Category Archive

The value of a port. What if the charges for using your major import port doubled or trebled? Would you be alarmed and what could you do about it? Do you know what the port charges are? The importance of ports to the economy of a nation, state or province means that many ports are owned by state entities that … Read More

The number of ships is reducing. While the total capacity of container shipping continues to increase, it is through the introduction of larger ships, not having more ships. Does this situation have long term consequences for your supply chains? Drewry Maritime Research recently identified that the number of containerships scrapped was about the same number as new ships. The critical … Read More

Using logic and imagination as a logistician. I noted an insightful message this week in an advertisement for a product I cannot remember. The message said “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere”. It was written by Albert Einstein, who knew a thing or two about logic and imagination. As logisticians, how are logic … Read More

Blame the software. I was chatting with a colleague who told me some of his experiences when recently implementing an application at a client business. The application had been installed and was working when he received a call that the inventory control module was not working. The planner had checked that a grade of cellophane required for a packing run … Read More

Identifying competitive manufacturing countries. I recently read about the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report on global manufacturing cost competitiveness, which identified how the list of competitive countries has changed over the past decade. This report is important because many executives still consider that China is low cost, while western Europe and other developed countries are expensive. Based on this consideration, … Read More