SOUTHEAST ASIA LOGISTICS

World Bank Logistics Peformance Index scores and rankings for 11 countries in SE Asia.  Shows quite a contrast, including no scores for some.  Overcoming Singapore's dominance as logistics hub would be a challenge.

SouthEast Asia— World Bank LPI	2007 Score/Rank	2010  Score/Rank	2012 Score/Rank	2014 Score/Rank
Brunei	---------	---------	---------	---------
Cambodia	2.50/81	2.37/129	2.56/101	2.74/83
East Timor	---------	---------	---------	---------
Indonesia	3.01/43	2.76/75	2.94/59	3.08/53
Laos	---------	---------	---------	---------
Malaysia	3.48/27	3.44/29	3.49/29	3.59/25
Myanmar	1.86/147	2.33/133	2.37/129	2.66/93
Philippines	2.69/65	3.14/44	3.02/52	3.00/57
Singapore	4.19/1	4.09/2	4.13/1	4.00/5
Thailand	3.31/31	3.29/35	3.18/38	3.43/35
Vietnam	2.89/53	2.96/53	3.00/53	3.15/48

SUPPLY CHAIN EBOOK

We are writing an ebook on lean supply chain management for the construction industry.

RFPs, OUTSOURCING, 3PLs

What should be in RFP for successful outsourcing? How do 3PLs find the issues not in the RFP that can affect his bid and performance?

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

An underlying problem to effective supply chain management is organizing by function--traffic, warehousing, etc--and not by process.

SUPPLY CHAIN EROSION BY CONTAINER LINES

More proof how container lines are negatively impacting supply chains.  From American Shipper -- Research reflects rise in skipped sailings

Monday, April 14, 2014

By Chris Dupin

Shippers should prepare for longer transit times and more frequent use of skipped sailings or "blank voyages" by container carriers, according to recent research.
BlueWater Reporting tracks skipped sailings globally on a week-to-week basis of all inter-regional services, and skipped vessel capacity has been running ahead of levels from a year ago.
Hayes Howard, chief executive officer of BlueWater Reporting said, "Carriers are pulling sailings more frequently as one of several tools deployed to manage capacity. From a carrier perspective, pulling unneeded capacity enables them to do a better job of matching supply with demand and the new alliance agreements mean that capacity can be pulled without much impact on service commitments to shippers. Shippers may be concerned that restricting capacity will enable carriers to raise rates, but it will also enable carriers to raise supply quickly when demand increases."

Source: BlueWater Reporting.

Drewry, the London-based consultant, noted, "There was a time when vessel optimization was achieved by simply deploying the biggest ships at full speed so to minimize the number of vessels required. It was a rare example of a win-win scenario for carrier and shipper, aligning carrier profitability with service quality in terms of fast transit times." But, it added, "The global financial crisis and hugely inflated fuel prices shattered those bedrock assumptions of how to operate liner services and ever since, it has been much more cost effective to operate more ships at lower speeds.
"Slow steaming (combined with additional ships being phased into loops) was first adopted in the Asia-Europe trades and then gradually expanded from early 2009 into the transpacific and several north-south routes. Carriers quickly realized the fact that as well as reducing voyage costs, slow steaming offered a way of managing the vessel surplus that was building up as demand shriveled."
Drewry added that the average number of ships in Asia-North Europe services has jumped from eight to 11 as voyage speeds have dropped from 24-25 knots to 17 knots.
Drewry estimated that about 3 percent of ships are in idled (defined as vessels not attached to a service for 14 days or more), but notes that is a much smaller bite out of the global fleet than it was in 2009, when container ship capacity in layup reached 10 percent.
As a way of measuring the effectiveness of carriers’ capacity management tactics, Drewry said, it has compared the current supply-demand situation with what it would have been if such methods had not been adopted.
"The net result is that total effective capacity has only grown by 22 percent since 2008, whereas at “full speed,” the global capacity would have grown by 40 percent over the same period. In 2013 alone, slow steaming and lay-ups reduced available supply by nearly 3 million TEUs.

LOGISTICS HUBS / PARKS

Too many logistics hubs talk about what they do, not what customers need.  They lack competitive differentiation and a solid value proposition, and are asset rich and cargo poor.

SUPPLY CHAIN EROSION

How many companies have and have not adjusted to the supply chain erosion caused by container lines continuing service vagaries?

JAMAICA LOGISTICS HUB

World Bank Logistics Performance Index score and ranking indicates that Jamaica needs more than investing in infrastructure to be a logistics hub.

World Bank LPI	2007 Score/Rank	2010  Score/Rank	2012 Score/Rank	2014 Score/Rank
Jamaica	2.25/118	2.53/108	2.42/124	2.84/70

SINGAPORE

Singapore accuses 11 freight forwarders of price fixing  http://www.supplychainasia.org/news/industry/item/6792-singapore-accuses-11-freight-forwarding-firms-of-price-fixing

OMAN LOGISTICS HUB

World Bank Logistics Performance Index scores and rankings for the GCC indicate that Oman needs more than investing in infrastructure to be a Logistics Hub  

GCC--World Bank LPI	2007 Score/Rank	2010  Score/Rank	2012 Score/Rank	2014 Score/Rank
Bahrain	3.15/36	3.37/32	3.05/48	3.08/52
Kuwait	2.99/44	3.28/36	2.83/70	3.01/56
Oman	2.92/48	2.84/60	2.89/62	3.00/59
Qatar	2.98/46	2.95/55	3.32/33	3.52/29
Saudi Arabia	3.02/41	3.22/40	3.18/37	3.15/49
United Arab           Emirates	3.73/20	3.63/24	3.78/17	3.54/27

WEST COAST DOCK STRIKE

How many firms have developed supply chain contingency plans for a West Coast dock strike?  Recognize many other ports may strike too or become congested.

SUPPLY CHAIN SEGMENTATION

Segmentation breaks the monolithic supply chain and provides needed agilty, especially because of the international impact.

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT AND OUTSOURCING

How many firms outsourced manufacturing with no understanding of the impact on their supply chains and customer service?

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Is supply chain management more art or more science?

SUPPLY CHAIN OUTSOURCING

How much logistics / supply chain outsourcing is done to make the company better, and how much is done to enable present operations?

3PLS AND SEGMENTATION

Segmentation helps 3PLs to-- 1) Improve service offering 2) Focus market message 3) Pursue better opportunities 4) Obtain quality revenues

GCC AND LOGISTICS RANKINGS

Here are the World Bank Logistics Performance Index scores and rankings for the 6 countries of the GCC.  WB ranks 160 countries. Interesting too as there are investment efforts and plans to be logistics hubs.  There are needs for improvement and for competitive differentiation.

GCC--World Bank LPI	2007 Score/Rank	2010  Score/Rank	2012 Score/Rank	2014 Score/Rank
Bahrain	3.15/36	3.37/32	3.05/48	3.08/52
Kuwait	2.99/44	3.28/36	2.83/70	3.01/56
Oman	2.92/48	2.84/60	2.89/62	3.00/59
Qatar	2.98/46	2.95/55	3.32/33	3.52/29
Saudi Arabia	3.02/41	3.22/40	3.18/37	3.15/49
United Arab           Emirates	3.73/20	3.63/24	3.78/17	3.54/27

GRANULAR AND SUPPLY CHAINS AND 3PLs

Granularity identification can be an effective tool for supply chains and for 3PLs.

 

 

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

These two quotes seem to fit many supply chains and the company execs--
Nothing can come of nothing
Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

Read the article on inventory management and supply chain management-- http://www.ltdmgmt.com/inventory1102.asp