UK and E-invoicing

E-invoicing will make 'significant contribution' to £900,000 savings at Thurrock Council

1 June 2014 | Will Green

Thurrock Council is hoping a move to e-invoicing will make a “significant contribution” to target procurement savings of £900,000 this year.
The local authority processed almost 70,000 invoices in 2012/13 but nearly two-thirds were for under £500.
Kathryn Adedeji, head of commercial services, said: “All those relatively small payments represented less than 5 per cent of the council’s spending with suppliers but the smallest invoice required as much processing time as one for a million-pound project.”
Under the new system purchase orders and invoices are generated in one place online, ending the need to re-input details and minimising the risk of invoices being lost or keystroke errors delaying payment.
So far 50 suppliers have signed up to the system. Using it has been a requirement for all new contracts since April, and it is expected that “within two to three years around 60 per cent of invoices will be paperless”.
Staff time will be saved and speeded-up payment times will “ensure the council receives all the discounts available for rapid payment”.
Ken Cole, director of projects and practice at SPS Consultancy Services, was project manager on the implementation of the Oracle i-Supplier system.
“Most organisations are clogged up with invoices,” he said. “Although they send electronic invoices most organisations regard electronic invoices as those sent in by email. It still involves re-keying information.”
Meanwhile, Surrey County Council says it expects to save almost £25 million in this financial year by “striking better deals with contractors”.
Around £10 million of savings are expected from negotiations with roads and property maintenance contractors, with more expected in the areas of IT, transport and energy.
Cabinet member for business services councillor Denise Le Gal said: “We’ll continue to work with our suppliers to find ways of providing goods and services more efficiently and by doing this we should save local taxpayers almost £25 million this year.
“We’ve now saved almost £110 million in the past three years through our negotiating skills alone and we’ll continue to focus on finding ways of ensuring taxpayers’ money goes further while providing excellent services to the people of Surrey.”

STRATEGY & SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Too many companies fail to see their supply chain as a strength--and so they struggle with strategy development and execution.

Reinvent Your Company by Reassessing Its Strengths

by Ken Favaro | 11:00 AM May 30, 2014

• Comments (3)

