Worst crisis in the history of container shipping is not over – CEO of Maersk Line (a TPM recap)
March 2, 2010 by 3plwire
Filed under Education, Featured, Seafreight, Supply Chain Management
While Eivind Kolding, Partner and CEO of Maersk Line, believes that the worst is behind the container line industry, the pain is far from over. As the keynote speaker at this year’s 2010 Trans-Pacific Maritime Conference in Long Beach this morning, Mr. Kolding noted that while there appears to be a good balance in supply vs. demand, it remains fragile. Trade volumes are up, but still way off from historical norms. The supply imbalance of container ships is lower, but still exists. The rate increases the carriers are seeing right now are good, but who knows when someone in the industry will bring in more tonnage than the market can absorb?
2009 was certainly a bad year for carriers: Mr. Kolding cited a 29% drop in container rates that contributed to an estimated $20 billion dollars in industry losses for the year. Import volumes are currently up 13%, but retail sales have only increased by 1%, therefore the volume increases could be short lived once inventory restocking is over. Consumer confidence is up, but still below where it should be.
On the question of industry consolidation, he highlighted the fact that too many players are chasing the same pieces of the pie. Even Maersk Line, the giant in the industry, only controls a 15.8% market share and the top 10 carriers in terms of volume barely control 60% of the market. Despite this, he doesn’t think we’ll see any shipping lines go down due to the downturn or from acquisition. Meanwhile, rates on the trans-pacific trade lanes are break-even at best.
Somewhat surprisingly, he had some critical words for his own company and the liner industry as a whole regarding delivery reliability and overall service. I’m paraphrasing, but he said something to the effect of “Our delivery reliability is appalling as an industry; best in class is only 60%. If we could get to 95% reliability customers could reduce inventory buffer by 60%.” He also expressed support for one-click shipping, citing statistics that showed that they amend each BL at least once.
On the question of slow steaming and the ever larger containerships entering the market, he insisted slow steaming was here to stay; partly as an environmental initiative and partly to save on bunker costs. As for the mega ships, he expects the trend for bigger ships to continue. “There is no reverse in the development of bigger vessels”, he said and reported that the majority of the vessels being laid up are the smaller, older ships: virtually all of the larger, more economical ships, are all in service.
2009 Container Shipping Review – Zepol.com
January 19, 2010 by 3plwire
Filed under Featured, Guest Post
As everyone in the 3PL community knows, 2009 was a tough year as United States import shipments were down 12.5% and TEUs dropped 11.7% when compared to 2008. The outlook does not look promising as 2010 begins as carriers struggle to stay afloat and rumors of rate increases abound. Below is a review of container shipping in 2009.
The total number of import Bills of Lading has a close relationship with TEUs; looking at the top ten U.S. and International ports shows that few ports saw strong years in 2009.
Kevin Palmstein is the Marketing Manager for Zepol Corporation. Zepol is the leading provider of United States trade information. Zepol’s products, TradeIQ™ and TradeView™, provide access to the latest U.S. Import Customs trade data and U.S. Import/Export Census trade statistics respectively. To learn more about Zepol, visit www.zepol.com and read their trade data blog, www.zepol.com/blog.
3PL Spotlight – Pantos Logistics
http://www.pantos.co.kr/en
Whilst ensuring we continue to expand and develop our service solution to create a competitive advantage for our customers, our primary services encompass both Freight Management and Supply Chain Solutions.
1. Services Offered
A. Transport
1. Domestic and international trucking
2. Chartered aircraft
3. FCL & LCL sea transport
4. Break bulk and heavy cargo
5. Multi-client consolidation
6. Shipment consolidation
7. Cross-docking
8. Express door-to-door or door-to-port
9. Re-forwarding
10. Rail on five continents
B. Warehousing
1. Track & trace system including real time data
2. Kitting and pick & pack
3. Bonded storage
4. Sub-assembly
5. Inventory management
6. Marking and labeling
C. Consulting
1. SCM consulting
2. Customs brokerage
3. Local legal and clearance formalities
4. Route planning and costing
5. Special load planning and supervision
2. Value Added Services
1. Multi-vendor container optimization
2. Quality inspections
3. Container match-back
4. Purchasing services
5. Vendor managed inventory
6. Configuration and sub assembly
7. Product repair and renovation
8. Recycling and re-boxing
9. Reverse logistics
3. Locations
A. 17 Locations in North America including:
1. New York City
2. Mexico City
3. Toronto
4. Dallas
5. Los Angeles
6. Chicago
B. 50 Locations in Asia including:
1. Seoul
2. Tokyo
3. Osaka
4. Beijing
5. Jakarta
6. Singapore
7. Hong Kong
8. Xiamen
9. Shanghai
10. Mumbai
11. Bangkok
C. 23 Locations in Europe including:
1. London
2. Amsterdam
3. Kiev
4. St. Petersburg
5. Vladivostok
6. Los Angeles
7. Madrid
8. Hamburg
9. Milan
10. Istanbul
D. 4 Locations in the Mid-East and 4 Locations in South America
4. I.T. Capabilities (Global Single Window System)
1. Cargo tracking management
2. Real-time inventory management
3. Electronic shipping documents management
4. Live video feeds
5. Competitive Advantage
1. Providing the majority of logistic services for LG Chem and LG Electronics, Pantos boasts a tremendous amount of expertise in handling chemical and electronic cargo.
2. Trucking specialized in handling hazardous materials
3. Shipper’s own containers, including within C.I.S.
4. Possesses significant bargaining power within Asia
5. Intimate knowledge of TSR and TCR, including in house customs brokers, allowing for optimum Asia-to-Europe transport.
6. Offices in five continents and the Mid-East.
7. The highly adaptable Global Single Window System, including live TV feeds, allows for the greatest possible security in tracking shipments.
8. 51 warehouses worldwide
New HTS Code Trade Data Trend Tool for 3PLwire.com Readers
November 5, 2009 by 3plwire
Filed under Featured, Guest Post, Trade Data
One of the most important things that transportation service providers use trade data for is to see the trends for the industries they serve. They want to know where imports are coming from and where exports are going. They examine how much product is being imported and exported; compare the data to the past to see if how much of an increase or decrease the entire market is seeing.
To this end, Zepol has developed a new feature on our website, www.zepol.com, which provides the most recent trends of U.S. trade statistics for each Harmonized Tariff Code. This information is searchable by HTS Code and also can be drilled down on from our Current Data by HTS Code page.
These pages show a trend graph and the top 5 countries that the products were imported from and exported to. It also allows you to drill up or down on the HTS code hierarchy. It is our goal that members of the third party logistics industry can uses this information to educate themselves and in turn their customers about the movement of specific goods in an out of the United States.
