Based on the popularity of last week’s version, we’ve decided to make this “news roundup” the focus of our Friday postings. Here is some of the news that crossed our desks (actually, our computer screens, email inboxes, iPhone, etc.) and caught our attention this week:

• UPS Makes it Easier for Customers to Utilize LTL Freight Tools
• October 2009 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Fell 15.5 Percent from October 2008
• Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) Rose 1.8% in November from October
• SAP Gains Importer Security Filing Certification for Global Trade Solutions
• New Sustainability Analytics From SAP Help EHS and Product Managers Reduce Risk and Costs
• New Release of i2 Supply Chain Strategist Embraces Sustainability
• Nokia makes walk and drive navigation free on its smartphones, doubling size of mobile navigation market

Canada and Mexico are the United States’ two largest trading partners. NAFTA trade, therefore, is a barometer of the region’s economic health. This latest data suggest that economic issues still remain, but the situation is improving. The 15.5 percent decline is the lowest year-over-year monthly drop in all of 2009, and it is the fifth consecutive month that the percentage has dropped. For comparison, U.S. trade with Mexico and Canada declined 33.1 percent and 35.4 percent in April and May, respectively. Year-to-date (January 2009-November 2009), U.S. trade with its NAFTA partners is down 27.5 percent. Let’s see how long it takes for this metric to get back in the black.

Related to global trade, SAP’s Importer Security Certification (aka “10+2”) certification is just in time (SAP is an ARC client). The Importer Security Filing (ISF) rule went into effect for U.S. importers in January 2009, but enforcement of the rule begins this month. ISF requires importers or their agents to submit ten data elements to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (US CBP) 24 hours prior to vessel departure, and ocean carriers to submit two additional data elements. Previous regulations did not require importers to file some of this information, or they were able to file after the shipment had arrived in the US (within fifteen calendar days of arrival). To read more on this topic, check out “10+2″: A Beacon of Hope for Software Vendors and Freight Forwarders.

Progress on ‘Green’ may have taken a few steps back following last month’s meeting in Copenhagen, as well as this week’s election of Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate, but software vendors continue to see gold in this arena (see Managing Carbon: A Green Opportunity for IT). Both SAP and i2 Technologies (an ARC client) announced sustainability-related products this week. When it comes to supply chain and sustainability, network design is the starting point for most companies. We wrote about this trend a couple of years ago, and as the i2 announcement shows, technology vendors continue to enhance their solutions to take carbon and other sustainability factors into consideration. However, we have yet to come across any company that is using “carbon minimization” as a hard constraint or the primary objective in their network optimization. The primary focus for most companies has been on understanding the carbon footprint tradeoffs between different network scenarios. In short, cost and service levels still dictate network design decisions.

Interestingly, i2 highlights Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, a third party logistics (3PL) provider, in the press release. As I wrote about a few times last year, I believe 3PLs are ideally suited to assist companies with sustainability-related initiatives (see A New Business Intelligence Solution…from a 3PL! and Ryder’s Answers to Carbon Disclosure Project).

Finally, Nokia’s announcement about free navigation capabilities on smartphones underscores the trend my colleague Steve Banker wrote about last month (see Google Maps Navigation and Private Fleets). “What is clear,” Steve wrote, “is that these [smartphone] technologies, and how they are used to support routing and navigation, are on the verge of big changes.”

Have a great weekend!