Author Archives: just2bruce

Whose supply chain is it anyway?

Posted on July 6, 2013 | 2 comments

This article asks a good question.

All About Shipping » Blog Archive » Whose supply chain is it anyway?.

But it’s an obvious answer.  the supply chain is like a cooperative, and all the participants have to share in the benefit or they will look elsewhere.  This accounts for the rise of 3PL’s.   A 3PL has a better chance of acting like a ‘supply chain manager’ by balancing the needs of each participant.   And it is so complex in a long supply chain that special attention and expertise is demanded.  A specialist may be able to lower the transaction costs of planning, monitoring, and controlling for the members.

2 Comments

Posted in Logistics, Supply Chains

Boxes of known unknowns

Posted on July 5, 2013 | Leave a comment

This is an interesting article. Apparently we are not really inspecting containers, and a lot of them have hazardous materials in them. So what about terrorists?

Mostly we do not know what is in containers, and we also don’t know if they cause accidents and fires or not!  And politically we can’t agree on what to inspect and where.  Seems like an expensive nightmare for the world.

Feature: Boxes of known unknowns, International Shipping News, Shipping News, Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide, Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and International Shipping.

Leave a comment

Posted in Logistics, Supply Chains

Port of LA Drayage Saga Practically Over

Posted on June 26, 2013 | Leave a comment

The supreme court has ruled on the Port of LA case.  Unanimously they decided that the Port did not have the right to force Truck Owner Operators to become employees (which might mean joining a union).  The ATA won their case.  However, the story is not over.

Supply Chain News: Port of LA Drayage Saga Practically Over after Five Years – but Issue is far from Finished.

Supply Chain Digest

We are facing another round of environmental upgrades at ports, in the case of the San Pedro Basin to 95% emissions reduced. Up to now the best technology reduced PM10 by 85%.   And we can expect more capital expense and support needed to upgrade.  Owner-Operators will not be able to pay.  So the port will need to offer some kind of help.

In addition, other ports will be instituting similar rules around who can enter a port and serve it for cargo. for instance now there are federal statutes kicking in which could limit access to safe drivers, measured by their federal safety records.  A driver may also have to be up to date on logs and on safety checks, which are being captured electronically soon.    I’m sure there will be legal challenges to specific rules imposed.  We’ll see what policy issues these raise.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Logistics