Author Archives: just2bruce

Walmart tightens on-time, in-full requirements

Posted on September 14, 2020 | 1 comment

A large shipping firm has grabbed a problem by the throat.

Wal-Mart has raised its on-time in-full (OTIF) shipment requirements for all suppliers to 98%. It’s in response to a significant drop-off of on-time deliveries and short shipments, possibly due to COVID-19, but also connected with general carrier and business distress. By punishing suppliers, Wal-Mart sets a standard that others will want to match.

Failure of on-time and in-full deliveries poses a severe problem for managing inventory and matching supply to demand. Carriers won’t be able to get away with it now, and suppliers won’t do as much short-shipping. The standard will ripple over first to other consumer-oriented firms, then to all sorts of firms.

Standards for delivery are a good thing if they become industry-wide. They change the stakes, and give the consumer a clear idea of what to expect for a shipment. They set a basis for deciding what a reasonable charge is. If you can cheat on the delivery date or amount and get away with it, you are likely to when you think it’s to your advantage. And that violates customer trust.

A good example is Amazon’s pioneering of two-day shipping via Amazon Prime. It created a standard for the e-Commerce practice that firms in that market have to be clear about when they set the price for their full offer (including shipment terms)– are they following it or not?

Improving customer trust is a good thing, and sets up sound guidelines for customers to evaluate the value of an offering.

Mark Solomon Friday, September 11, 2020

Link: https://freightwaves.com/news/walmart-tightens-on-time-in-full-requirements

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Posted in Logistics, Production Operations, Strategy, Supply Chains

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Dealing with the shameful crew-change crisis

Posted on September 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here’s a suggestion for a relatively simple way to stop the cheating on crew changes during Covid-19.

Crews are often not allowed to leave ships during the Covid-19 crisis, and are either coerced into signing renewal contracts or simply denied the ability to travel home. How to stop it?

The proposal: get P&I insurers to deny coverage until crew members have been changed. It’s clearly a safety issue to have continuously-serving crew who do not get a mandated break.

It’s simple, and doesn’t require a lot of collaboration between countries, shipowners, and international agencies. And enforcement is quick and easy and dire for the shipowners and cargo owners. No one will ship with a carrier who does not have P&I insurance.

I thin it has real promise, and only needs a few P&I executives to make it happen.

Andrew Craig-Bennett September 14, 2020

Link: https://splash247.com/a-practical-way-to-deal-with-the-shameful-maltreatment-of-600000-people/

Previous story: https://mymaritimeblog.wordpress.com/2020/09/10/flag-states-attacked-for-weakness-on-crew-change/

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Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Supply Chains

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Heartland shippers feel 20-foot box squeeze

Posted on September 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

Twenty-foot containers are better than 40-foot containers for many ag products, and for machinery. Neither of these completely fills a container, and the smaller size means less blocking. But the containers are in short supply in the Midwest.

Twenty-foot containers are also ideal for products like soybeans, which have considerable Midwest-to-Asia container trade. They are a better size for shipments, because they are a bit smaller. We can’t always get a full forty-foot container because of the order size, which for premium products tends to be smaller. High-quality non-GMO beans often are not grown in the large bulk quantities.

Fewer products are shipped to the Midwest in 20-foot containers. And apparently, many of the 20-footers from the Far East are simply reused in California and Washington, rather than moving east. Goods could even be transshipped there to 53-footers for the ride into the Midwest. There’s no shortage on the West Coast.

This kind of problem is what plagues logistics operators of all kinds, as well as shippers. A simple little issue, very hard to do anything about. How do we cope with it?

By Chris Gillis Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Link: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/heartland-shippers-feel-20-foot-box-squeeze

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Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Supply Chains

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