Strategic consistency is the hallmark of many great companies. Southwest Airlines’ decades-long strategy of “short-haul, high-frequency, point-to-point, low-fare service” produced what was not only one of the best-performing airlines in the U.S. over the last half-century, but also one of the best-performing companies in any industry. For over 50 years, Wal-Mart has pursued essentially the same strategy of “offering the lowest price so its customer can live better.” Wells Fargo has become the most valuable bank in the world by sticking to its strategy of building a value proposition around selling more products per customer than anyone else. And the essence of Walt Disney’s original strategy remains intact today: to construct a range of businesses — from animated film to fun parks, TV, retail, cruise ships, and more — around a group of engaging, family-friendly characters.
But the corporate landscape is also littered with once-great companies whose strategies became obsolete faster than they were able to reinvent themselves. For example, deregulation killed off icons in the airline business such as Pan Am and TWA. Digital technology overwhelmed Kodak’s once-formidable business in photography. The emergence of e-commerce obliterated the likes of Borders, Circuit City, and Blockbuster. Smartphones destroyed Nokia’s cell phone business. Strategic consistency may be a hallmark of great enterprises, but it hastened the demise of these companies. They needed reinvention, not more of the same.
Smart executives know that sustaining great companies requires both strategic consistency and reinvention. But how do you achieve each without sacrificing the other?
In my experience, the answer lies in being able to answer — and act on — two important questions: what capabilities set your company apart from everyone else? And, are there changes happening in your world that will make those capabilities obsolete or insufficient?
The foundation of strategic consistency is being clear about the capabilities that make your company special. Frito-Lay’s direct-to-store delivery capability, Inditex’s fast-fashion supply chain, and Toyota’s production system took years to hone into true sources of enterprise differentiation. If a company’s leaders understand the capabilities that define its unique identity, they’ll make smarter decisions about what businesses to buy and sell, what markets to enter and exit, what to prioritize in new product development, how to manage costs, where to invest, and all the other choices that are inherent in sustaining a great company.
However, leaders must always ask themselves whether their differentiating capabilities are still relevant. Today, all the major credit card companies are seeking to move from traditional payments to digital commerce. In payments, core capabilities are tied to driving card usage because the economic model is based on card transaction fees; but as they move into digital commerce, most credit card firms are finding they lack a new set of required capabilities — the ability to generate, analyze, and use customer data in order to drive sales and loyalty for their primary customer, the merchants who accept their cards.
Similarly, in big-box retailing, most players have run out of room in their home markets for laying down more super stores, so they are seeking growth by using a small-store format to penetrate pockets of geography that their bigger stores cannot reach. But the capabilities — from merchandising to managing store staff and operating the supply chain — are very different for a small-store format.
Or consider U.S. health care providers: the push for more accountable care will require new business models where risk sharing with private and government insurers becomes more the norm. And, yes indeed, such models will demand a set of capabilities now alien to most care providers. Leaders of any company operating credit cards, big box retailing, or health care should be be saying to themselves, “Yes, changes happening in our world are making our capabilities insufficient, if not obsolete. Strategic consistency is not enough right now; we need strategic reinvention to shore up and bolster the foundation of capabilities that will underpin great performance from the business we will have, not just the business we have today.”
There are a handful of leaders who have successfully managed the tension between strategic consistency and reinvention to survive major changes and create a new life for their companies. Andy Grove pivoted Intel from a memory chip to a smart chip company; Lou Gerstner turned IBM from a hardware OEM to an IT services provider; and Phil Knight transformed Nike from a sports shoe company to a sports licensing company. In each case, the reinvention was about adding new capabilities to those that made the company great in the first place. Thus, neither its reinvention meant the loss of strategic consistency nor did strategic consistency come at the cost of falling behind the changes happening all around it.
Managing the tension between strategic consistency and reinvention does not have to mean taking less of one in order to have more of the other. If you correctly identify the capabilities that make your company great and build your strategies around them, and if you act smartly on the enhancements or additions to those capabilities that your changing world requires, you will achieve the benefits of strategic consistency while also preparing your company for the seismic shifts that are inevitable in every industry.

3PLs & STRATEGY

3PLs should read.  For many strategy is a weakness.

Reinvent Your Company by Reassessing Its Strengths

by Ken Favaro | 11:00 AM May 30, 2014

• Comments (3)

