Vietnam Customs to receive assistance from Japan

As Vietnam’s economy continues it’s fast growth it’s important that infrastructure and government processes are developed to facilitate trade in an efficient and safe manner. So I was pleased to read this article about Japan’s involvement in working with Vietnam Customs to improve risk management and reduce clearance times:

Titled Risk Management for Customs in the Mekong region, the three-year project will include Cambodia and Thailand. Its purpose is to facilitate international trade and secure society from hazardous consignments. It is expected to enable Vietnam to acquire the expertise for the efficient and effective development of risk management to international standards. The project will focus on risk management for customs clearance, postal clearance and the prevention of smuggling. It will set customs risk management procedures for central and local profiling and development of a database.

Vietnam Customs officials say risk management is a major issue for international trade. They say the use of a common means of risk management drawn from Japan’s experience will help minimise clearance time and maximise national and international customs control.

Boeing has great year but admits that 787 delays will hurt in 2008

Boeing took full advantage of Airbus’ many chronicled woes with the A380 super-jumbo, which reflected in Boeing’s 2007 results. However, Boeing has run into problems of their own with the 787 which has delayed delivery, and admits that this will hurt their overall 2008 results, although it’s noted they still expect growth in 2008 over 2007. Via Air Transport World:

The 787 delays will impact 2008 revenues, however (ATWOnline, Jan. 18), with an originally forecast turnover of $72 billion dropping to $68 billion. Commercial aircraft sales, pegged at $34.5 billion, will account for about one-third of that decline.

Boeing now expects to deliver 480 aircraft this year compared with earlier forecasts of 490. But it expects higher profits as productivity gains, such as the 777 moving line, are realized ahead of earlier plans.

China-Europe rail link tests a success

A few weeks ago I linked to an article about Deutsche Bahn’s ambitious project to link China via rail that involved transit and cooperation with five different countries. The goal, of course, was to shorten average cargo transit time by roughly 40 days down to 18 between Beijing and Hamburg. At the time, the first test train had already departed Beijing.

So far, so good, according to this article from Air Cargo News, which states that the first test trains completed the journey in 15 days:

Project ‘Land Bridge,’ departed Beijing early January and travelled 10,000 km, through four countries, encountering numerous sized rail tracks, border bureaucracy and harsh weather, to arrive 15 days later on 24 January in Hamburg.

Whether or not the service can perform this reliably on a regular basis, against all these obstacles, is too early to say. However, the express arrival of the fourth container train, full of shoes and garments for Europe’s consumer markets, following a mammoth journey from Beijing across Mongolia, Siberia, Belarus and Poland, went some way in assuring supporters.

Interestingly enough, Air Cargo News article struck a bit of an alarmist tone as people are beginning to realize the impact this would have not only on containerized sea freight volumes but also air freight volumes:

Forget the increasing sea freight threat, if DB’s newly devised concept gets the green light, it could shatter air cargo volumes between the Far East and western Europe, say airfreight experts, not to mention ocean-air routes via Dubai.

A look at China’s produce supply chain

The very excellent All Roads Lead to China has a must read post from yesterday on the importance of the cold chain when it comes to the things we eat. Linking to an article from Cargo News Asia that indicates that approximately 30% of China’s total fruit and vegetable production is wasted, Richard breaks down the current supply chain model for produce in China:

Through a project a few years ago, I learned that the basic cycle of produce coming to market is that with the average farmer in China farming less than a single MU (660m2) of land, they will often consolidate their loads with neighbors through a simple program of dumping their produce on the street in front of their farms. A consolidator will make their way through the area and will pick up the loads and then dump them into a warehouse within the city/ district (depends on size) whereby the first sort will occur.

During the first sort, old or damage produce is separated from those that are sellable into the markets (local, regional, and export), and at that time anything that was lying on the ground or on the bottom of the truck will be essentially waste.

At this point, the goods will be consolidated once again and more than likely taken to another consolidator or delivered to market. Often times this transportation occurs without even boxing the produce, and it is highly unlikely that refrigeration is being used.. so what you have is a lot of produce that has been squashed at the bottom and exposed to the elements of the highway on the sides and top of the load… and will all end up waste.

The second to last step of this equation occurs at the grocery where the last sort is made by customers, and anyone who has ever bought bananas will know that stores never fully sell everything they stock. Well, in china the problem is larger as produce goes bad much faster from the lack of proper handling and refrigeration.

and without getting too graphic, you can only imagine what the process for meat and milk must be….

As Richard rightly mentions, this is a sustainability issue, because with proper investment in the supply chain to implement cold storage and transportation facilities, as well as improved packaging and handling standards, they could avoid a huge amount of wasted product. Head on over to Richard’s site for more details.

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