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2012 SUPPLY CHAIN VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
Now ON-DEMAND @ logisticsmgmt.com/global2012
“ What’s happened is that
we have a collaborative
mentality among the
carriers. They realize that
if they compete for market
share they will trigger a
price war, so everybody has
been trying to avoid that.”
—David Jacoby,
Boston Strategies International
ocean miles. Despite this ongoing challenge,
David Jacoby, president of Boston
Strategies International, says that
the “collaborative approach” to ocean
carriage is worth the trouble it takes to
set up such arrangements.
Designed to facilitate better communication
and understanding on the high
seas, collaborative ocean shipping benefits
all parties and ensures a smoother,
more streamlined global supply chain.
And while repairing their bottom lines
has become a top priority for the world’s
ocean carriers, leading industry analysts
contend that they’re also looking to
restore customer relationships over the
coming year.
To do this, carriers are now initiating
their own analytics designed to measure
on-time reliability to create more
transparency, accountability, and comparability—and
shippers are responding
favorably by working these metrics
into their contracts.
To introduce his session, Jacoby
points out that as traffic volume continues
to slow, overall imports were up
7 percent to 10 percent over the previous
few months as a result of the peak.
However, he adds, West Coast imports
were up only 0.7 percent between
January and August of 2012. The net
trade balance will improve temporarily
as imports fall, says Jacoby, and the
growth of exports and imports “is very
close to a wash, which means that the
government policy was effective.”
However, spending patterns will
resume a strong import trend by the
third quarter of 2013, Jacoby predicts,
thus keeping the trade balance structurally
negative. As these and other
global and domestic trends continue
to affect shippers, ocean shipping
movements, and rates, Jacoby says
that working through the issues will
require a more collaborative approach
to the process.
“What’s happened is that we have
kind of a collaborative mentality among
the carriers,” says Jacoby. “They realize
that if they compete for market share
they will trigger a price war, so everybody
has been trying to avoid that.”
Global Port Tracker report points to deep
European recession
The most recent edition of the Global Port Tracker report from Hackett Associates
and the Bremen Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics suggests
that the logistics landscape in Europe will continue to be a puzzle.
Stagnant and sluggish economic conditions, including declining consumer
confidence, high unemployment, and tight fiscal policy, among others, continue
to paint a dark picture of the European economic outlook.
This continued weakness in the European economies confirms that the
recession is here and will continue to have an impact on trade flows over the
coming six months,” said Ben Hackett, president of Hackett Associates, in the
report. “Looking forward into 2013 does not provide for much optimism. Our
model suggests the recovery will not come before 2014.”
The report stated that total European volumes are projected to drop 9.3
percent over the next six months, compared to a 6.7 percent decline for the
same period a year ago. And imports are projected to decline 11.9 percent and
exports are projected to decline 4.7 percent for the same period. For all of 2012,
the report expects to see a 3.9 percent in total imports.
And for the six European ports surveyed in the report, that it’s projecting
imports to decline by 2.8 percent in 2012, with exports projected
to grow 3.6 percent. Total handled volumes for 2012—at 39.99
million TEU—would represent a modest 0.2 percent gain.
—Jeff Berman, Group News Editor
88 LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT WWW.LOGISTICSMGMT.COM | December 2012