The number one imperative for North American shippers continues to be cost reduction and cost containment, which means that logistics providers must analyze and scrutinize operations more diligently than ever in order to find such opportunities, says Jeremy Haycock, president of Damco North America.
Bill Clement, vice president of intermodal at CSX Transportation, thinks an additional 9 million truckloads a year could and should be moved from highway to rail, and explains why CSX is taking that message directly to shippers.
LCL Logistix, the Indian member of the FPS network of independent freight forwarders and non-vessel operating common carriers, has launched a new less-than-containerload service from India to the Baltics and Commonwealth of Independent States.
On March 11, 2011, a tsunami off the coast of Japan caused human tragedy on a massive scale, killing thousands and rendering more than half a million homeless. The tsunami also wreaked havoc on business supply chains worldwide. Toyota and Honda experienced a 30-percent and 60-percent decline in profit, respectively, which both attributed to production lags caused by limited supplies of parts after the tsunami. The tsunami caused an estimated $40bn in economic losses due to interruptions in global supply chains.
The success of online retailers has been linked to the demise of many high street shops in the UK, most recently HMV and Jessops. The remaining retailers have clear strategies which incorporate on-line shopping with home delivery and are often further supported by other initiatives, such as click and collect, where goods are ordered online but delivered to a third-party address, such as a local garage or convenience store, to avoid the disappointment of missed home deliveries.
Conceptually, supply chain "risk" is used to denote perils, loss, dangerous occurrences, hazards, and even vulnerabilities. Risks include everything from management functions to fraud, to fundamental honesty and loyalty issues encompassing every aspect of an organization's status and operations. In addition to the firm's built-in management risks, the international supply chain provides additional third-party risk elements such as foreign shipper practices, carrier practices, weather, foreign government involvement, unforeseen disruptions in the process, timing, language, cargo quality and quantity, even payment issues.