Strategic consistency is the hallmark of many great companies. Southwest Airlines’ decades-long strategy of “short-haul, high-frequency, point-to-point, low-fare service” produced what was not only one of the best-performing airlines in the U.S. over the last half-century, but also one of the best-performing companies in any industry. For over 50 years, Wal-Mart has pursued essentially the same strategy of “offering the lowest price so its customer can live better.” Wells Fargo has become the most valuable bank in the world by sticking to its strategy of building a value proposition around selling more products per customer than anyone else. And the essence of Walt Disney’s original strategy remains intact today: to construct a range of businesses — from animated film to fun parks, TV, retail, cruise ships, and more — around a group of engaging, family-friendly characters.
But the corporate landscape is also littered with once-great companies whose strategies became obsolete faster than they were able to reinvent themselves. For example, deregulation killed off icons in the airline business such as Pan Am and TWA. Digital technology overwhelmed Kodak’s once-formidable business in photography. The emergence of e-commerce obliterated the likes of Borders, Circuit City, and Blockbuster. Smartphones destroyed Nokia’s cell phone business. Strategic consistency may be a hallmark of great enterprises, but it hastened the demise of these companies. They needed reinvention, not more of the same.
Smart executives know that sustaining great companies requires both strategic consistency and reinvention. But how do you achieve each without sacrificing the other?
In my experience, the answer lies in being able to answer — and act on — two important questions: what capabilities set your company apart from everyone else? And, are there changes happening in your world that will make those capabilities obsolete or insufficient?
The foundation of strategic consistency is being clear about the capabilities that make your company special. Frito-Lay’s direct-to-store delivery capability, Inditex’s fast-fashion supply chain, and Toyota’s production system took years to hone into true sources of enterprise differentiation. If a company’s leaders understand the capabilities that define its unique identity, they’ll make smarter decisions about what businesses to buy and sell, what markets to enter and exit, what to prioritize in new product development, how to manage costs, where to invest, and all the other choices that are inherent in sustaining a great company.
However, leaders must always ask themselves whether their differentiating capabilities are still relevant. Today, all the major credit card companies are seeking to move from traditional payments to digital commerce. In payments, core capabilities are tied to driving card usage because the economic model is based on card transaction fees; but as they move into digital commerce, most credit card firms are finding they lack a new set of required capabilities — the ability to generate, analyze, and use customer data in order to drive sales and loyalty for their primary customer, the merchants who accept their cards.
Similarly, in big-box retailing, most players have run out of room in their home markets for laying down more super stores, so they are seeking growth by using a small-store format to penetrate pockets of geography that their bigger stores cannot reach. But the capabilities — from merchandising to managing store staff and operating the supply chain — are very different for a small-store format.
Or consider U.S. health care providers: the push for more accountable care will require new business models where risk sharing with private and government insurers becomes more the norm. And, yes indeed, such models will demand a set of capabilities now alien to most care providers. Leaders of any company operating credit cards, big box retailing, or health care should be be saying to themselves, “Yes, changes happening in our world are making our capabilities insufficient, if not obsolete. Strategic consistency is not enough right now; we need strategic reinvention to shore up and bolster the foundation of capabilities that will underpin great performance from the business we will have, not just the business we have today.”
There are a handful of leaders who have successfully managed the tension between strategic consistency and reinvention to survive major changes and create a new life for their companies. Andy Grove pivoted Intel from a memory chip to a smart chip company; Lou Gerstner turned IBM from a hardware OEM to an IT services provider; and Phil Knight transformed Nike from a sports shoe company to a sports licensing company. In each case, the reinvention was about adding new capabilities to those that made the company great in the first place. Thus, neither its reinvention meant the loss of strategic consistency nor did strategic consistency come at the cost of falling behind the changes happening all around it.
Managing the tension between strategic consistency and reinvention does not have to mean taking less of one in order to have more of the other. If you correctly identify the capabilities that make your company great and build your strategies around them, and if you act smartly on the enhancements or additions to those capabilities that your changing world requires, you will achieve the benefits of strategic consistency while also preparing your company for the seismic shifts that are inevitable in every industry.

HONG KONG RETAIL SALES

Retail sales plunge 9.8pc

Eddie Luk and Imogene Wong
Wednesday, June 04, 2014


Hong Kong retail sales have plunged 9.8 percent - the biggest drop since February 2009.
The government attributed the drop to HK$38.8 billion in April to sales of high-value goods including jewelry and watches. It noted that the decline - the third in as many months - might reflect a cutback in visitor spending after a prolonged period of brisk growth. However, an economist suggested the fall may also be related to the crackdown on corruption in the mainland, with many big spenders lying low. Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah warned that if the drop in local retail sales continues and becomes a trend, it could affect local economic development and employment. Speaking before the release of the figures, Chief Executive Leung Chun- ying said he hoped they would stimulate further discussion on whether Hong Kong should act to reduce the number of mainlanders visiting the SAR. Retailers fear the situation will worsen if the number of mainland visitors is to be cut by around 20 percent. In the face of criticism from some Hongkongers about the number of mainlanders flooding across the border, Leung earlier floated the figure of a 20 percent cut in visitors as an option for the Commission on Strategic Development to discuss during a meeting last week. Analysts and economists say the latest plunge indicates that spending by mainland tourists has slowed despite the rise in tourist numbers. The hardest hit were jewelry, watches and valuable gifts, which fell 39
.9 percent year on year to HK$7.8 billion.
Sales of consumer goods such as cellphones and tablets dropped 22 percent to HK$1.14 billion, while electrical goods and photographic equipment dropped 8.3 percent to HK$2.7 billion. Retail sales in March and February this year dropped by 1.5 percent and 2.2 percent to HK$39 billion and HK$40 billion, respectively. Hong Kong Retail Management Association chairwoman Caroline Mak Sui-king said retail sales might drop further if the number of mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong is reduced. In the worst-case scenario, retailers might cut their advertising budgets and lay off staff to save costs, Mak warned. Joseph Chu Kai-To, former chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Watch Trades and Industries, said spending on high-end products by mainland tourists during last month's Labor Day Golden Week holiday had dropped. He said more mainland tourists are traveling to Europe for shopping and it is unnecessary for Hong Kong to curb tourists arrivals. Economist Andy Kwan Cheuk-chiu is not surprised at the plunge in sales of luxury goods amid the mainland corruption crackdown, and he expects the trend to continue. He suggested setting a cap for multiple-entry permit visitors to solve the problem. Shares of leading cosmetics chain Sa Sa International (0178) dropped 0.95 percent to HK$5.21 yesterday. It has plunged 42.7 percent since the beginning of the year. Financial services and treasury secretary Chan Ka-keung said the decline in retail sales was due to mainland economic development and changes in consumers' consumption patterns.

