Logistics Matters with DC VELOCITY · 2026-06-12 · 19 min
Our guest on this week's episode is Andrei Quinn-Barabanov, supply chain practice lead at Moody’s . New inflation reports came out this week showing that last month we reached the highest inflation rates of the past three years. Inflation is even higher when it comes to transportation cost increases. To help us understand how such inflation affects our supply chains, our guest joins DC Velocity’s Senior News Editor Ben Ames. The market outlook for collaborative robots remains strong as the equipment advances to accommodate heavier duty use around the world. Senior Editor Victoria Kickham reports that new research from Interact Analysis that shipments of these cobots designed to work with and alongside humans are predicted to grow at an average annual rate of more than 17% between 2025 to 2030. Ben Ames reports that this week that a change is coming to robotic last mile fulfillment. Starship Technologies is an Estonian tech startup that makes autonomous, self-driving bots. If you’ve been on any large university campuses in the last few years, you’ve probably seen them driving along pathways and college quads, delivering small items like e-commerce orders for snacks and burritos.
Guest: Kathy Fulton of ALAN on disaster response; The market heats up for humanoid robots; Containers lost at sea62 / 100Guest: Eric Fullerton of project44 on plastic shortages due to oil restrictions; The logistics behind the World Cup; Getting the most from robots and their humansGuest: Jim Mozer of Crown and ITA on forklift safety; Venture capital invests in warehouses; Strengthening global disaster responseGuest: Matt Lekstutis of Efficio on China and world trade; The upbeat forklift market; Automation comes to the high seasGuest Hannah Hurckes of Boss Lady Logistics on fallout from the Supreme Court’s broker decision; Gaining “Momentum” with Agentic AI; A robotics acquisition