Guest: Victor Thomas of Odyssey Logistics on coming Scope 3 requirements; The trucking industry grapples with artificial intelligence; Peak season comes early in 2026

Logistics Matters with DC VELOCITY

Logistics Matters with DC VELOCITY
Guest: Victor Thomas of Odyssey Logistics on coming Scope 3 requirements; The trucking industry grapples with artificial intelligence; Peak season comes early in 2026
Jul 10, 2026 Season 7 Episode 26
AGiLE Business Media

Our guest on this week's episode is Victor Thomas, VP of Health, Safety, Security, and Environment at Odyssey Logistics. For some time now, companies have measured the environmental impacts of their operations. Soon, new requirements will kick in that will also require them to report not only on their own environmental impacts but also those of their supply chain partners. Senior News Editor Ben Ames has more as he talks with this week’s guest. 

Senior Editor Victoria Kickham was on the road last week at the SMC3 Connections trucking event where she lead a couple of sessions and heard a lot about the hot tech that everyone is trying to figure out - artificial intelligence. She reports on how the industry is grappling with this new technology.

We all know that Christmas and the winter holiday season come in late December for consumers. But if you’re a retailer getting ready for the rush, you need to have your shelves stocked long before that, and that means that the logistics peak season actually comes between August and October. But, that’s in normal times -  2026 is different. We’re seeing signs that we’ve already begun an early peak season for container imports. Ben Ames reports.


Articles and resources mentioned in this episode:

Episode Artwork Guest: Victor Thomas of Odyssey Logistics on coming Scope 3 requirements; The trucking industry grapples with artificial intelligence; Peak season comes early in 2026 18:29 Episode Artwork Guest: Kathy Fulton of ALAN on disaster response; The market heats up for humanoid robots; Containers lost at sea 22:04 Episode Artwork Guest: Eric Fullerton of project44 on plastic shortages due to oil restrictions; The logistics behind the World Cup; Getting the most from robots and their humans 19:00 Episode Artwork Guest: Andrei Quinn-Barabanov of Moody’s on inflation risks; Growth drives new demands for cobots; A shift in robotic final mile delivery 19:12 Episode Artwork Guest: Jim Mozer of Crown and ITA on forklift safety; Venture capital invests in warehouses; Strengthening global disaster response 18:55 Episode Artwork Guest: Matt Lekstutis of Efficio on China and world trade; The upbeat forklift market; Automation comes to the high seas 22:04 Episode Artwork Guest Hannah Hurckes of Boss Lady Logistics on fallout from the Supreme Court’s broker decision; Gaining “Momentum” with Agentic AI; A robotics acquisition 19:15 Episode Artwork Guest: Patrick Van den Bossche of Kearney on the 2026 Reshoring Index; Will AI take away jobs? Safety in trucking fleets 21:55 Episode Artwork Guest: Omar Qari of Logicbroker on how retailers and brands respond to shifting geopolitical uncertainty; Carton diversity drives sortation designs; China doubles down on robotics 19:59 Episode Artwork Guest: Lisa Dyer of the GPS Innovation Alliance on vulnerabilities of GPS systems; Growing technology gaps; The clever ways thieves steal cargo 25:50 Episode Artwork Guest: Helaine Rich of ePost Global on rising fuel costs; Truck stops work to accommodate women drivers; Changing shopping patterns 16:38 Episode Artwork Guest: Disney Petit on a better way for customer returns; Managing a variety of robots successfully; Autonomous fulfillment advances 21:18 Episode Artwork Guest: Christelle Keefer of A3 on gaps in automation skills; Robot density is growing; Fleets flex in AI 16:19 Episode Artwork Guest: Stefan Heck of Nauto on distracted driving; Coping with surging diesel prices; Cold storage goes high tech 24:13 Episode Artwork Guest: Ian Massey of S-RM on the ongoing supply chain impacts from the war against Iran; What is “port proximate” and why is it changing?; Work remains to optimize pharmaceutical supply chains. 21:21 Episode Artwork Guest: Mark Becker of G10 Fulfillment on safe handling and shipping of lithium-ion batteries; Workers experience AI anxiety; The logistics behind hyperscaling data centers. 19:38 Episode Artwork Guest: Mike Van Bree of the American Ladder Institute on safety when working at heights; A cybersecurity collaboration; Sensing your way to a smoother supply chain 20:47 Episode Artwork Guest: Jackson Wood of Descartes on what war in the Middle East means for supply chains; Most warehouses lack needed agility; Is trucking ready for a recovery? 23:00 Episode Artwork Guest: Per Hong of Kearney on tariffs, Iran, and more; The "pandemic echo” affecting parcel fleets; How Agentic AI impacts hiring 23:38 Episode Artwork Guest: Fab Brasca of Kinaxis on who is leading in AI adoption; The top five freight bottlenecks; A new data threat is lurking 20:05 Episode Artwork Guest: Lisa DeNight of Newmark on the industrial real estate market on the rise; Thoughts on improving infrastructure; Striving for fast, dynamic execution 20:22 Episode Artwork Guest: Jake Heldenberg of Vanderlande on automation trends and predictions; Gamification comes to DCs; What’s up with retail? 20:51 Episode Artwork Guest: Suketu Gandhi of Kearney on supply chain takeaways from last week in Davos, Combating missed LTL pickups, Trends in the trucking space 24:40 Episode Artwork Guest: Ronak Amin of HERE Technologies on preventing bridge strikes by trucks; More maritime freight fright; Are humanoid robots ready for prime time? 18:46 Episode Artwork Guest: Tony Bradley of Arizona Trucking Association on freight fraud and non-domiciled drivers; Robots become more human; Hesitancy adopting Agentic AI 18:50