P3 & EU

CMA CGM: No challenge to P3 in Europe

Tuesday, June 03, 2014

By Chris Dupin

French liner carrier CMA CGM said Tuesday the European Commission has informed it, along with Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Co., that it will not open proceedings in connection with their plans to create the vessel-sharing alliance known as the P3 Network.
Reuters quoted Antoine Colombani, commission spokesman for competition policy, as saying "At this stage, the commission does not intend to open proceedings in relation to P3 or G6."
CMA CGM said the commission will "follow P3 to ensure it remains in compliance with EU competition law."
The world's three largest container carriers first announced plans to form the P3 Network last year, which will allow them to share space on vessels moving between the major east-west container routes: Asia–Europe, transpacific and transatlantic. That was followed by an announcement by the G6 carriers -- APL, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai, MOL, NYK and OOCL -- that they would expand their cooperation in the Asia-Europe trade to include the transatlantic and transpacific.
CMA CGM said the P3 Network is subject to regulatory review in jurisdictions in North America, Europe and Asia.
In March, the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission decided to allow the P3 Network agreement to become effective in the United States and in April gave a similar nod to the G6.
CMA CGM explained that in the European Union the P3 Network was required to conduct a self-assessment. It said the P3 partners have been in voluntary discussions with the European Commission to confirm their view that the P3 is compliant with EU competition law.
"The P3 partners are pleased [with] the commission’s communication," said CMA CGM in a press release. "The partners will now continue their close cooperation with competition and maritime authorities in amongst others, China and South Korea, to address questions and to explain the nature of P3."
The P3 Network will operate about 250 ships with capacity of 2.6 million TEUs.
CMA CGM said "subject to the receipt of all relevant regulatory clearances (and the fulfilment of other conditions for completion), P3 is scheduled to start operations in the autumn of 2014."

CHINA SHIPPING & LOGISTICS PROBLEMS & SUPPLY CHAINS

More on logistics and shipping problems in China which impact supply chains.

Alibaba and China's Shipping Problem

By Drake BennettMay 29, 2014

---

Photograph by Imaginechina via AP Photo

Chinese workers sort parcels, most of which come from online shopping, at a transshipment center in Nantong city, east Chinas Jiangsu province in 2013

E-commerce sites such as eBay (EBAY) and Amazon.com (AMZN) arose when they did for a reason. The Internet first had to be invented, of course, and become a part of everyday life. They needed another thing, however: an efficient, reliable, nationwide system for delivering the stuff people ordered, in as little as a day, if requested. And in the U.S., that existed in the form of FedEx (FDX), United Parcel Service (UPS), and the U.S. Postal Service.
One of the challenges for Chinese e-commerce companies—Alibaba being the largest—is that this isn’t yet the case in China. While some consolidation has come lately, the Chinese shipping industry is still fragmented into lots of small companies that ferociously compete to undercut each other on price, and timeliness and package care often suffer.
Big international carriers such as UPS and FedEx are niche players, hampered by government policies that limit their range. “It’s very, very competitive, very rate-driven, and on-time delivery, until not that long ago, was a problem for many of the shippers,” says Cathy Roberson, an analyst at Transport Intelligence. “You’ve got lots of mom-and-pop companies.”

