Tag Archives: intermodal

Terminal partnerships may respond to larger container shipping alliances?

Posted on June 25, 2016 by | Comments Off on Terminal partnerships may respond to larger container shipping alliances?

And why shouldn’t port terminals form alliances?  The rationale is the same as for liners: it might save capital expense for the ports and terminals when it isn’t being used.  And the problems are the same: how can we keep an alliance together for long enough for realized gains to  be seen by everyone, at lest enough so they won’t depart the alliances.   It’s a classic cooperative game scenario.  I don’t believe it’s been looked at yet.  One thing you can be sure of:  a pricing scheme will not guarantee stability of any alliance coalition.  There will need to be side payments, or a scheme based on some other algorithm than easily measured price.

I have a paper to be presented at IAME2016 in Hamburg on a similar problem with equipment pools for ports.

   The creation of larger container shipping alliances is proving a headache for terminals as the deal with growing volatility

Source: Could terminal partnerships answer the challenge of larger container shipping alliances? – The Loadstar

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Posted in Ports, Supply Chains

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The New Panama Canal: A Risky Bet

Posted on June 23, 2016 by | Comments Off on The New Panama Canal: A Risky Bet

Outstanding long form research piece on the new Panama Canal locks.  Much of it is business as usual in the world of very large infrastructure projects; I’m reminded of San Francisco Bay Area’s struggles replacing and retrofitting several bridges to meet more resistant earthquake standards.  Cost overruns, failing concrete, poor design– all typical.

But a water shortage making ships lighten up before paying to use new locks that should let them carry full loads through?   And everyone knew in advance that more water would be needed?

Wonderful pictures, too, in this great story. We’ll see how it plays out.

  After a Spanish-led consortium won the right to build locks for bigger ships at a rock-bottom price, internal arguments soon gave way to larger problems.

Source: The New Panama Canal: A Risky Bet – The New York Times

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Posted in Logistics, Ports, Shipping, Strategy, Supply Chains

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Can Ports Keep Up With the Changing Needs of Container Lines?

Posted on June 21, 2016 by | Comments Off on Can Ports Keep Up With the Changing Needs of Container Lines?

Robert J. Bowman has written a nice short piece on the turmoil in ports due to changes in the ocean shipping industry (and inland, as well, we should add).   Ultimately there should be more capacity with less utilization, but how fast a port can work in the time it has the ship will be the most important part of efficiency.  Time will tell if the in-port efficiency gains will pay for the lengthened idle times, and cover the risk of frequent variability of visit schedules.

  Source: Can Ports Keep Up With the Changing Needs of Container Lines?

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Posted in Logistics, Ports, Supply Chains

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