Category Archives: Logistics

2M restores transpacific capacity, pleads for return of empty containers

Posted on September 21, 2020 by | 1 comment

Ocean carriers are suddenly waking up to the fact that supply chain disruptions for their customers are bad for relations. Now they’ve decided that they blanked too many voyages. And thehoarding of containers by customers who usethem to store goods they’ve already taken possession of has disrupted things further. There just aren’t enough containers and chassis to get cargo from China and to move it about.

They should have thought about the repercussions in the supply chains when they started out reducing service.

The main advantage of ocean shipping is the cost and large quantity; if the service becomes marginally reliable in terms of time of delivery, naturally people are going to look for alternatives like buying larger quantities, beyond storage space, and using the containers to help out.

Supply chain performance is about matching supply to demand, and ocean carriers should continue to remember that it’s not about them, but about their customers’ needs.

By Gavin van Marle 21/09/2020

Link: https://theloadstar.com/2m-restores-transpacific-capacity-and-pleads-for-return-of-empty-containers/

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Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Strategy, Supply Chains

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UPDATE – Felixstowe issues apology and rescinds container ban

Posted on September 21, 2020 by | 1 comment

Well, the media storm over the ban on receiving empty containers at Felixstowe got their attention at the port. Our earlier post on this subject explained the problem.

The apologies were for

“inconvenience”, “our service standards are not currently where we would like them to be”.

Source: The Loadstar, 9/21/2020

The port claims they are seeing a rush of container deliveries; perhaps it’s a presage of Brexit starting January 1, or simply a rush of winter orders. But this was entirely foreseeable. I guess their eye wasn’t on the ball for this crisis.

Imposing the ban was clearly a mistake, and a shock. It only took a couple of days for port management to realize they had screwed up the supply chains of everyone using the port.

By Mike Wackett 21/09/2020

Link: https://theloadstar.com/felixstowe-port-apologises-to-customers-and-rescinds-empty-container-ban/

By Gavin van Marle 18/09/2020

Link: https://theloadstar.com/chaos-at-port-of-felixstowe-worsens-as-carriers-refuse-return-of-empty-boxes/

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Posted in Logistics, Ports, Supply Chains, Trucking

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Maersk joins CP Rail inland with new transload facility

Posted on September 20, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Maersk is in the forefront of expanding their supply chain control into the hinterland. The Port of Vancouver is in a very closed in space, a bit like San Francisco, with little room to expand facilities. Maersk has finally grasped the idea that they should cooperate with supply chain members rather than simply do business deals.

Maersk is now finally positioning itself as a full service logistics provider instead of simply an ocean carrier. It’s taken many years, as ling as I’ve been working in it, for maritime companies to see this, and Maersk is way out in front of their rivals.

It will be useful for Maersk to transload containers inland, where there is much less congestion and where a special purpose facility can be built, and where there’s a direct link to a large rail network through Western Canada down into the Midwest. I think there is even a CP terminal in the Chicago area.

By Ian Putzger in Toronto 18/09/2020

Maersk gets on board with CP Rail to move inland with new transload facility – The Loadstar

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Posted in Logistics, Ports, Strategy, Supply Chains

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