Story: How China's Government Set Up Alibaba's Success

Difficulties of logistics in China aren’t confined to the shipping companies. The infrastructure the companies rely on to transport their goods is still uneven—the highway system isn’t nearly as extensive as in the U.S., and it peters out in the country’s rural reaches, while the rail system still focuses more on passengers than on freight. Many rural residents don’t have formal addresses. And the country is woefully short of warehouse space. Warehouses it does have lack the sort of modern pick-and-pack systems and computer tracking that have been key to Amazon’s success (and, for that matter, to Wal-Mart’s (WMT)). According to a recent Reuters article, Boston has more modern warehouses than all of China.
China’s e-commerce companies are fully aware of the problem. JD.com (JD), the country’s second-largest online retailer (after Alibaba) created its own delivery service. Alibaba hasn’t done that, but a year ago it launched the China Smart Logistics Network—Alibaba founder Jack Ma is its chairman—an initiative that aims over the next decade to upgrade the country’s shipping capabilities, partly by providing shipping services but also by supplying warehouses and the sort of software and data analytics that can make the process more efficient. Major international warehouse companies such as Global Logistic Properties (GLP:SP) and Prologis (PLD) are going hard into China.

ROTTERDAM PORT CONGESTION & SUPPLY CHAINS

Congestion problems at Rotterdam port as container lines skip schedules, slow steam, and lack schedule integrity.  Bring on all those mega ships for more problems.  And good luck managing those supply chains.

YEMAN OMAN & GCC LOGISTICS HUB

How does this impact Oman's plan to be the logistics hub of the GCC?

Yemen to become 160th WTO member

Tuesday, June 03, 2014

By Chris Gillis

Yemen is expected to become the 160^th member of the World Trade Organization on June 26.
The country submitted its “Instrument of Acceptance” to the WTO director general on May 27 confirming its membership terms. In the acceptance, the Yemeni government declares the law approving the country’s Protocol of Accession enacted by parliament was issued by the Yemini president on May 11.
Yemen applied for WTO membership in April 2000. It completed its application process on Sept. 26, 2013. Trade ministers of WTO members officially approved Yemen’s accession on Dec. 4, 2013, during the Ninth Ministerial Conference in Bali, Indonesia.
Yemen is the seventh least-developed country to accede to the multilateral trading system since the WTO was established in 1995.

SURCHARGES & PORT STRIKE

In recent months, many vessel operating common carriers and NVOCCs have updated their FMC tariff rules to provide surcharges of USD 1000 per FEU to be imposed in the event of port congestion due to labor disruption, lockouts, or strikes. The contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and vessel operators represented by the Pacific Maritime Association expires June 30, 2014 and negotiations for a new contract are underway. The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has issued an industry advisory reminding all parties that any tariff rule (including surcharges) that results in an increased cost to a shipper may not be effective earlier than 30 days after publication. Furthermore, tariff rules applicable to any given shipment are those in effect on the date the cargo is received by the carrier the origin port or inland point. These regulations apply to both U.S. imports and exports.

SUPPLY CHAINS

There is no such thing as "one size fits all" in business when it comes to customers and sales.  So why do companies operate their supply chains that way to service their customers?

 

CONFLICT MINERALS SUPPLY CHAINS

Conflict mineral supply chains, transparency (and risk) from Forbes--

Conflict Minerals Rules Show The Value Of Knowing Your Supply Chain

The end of May was the deadline for companies that use so-called conflict minerals in their products to report to the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US.

The rules, part of the Dodd Frank legislation that emerged in the wake of the financial crisis, cover products that use tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold (often abbreviated to 3TG). One of the main sources for these metals is the Democratic Republic of Congo and the mining of them is helping to fund militia groups and extend what the Enough Project, a US campaigning group, calls the deadliest conflict since the Second World War.

