and money. Joggie Taute, CEO of Move4U Technology, said: The integration delivers strong productivity benets to moving companies by avoiding the need to start an inventory from scratch, and delivers a modern relocation experience to their customers. Siddharth Mohan, CEO and co-founder of Yembo, said the deal would accelerate the adoption of technology into the moving industry. With this integration, our goal is to drive savings to moving companies by eliminating error-prone manual processes, he added. The integration is free to customers of Yembo.ai and Move4U. Moving companies will be able to license the products directly from the companies websites. Million-dollar charges levied to jump backlog in Panama Canal International shippers are paying up to US$2.4m per vessel to jump queues in the Panama Canal. According to Bloomberg, some carriers are paying the additional fees, on top of standard charges of US$400,000, to avoid ongoing delays caused by this summers drought conditions. The Panama Canal Authority holds auctions for those who want to jump the queues. The record charge of US$2.4m was paid by a bulk carrier of liquefied petroleum gas. The organisation announced in August that transit restrictions caused by low water levels would continue for almost a year. Also in Panama, demonstrations by teaching and construction unions during October impacted the transit of cargo through the county, according to Panama City-based Canal Movers & Logistics Corporation. The protests, against a Panama government contract award to continue copper mining in a biodiverse region of the country, blocked key routes across the country, including a section of the Pan-American highway. Insurance at your fingertips www.reason-global.com Solutions outside the box 12 FF312 Dec_Feb 23 pp10-17 News.indd 12 05/12/2023 09:00