Category Archives: Ports

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The Dawn of the Deep Tech Ecosystem

This Boston Consulting Group report by  Massimo PortincasoArnaud de la Tour, and Philippe Soussan,  discusses seven categories of so-called deep-tech areas of research that are likely to yield new disruptions for businesses of all types.   They believe that deep-tech industries are no longer dominated by larger companies doing incremental research, but ratherby small, nimble enterpreneurial firms finding and developing solutions for novel use cases.

They claim we are moving into a phase in which truly new types of infrastructure for business uses is emerging.  And the development of these new uses requires a whole ecosystem–  a band of cooperating players, including technicians, investors large and small, and firms who have use cases–  rather than simply a firm, some financing, and a product.   This differs from the ‘maker’ approach to innovation, which believes we can just set people working with some simple tools, and they will come up with the products the world needs.

I support this ecosystem approach, not the more limited one. As an example I call your attention to NYMIC, the New York Maritime Innovation Center, started by my colleague Dr Chris Clott of SUNY Maritime.  It fits exactly into the role of helping create a good ecosystem for innovation in the maritime field, one which greatly needs stimulants to produce service improvements.  Its motto is “Convene, Connect, Catalyze”, which exactly expresses what BCG’s discussion here is saying.

BCG has a full report entitled The Dawn of the Deep Tech Ecosystem.  Much can be learned by studying how it is evolving in the different deep tech areas they believe are a part of it. Link to PDF.

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via The Dawn of the Deep Tech Ecosystem

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Globalization in transition

This is a fascinating report about global trade, with many interesting statistics, and with points of view not often presented so cogently.

Authors Susan Lund, James Manyika, Jonathan Woetzel, Jacques Bughin, Mekala Krishnan, Jeongmin Seong, and Mac Muir point out that global trade in services already probably exceeds that for goods. If a fair value is placed on it, we would see the US trade deficit, for example,wiped out and replaced by a larger surplus.  They also point out that labor is a declining factor both in the value of production, and in labor cost’s ability to determine where products get made.  The intellectual property value is much higher, and often moves in reverse fashion to the goods. But it is hard to price into conventional labor statistics.

I can’t wait to read the whole document!

mckinsey-logo1  via Globalization in transition: The future of trade and global value chains | McKinsey  

Here is the full document link.

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Shipper hackles rise as Hong Kong box terminals announce operating alliance

Sam Whelan penned a report on the alliance of four companies managing terminals at the Kwai Tsing terminals in Hong Kong.

Apparently shippers are furious. They believe there will be collusion and rates will rise as a result.  Rates are already higher in Hong Kong than the mainland, and the Hong Kong fees add more cost.

The firms say it’s only to make the port more efficient and gain higher throughput.  Volume handled has been declining in 2018 compared to the prior year.

It’s true that greater cooperation would most likely improve port throughput.  Coordinating yard movements and berth use would offer possibilities for gains. I’m not sure it would have to be at the level of fixing prices.   Improving port and yard bottlenecks is an important activity for firms in port management today.

But you can bet shippers will be on their guard for any collusion on pricing, especially when there’s a falling need for services.  And since it’s China that is involved– these are Chinese firms– we can’t rule out geopolitical considerations that would be collusive.  WE need to watch this one and see how the volumes and prices play out, just like the shippers will.

logo  via Shipper hackles rise as Hong Kong box terminals announce operating alliance – The Loadstar