According to the group, the civil war in the central African country has claimed 5.4 million lives since it started in 1994. Conflict minerals rules are an attempt to end the fighting by removing funding from the combatants. While the US rules are the most immediate issue for businesses, the European Union is introducing its own rules, as are Canada and Australia.
This is a business issue as well as a humanitarian one because the 3TG metals are used in a whole range of products, from golf clubs to hearing aids, from jewellery to toothpaste. But the sector that will be most affected is consumer electronics, where the metals are used in mobile phones, computers and tablets. As a result, some of the world’s biggest and most high-profile brands have found themselves in the spotlight – companies such as Apple, Intel, Microsoft, Sony and Samsung.
Dodd Frank (named after the two senators that steered the law through Congress) directly affects about 6,000 companies, who are in turn demanding answers on conflict minerals from a further 250,000 or so suppliers.

 

Companies that are affected will have to determine whether their products use conflict minerals, and if so, whether they come from the DRC or the nine countries that surround it via a process known as a Reasonable Country of Origin Inquiry (RCOI). There are some tools to make this process easier, such as the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template, an electronic form that companies throughout the supply chain can use to disclose whether conflict minerals have been used and to identify the smelters involved.
There is also a new standard from IPC, the global association for the printed board and electronics assembly industry, to help companies comply with Dodd Frank.
If the minerals are from the region, the company must work out if they are from banned sources and it must report its findings to the SEC. A lot of businesses have found the process more arduous and expensive than they thought it would be, but the costs of compliance could be far greater – not just financially but in terms of bad publicity, loss of reputation and possibly loss of business as a growing number of organizations including government departments and some of the world’s biggest companies, such as Intel and HP, commit to becoming “conflict mineral-free”.
But conflict minerals are just one manifestation of an increased focus on supply chain transparency – a focus that is not going to go away.
In part, this increased scrutiny is a reflection of our multi-media world, which makes it easier for consumers and others to see what is going on and tell other people what they think about it.
Partly, it comes from companies themselves looking more closely at their own operations and realizing that many of their impacts reside in their supply chains. A number of recent high profile events such as the fatal textiles factory fire at Rana Plaza in Bangladesh and the horsemeat scandal in Europe have brought home to the world’s biggest companies the fact that they sit at the top of global supply chains about which they know alarmingly little.

 

Supply chain issues can happen in any industry – the chemicals industry, for example, already has to deal with regulations such as the EU’s REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) and RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) rules. Other materials that could prove controversial include timber and palm oil (deforestation leading to climate change), diamonds and cobalt (conflict in DRC), while there are also social issues to contend with, including child labour, bribery and corruption and human trafficking. In future, it is possible to envisage companies having to provide evidence that they are complying with regulations or social norms on everything from the amount of water used in their products to how much tax they pay.
While some businesses grumble about the cost of compliance, others are taking a more pro-active approach, looking at their supply chains to find out where the major risks are, where there may be opportunities to cut costs and even to identify new products and services.
“With Dodd Frank and other conflict mineral rules being just one part of a complex network of regulations, mandates and demands from customers for action on a wide range of issues, taking action to comply with it can be part of a pro-active approach that creates a framework for all your sustainability initiatives, from product design to end of life disposal or recycling,” says Michael Betz, vice-president of business and community development at life cycle analysis (LCA) experts PE International.
The OEM (original equipment manufacturer) supply chain is unquestionably moving toward compliant materials, phasing out and replacing current components and materials with new green ones, according to the German industrial giant Siemens. “OEMs cannot afford to wait for the changes to be forced upon them by their supply chain; rather they must take a pro-active approach to assess the impact that material choices may have on downstream processes,” the company says.
The conflict minerals issue is just one illustration of the fact that supply chain transparency is here to stay. Companies taking early action to uncover the secrets of their supply chains can turn it from burden into opportunity.

CONTAINER LINES & WHO THEY SELL TO

With mega ships, big  (unwieldy?) alliances, and a lot of other uncertainties, how and to whom will container lines sell, measured as percent of capacity, as to FFs/NVOs/OTIs vs BCOs?  More to middlemen as carriers have cut back on outside, direct sales?  And the impact for SMEs on their ability to manage their supply chains as a result?

