Category Archives: Shipping

Ocean Shippers Must Come to Terms with Carrier Efficiency “Myths”

Posted on March 28, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Ocean Shippers Must Come to Terms with Carrier Efficiency “Myths” – Article from Logistics Management.

How much evidence is there that slow steaming hurts shippers? This MIT study says that because reliability is multidimensional, so far there isn’t much.  It does indicate that savings to ocean carriers have not trickled down yet to shippers.  But since the business is essentially perfect competition, it won’t be too long before shippers see the effects in lower freight rates.  Somebody will cut prices!

Leave a comment

Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Supply Chains

Cargo Ship Losses Weigh on European Banks

Posted on March 24, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Cargo Ship Losses Weigh on European Banks – NYTimes.com.

It isn’t enough to bring down the Euro, but losses on cargo ships are weighing heavily on some European banks. They are the primary financiers, or have been, of cargo ships. The chickens are coming home to roost.   It might be a time to pick up a ship or two at a bargain if you’re a ship captain or smaller firm.

It’s the most difficult period in a couple of decades, according to the article.

Leave a comment

Posted in Microeconomics, Shipping

Port Strategy – Under analysis

Posted on March 6, 2013 by | Leave a comment

It’s interesting that ports, obviously part of the logistics processes, have not assimilated ideas from modern logistics to the extent needed.  This goes for all ports– gateways, feeder hubs, or transshipment hubs.  All need to rethink how they measure performance. No longer will the old metrics work.

It reminds me of the mining business years ago.  Mine managers were judged on metrics like tons per day and uptime– equipment utilization.   that was because in the boom times of the 80’s they could sell all they produced– they had supplier power.

Today in the port business things have changed. Because ports are part of the supply chains of many diverse firms, they need to pay attention to the service requirements of their customers.  Why?  Because as logistics teaches us, they must find out what the customers need to be successful and provide that—make their customers successful.  This means attention to service measures rather than production metrics.

This article outlines why ports need to use better analytics and new KPIs to manage their logistics enterprises. It’s from portstrategy.com

 

Port Strategy – Under analysis.

Leave a comment

Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Strategy, Supply Chains