Category Archives: Strategy

Can green shipping scheme learn to ‘herd cats’?

Posted on October 10, 2020 by | 1 comment

This article provides a valuable perspective on sustainability. There seems to be, despite all odds, a rising tide of concern about the environment and sustainability behavior for maritime firms. Investors and insurers are starting to pay close attention to how ocean carriers and ships themselves are matching up to green standards. They want disclosure and frequent reporting of consistent, meaningful measures, not greenwashing.

So the odd news release isn’t enough. A company needs a sustainability charter and plan with measures of their progress in greening their business. It’s costly if you actually have to do concrete things, like replacing ships, installing scrubbers, and taking care of seafarers. Some companies are far ahead of others on this path. And it seems that now those firms will attract the investment they need, whereas others will need to work much harder to get it, at potentially higher rates.

It’s good for sustainability, and for the global environment. Economic pressure is what gets sustainability done.

Greg Miller, Senior Editor Thursday, October 8, 2020

Can green shipping scheme lick ‘herding cats’ dilemma? – FreightWaves

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Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Strategy, Sustainability

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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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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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