4 minute read
Taking Stock
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EDITORIAL EDITOR: Emily Atkins (416) 614-5801 emily@newcom.ca CONTRIBUTORS: Mark Cardwell; Don Patten; Tom Pauls; Christian Siviere; Lou Smyrlis; Jacob Stoller; Stephanie Wallcraft LAYOUT AND DESIGN: Tim Norton (416) 510-5223 tim@newcom.ca ADVERTISING AND MARKETING MANAGING DIRECTOR: Lou Smyrlis lou@newcom.ca SALES MANAGER: Anthony Buttino (416) 614-5830 (514) 292-2297 anthonyb@newcom.ca PRODUCTION MANAGER: Jwad Khan (416) 510 6845 jwad@newcom.ca CIRCULATION MANAGER: Pat Glionna (416) 697-0049 pat@newcom.ca
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Container hunter
DO YOU KNOW where your cargo is?
Shippers the world over are frantically trying to find out where their containerized shipments are, and when they’ll reach their destination, as the global container shipping world grapples with massive backlogs. Ships loiter at anchor, waiting days or even weeks for a berth at the busiest ports, and container terminals are stuffed to overflowing.
We can blame the Covid-19 pandemic for massively altering the way people spend money. The shift away from spending on travel and services has meant a corresponding boom in purchases of stuff. And, as we all know, stuff travels around the world from its point of manufacture to where the consumers are, usually by container ship. This has meant an unprecedented flow – and backlog – of goods around the world.
I’m not laying blame on any one party in the supply chain. The roots of the backlogs and congestion trace back to a cascade of factors including earlier blanked sailings, the sudden surge in demand, carriers taking a cut-and-run approach to congested terminals (see our report on page 11 for details), and even shippers being unwilling to reroute their shipments despite knowing they would face delays.
It’s a disgrace at this point in our history that our extremely sophisticated digital capabilities are not being better deployed to prevent and alleviate such congestion. New stories about the digitization of the container shipping industry drop daily. It seems that everybody from the liner companies, to terminal operators, to independent digital tracking services, and others, are perpetually busy at work building new solutions. project44, for example, is making its new port congestion tracking system freely available to shippers for a time. DP World is demonstrating a container racking system that reduces moves in a yard and dramatically multiplies the number of boxes a yard can hold.
These are but two tiny examples of the vast resources that are at the ready to address this massive problem. As shippers, who are likely suffering increased costs as a result, you need to get on the pointy end of new digital solutions and apply them to your operations. But you also need to vote with your transportation budget and pressure your suppliers across the supply chain to get aboard. With business booming, there’s no excuse for being behind.
If you’d like to comment on this or any of our stories, please drop me a note at emily@newcom.ca.
LOOKING FOR A NEW JOB? HOW TO LAND YOUR NEXT BEST OFFER. PAGE 27.