CONTAINER LINES

From Lloyds-- Larger #container #ships being sent for breaking this year - five Hanjin #boxships sized 5,300 teu are largest #scrapped so far #shipping

SUPPLY CHAIN TECHNOLOGY

The two best supply chain technologies for about every supply chain are WMS and supply chain execution--as SaaS.

PHILADELPHIA - VERA CRUZ & SUPPLY CHAINS

This service sounds like a positive for supply chains --  From American Shipper
Weekly liner service planned between Philadelphia, Veracruz

Monday, June 02, 2014

By Catie Fry

Ship Philly First, a nonprofit organization that promotes Philadelphia’s ports, is working on creating a weekly liner service between Philadelphia and Veracruz, Mexico.
A company spokesperson told American Shipper there is a “very strong possibility” that the service could be running by the end of the year.
The Mexican consulate of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority, and ProMexico are working with Ship Philly First to generate more business for ports on what the company calls a congested Mexican border.
The proposed five-day ocean crossing is cheaper, faster, cleaner and safer than using highways, Ship Philly First said.
The spokesperson said that representatives from Ship Philly First and the Mexican government have been meeting for more than a year to formulate a business arrangement, and that there is “lots of interest” in the new liner service, adding that Philadelphia importers are traveling to Veracruz in July to discuss business arrangements.

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Who is worse at supply chain management--manufacturers or wholesalers?

ABU DHABI PORTS

Abu Dhabi ports protected by drones--

Eye in the sky: Abu Dhabi’s ports now protected by drones

New high secruity camera began operating above Khalifa Port, Zayed Port, the Free Port, and The New Free Port on Sunday.

The National Staff

June 2, 2014Updated: June 2, 2014 18:03:00

Save this article

Two remote-controlled flying drones are patrolling Abu Dhabi’s ports, Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC) said today.

Related

• 
  ■ New Abu Dhabi cruise terminal to ‘preserve’ the history of Zayed Port
• ■ Burj Khalifa buzz: a drone’s eye view of Dubai
• In pictures: GoPro files for US public offering
• ■ Flying drones used to monitor flamingos at Al Wathba Wetland Reserve
• Drones for good will bring forth new ideas

 

The new high security ’Eye in the Sky’ cameras began operating above Khalifa Port, Zayed Port, the Free Port, and The New Free Port on Sunday.
“The increased surveillance will strengthen the maritime security of international ships in the port, with even difficult to access locations being comprehensively monitored, offering a higher level of reassurance to visiting foreign vessels or ships with high value or sensitive cargos,” ADPC said in a statement today.
The drone’s camera can capture full HD video and 14 megapixel still photographs and comes equipped with its own Wi-Fi network for data transfer.
“The new drone cameras will be excellent security tools for monitoring, viewing and managing incidents, and will be particularly valuable in any search and rescue situation,” says Sultan Al Jaberi, the vice president Regulations, HSE and Security, ADPC.
Increasingly, drones are being utilised for civilian uses.
Drones are being used to monitor the flamingo population at the Al Wathba Wetland Reserve and a drone recently ‘buzzed’ the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, providing spectacular sweeping views of landmarks across Dubai.
A federal law, expected in the final quarter of the year, is being drafted by the General Civil Aviation Authority to license the use of drones in UAE airspace, Al Ittihad, the Arabic-language sister paper of The National has reported.
business@thenational.ae

Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/business/industry-insights/shipping/eye-in-the-sky-abu-dhabis-ports-now-protected-by-drones#ixzz33Uaq37QX
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SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Those who view supply chain management as a cost center hold back the financial and service benefits of SCM.  That myopic view fails to see supply chain management as a process.  Those firms also fail at competitive differentiation, as a result. They retard the revenue, customer service, working capital, and strategic opportunities that supply chain management can bring to their companies.

LOGISTICS / SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENT FIRMS

LTD Management provides logistics and supply chain management advice to investment firms.

