The METRANS Transportation Consortium hosted the 10th International Urban Freight conference, April 9-11. This year’s conference was the largest ever, drawing 215 attendees from 15 countries and five continents. 

“METRANS is committed to building bridges between research and practice,” said Marlon Boarnet, Director of METRANS and a professor at the USC Price School. “Over a quarter of the research presentations at this year’s conference were from practice experts outside of the academy.” 

Three days of scholarly panels covered topics as diverse as improved efficiencies in trucking, artificial intelligence for routing and delivery, warehouse siting, and a UPS site tour. The Opening Plenary Session, titled “International Trade and Goods Movement in Changing Times: A View from north America’s Largest Ports,” was presented by Dr. Noel Hacegaba, Chief Operating Officer at the Port of Long Beach, and David Libatique, Deputy Executive Director of Stakeholder Engagement at the Port of Los Angeles. 

Two keynote sessions addressed “Global Supply Chain Systems for Food Trade” and “Private Capital’s Role in Fostering Technology Innovation in Trucking.” The first keynote session was presented by Kristin Decas, Chief Executive Officer and Port Director, Port of Hueneme, and Charles Kunaka, Lead Specialist on Connectivity, Macroeconomics, Trade & Investment at the World Bank Group, moderated by Marlon Boarnet, Director of METRANS and a professor at the USC Price School. The second keynote session was presented by John Keisler, Chief Executive Officer at Sunstone Management, Jasmine Jiang, Senior Vice President of Investment Operations at Sunstone Management, Bill Beverley, Co-Founder, Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer at Evolectric, moderated by Tyler Reeb, Executive Director, Center for International Trade and Transportation, California state University Long Beach. 

"It is rewarding to see the growth of this conference over the past 20 years. What began as the National Urban Freight Conference is now a truly global gathering thanks to METRANS' commitment to the development of urban freight as a research discipline and a focus of education and workforce training.", said Tom O’Brien, Associate Dean, College of Professional and Continuing Education, California State University Long Beach.

Click here to view conference photos and presentation materials.