Category Archives: Strategy

Top 20 U.S. Ports: Competition heats up for discretionary cargo – Article from Logistics Management

Posted on November 15, 2015 by | 2 comments

Some analysis of changing patterns of freight movement to US ports.  There’s some evidence that west coast ports are losing ground.  But Oakland is up over 4M TEU according to my students, though LA/Long Beach have lost.

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At this time last year, West Coast port congestion was a speculative concern. Now that shippers have seen the worst case scenario unfold, many analysts feel that Gulf and East Coast ports are ready to pull in more vessel calls at peak season this year. Is a “battle royale” waiting for the bell?

Source: Top 20 U.S. Ports: Competition heats up for discretionary cargo – Article from Logistics Management

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Posted in Labor Economics, Logistics, Shipping, Strategy, Supply Chains

The nimble prosper in chemicals

Posted on November 14, 2015 by | Leave a comment

A nice article from McKinsey based on their consulting experience with the chemicals industry.  It seems chemicals need to be nimble the way drug makers are, by moving investment in projects around to match competitive advantage.  The ability to do this quickly and perform is a ticket to success.   It reminds me of the classic work on the cycle time of industries, also out of MIT.

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Crafting a strategic road map and responding rapidly to external shocks are critical for superior value creation in chemicals. A McKinsey & Company article.

Source: The nimble prosper: Dynamic resource allocation in chemicals | McKinsey & Company

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Posted in Strategy, Supply Chains

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2015 I-NUF Conference

Posted on October 25, 2015 by | Leave a comment

I spent an enjoyable three days at this conference on Urban Freight held in Long Beach, CA.

Source: 2015 I-NUF Overview | METRANS Transportation Center

My colleague Dr Chris Clott (SUNY Maritime) and I presented a paper on supply chain integration at the Chicago freight bottleneck.  Our discussion offered a method of discovering main supply chain corridors to and from the area, discussed some of the attempts to reduce congestion in the light of supply chain integration, and concluded that ports such as LA/Long Beach or New York may need to consider implementing long range corridor integration rather than focusing on improvements inside their region boundaries.

We’ve included some Pareto charts exemplifying our search for important corridors linking Chicago. Truck traffic is super-dominant in terms of dollar value over every other mode.  So why isn’t supply chain integration in the Chicago mega region looking hard at alleviating truck congestion?

Pareto ToCHI Domestic Multi Pareto ToCHI Domestic Rail Pareto ToCHI Domestic Truck

 

 

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Posted in Logistics, Ports, Strategy, Supply Chains