WORLD BANK & MIDDLE EAST

World Bank Group President Brings Hopeful Message to Middle East

June 1, 2014

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Photo: Mohamed Azakir / World Bank

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Jim Yong Kim brings a message of optimism to Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Jordan in his first visit to those countries as World Bank Group president.
• The World Bank Group is helping Jordan and Lebanon cope with the impact of millions of refugees escaping ongoing conflict in Syria, but the international community needs to provide more help to the countries.
• The World Bank Group also is committed to scaling up support for countries undergoing political transition in the region.

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim has a message for the Middle East and North Africa: Despite the enormity of the challenges, the region can find a way out of its crises.
Kim is visiting Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Jordan for four days, during which his main messages will be about the importance of partnerships, good governance, transparency, and jobs for women and youth.
Four years after the Arab Spring, the region is at a crossroads. Conflict is ongoing in Syria. Millions of people have fled into neighboring Jordan and Lebanon, and now those countries struggle to fund their public services. Several other countries in the region are in political transition or recovering from conflict, and most need to improve education, adapt to climate change, improve governance, tackle inequality, and reduce unemployment.
But there are nascent signs of hope. Tunisia, where the Arab Spring began, bitter political rivals put aside their differences earlier this year and ratified a new constitution that adopted the principles of pluralism. In Yemen, the National Dialogue brought together the full range of political parties, civil society, women and young people. The gathering for the first time had a significant representation of women – 30 percent of the group.
“I visit the Middle East at a moment of tremendous challenges,” said Kim. “I am optimistic, however, that a brighter future for the next generation is within reach.”
He said the World Bank Group is working with development partners to “provide all the necessary support at this critical juncture.”
That includes financial commitments, which have been steadily growing in recent years and now stand at $16 billion in the region. New commitments in fiscal year 2014 (July 1, 2013 to July 1, 2014) are close to $5 billion. The Bank has also been sharing the lessons learned from its work around the world on how to turn a vibrant private sector into an engine of inclusive growth, and the role good governance and transparency play in creating effective and accountable institutions.
And the World Bank Group wants to strengthen partnerships with Saudi Arabia and Arab development funds to improve trade and transport within and between countries, and to scale up support for countries undergoing political transitions, among other initiatives.
Saudi Arabia contributed $3.25 billion to support Yemen’s transition process, and also co-hosted (along with the United Kingdom) the “Friends of Yemen” – a group of countries and intergovernmental organizations that came together to assist Yemen during the transition process.
Another focus of Kim’s visit is to affirm the World Bank Group’s support for Jordan and Lebanon, which have taken in close to 2 million Syrian refugees.
In Lebanon, roughly one quarter of the population is now Syrian. A World Bank assessment of the impact estimated that GDP dropped 2.9% a year between 2012 and 2014. In addition, over that time, 170,000 Lebanese fell into poverty, the unemployment rate doubled to above 20%, and total economic losses in both public and private sectors were estimated at $7.5 billion.
In both Lebanon and Jordan, the refugees are putting an extra strain on services such as water and electricity, waste disposal, primary education, and health, as well as bringing increased competition for scarce jobs.
To help Lebanon, the Bank created a Multi-Donor Trust Fund for grants from donors and partners. Norway has already contributed, and France and Finland recently made pledges, with other donors expressing interest. The Bank has contributed $10 million from the State and Peace Building Fund.
For Jordan, the Bank provided rapid financial assistance of $150 million in July 2013 to help the country cope with the influx of refugees. An additional $60 million grant was made in October 2013 by the Bank and a number of development partners including the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, and the Arab Fund. An additional $250 million was approved on March 13, 2014.
The UN made its largest-ever humanitarian appeal for $6.5 billion for 2014 to support aid organizations’ response to the massive humanitarian needs in Syria and neighboring countries. Some $2.3 billion was raised at the January 2014 Kuwait Donor Conference.
“The international community needs to step up its support to the Jordanian and Lebanese hosting communities,” said Kim. “The people of these countries have demonstrated unprecedented generosity. They should not be left to shoulder this crisis alone.”