Tag Archives: supply chains

It costs twice as much to export olive oil from Spain using China’s “One Belt, One Road” railway

Posted on July 6, 2016 by | Comments Off on It costs twice as much to export olive oil from Spain using China’s “One Belt, One Road” railway

Another report on the One Belt One Road initiative. I think the main point is not the facts so much as the background on how these routes get chosen. It points out clearly on the ground how economic ‘warfare’ is being conducted by China. The geopolitical aspects of their development initiative are paramount. China has a large market to sell, a lot of folks to keep working, and a lot of products that need to be sold abroad. The story gives examples of how leverage and negotiating power is used in transport discussions to advance the use of OBOR.

How is this different from an 18th or 19th century colonial power?  At least we are not having shooting wars over it … yet.

screenshot-qz.com 2016-07-06 08-03-36

Source: It costs twice as much to export olive oil from Spain using China’s “One Belt, One Road” railway — Quartz

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Posted in Logistics, Strategy, Supply Chains

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‘Bizarre twist’ – HMM woos 2M Alliance

Posted on June 27, 2016 by | Leave a comment

More about alliances!  Obviously there are not strong ties.

Speculation and debate continued today as to why Hyundai Merchant Marine has found itself in talks with Maersk and MSC

Source: ‘Bizarre twist’ as HMM changes tack and starts to woo 2M Alliance for membership – The Loadstar

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Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Supply Chains, Uncategorized

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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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