Category Archives: Supply Chains

World’s largest container ship enters Panama Registry

Posted on April 10, 2015 by | Leave a comment

Thanks to Ana Casaca for this item.  It’s notable that the drive for large ships is being motivated in part by environmental concerns.  Such a large vessel is 35% more efficient than smaller ones, and 35% less polluting.    There are 20 more in new build.

Panama_Maritime_Authority_new.jpgWorld’s largest container ship enters the Panama Registry | Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide.

 

Do these large ships increase port congestion? Some think so.  Port operators need to react and design clever ways of coping with the sudden arrival of almost 20000 containers each anxious to be on its way.  Are they up to it?

The fate of some ports depends on solving this dilemma fast.

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Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Strategy, Supply Chains

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Traditional Supply Chains’ Radical Transformation

Posted on March 31, 2015 by | Leave a comment

By 2025 this study thinks that supply chains will radically transform themselves.  The survey by Deloitte and MHI is summarized in the graphic below from the article.  Increased use of emerging technologies will be a prime investment area.

I am delighted to see that inventory planning and optimization is again in ascendancy.  That’s my field of course!

MHI & Deloitte Study: Traditional Supply Chains to Undergo Radical Transformation By 2025 – Supply Chain 24/7.

You can download the study free by signing up for it at Supply Chain 24/7.

Or here:  MHI_industry_report_2015

Download the 2015 MHI Annual Industry Report

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Globe Tracker adds Satellite Functionality

Posted on March 24, 2015 by | Leave a comment

Wanna know where your container is all the time? Here’s the answer, satellite tracking.

GIT_Logo

Globe Tracker adds Satellite Functionality for Intermodal Container Market | Shipping Tribune.

 

There are lots of good reasons to do this, if the cost is reasonable. Of course not all cargo matters.

How about soybeans in containers, for instance? What case can be made for tracking each container?   8% of all export soybeans from the US move in containers.

Well, you might want to know if they had been wet, or tampered with, or whether someone introduced some different beans into the container.  Some Asian purchasers want to know that the chain of custody from the very farm to the processor is exactly as specified.*

But soybeans are very cost sensitive, being a commodity, in many ways.  The freight cost can sway where the beans are purchased (Brazil or the US) and too large a cost can mean a farmer loses his market and can’t make money on his crop.

Se we will see what the technology costs.  I imagine pharmaceuticals might be good to monitor.  But they go by air now, don’t they.

*Clott, Christopher B., Bruce Hartman, Elizabeth Ogard, and Althea Gatto.. (2014). “Container Repositioning and Agricultural Commodities: Shipping Soybeans by Container from US Hinterland to Overseas Markets”.  Research in Transportation and Business Management. DOI: 10.1016/j.rtbm.2014.10.006.

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Posted in Logistics, Supply Chains