Up Front
Staff -- Logistics Management, 7/1/2002
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The European Commission has hit Deutsche Post (DP) with a $540 million fine for violating competition rules. Last month the commission ruled that the German postal service, which is partially privatized, had used public funds to subsidize its parcel shipping service in the mid-1990s. The commission said that DP had used the money to reduce pricing below that of private-sector competitors, a charge DP chairman Klaus Zumwinkle denies. "The commission's decision is so clearly disputable that only a judgment in favor of Deutsche Post is conceivable," he said in a statement. Zumwinkle insisted that public funds had never been used to support DP's parcel business. He also alleged that the commission's decision was based on a number of procedural errors and legal inconsistencies. United Parcel Service, which brought the initial complaint and has doggedly pursued it for years, claimed victory, but Deutsche Post immediately filed suit to overturn the decision.
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William Augello's new textbook, Transportation, Logistics and the Law, has proved to be so popular that he will soon take his "show" on the road. Augello, the Logistics Management columnist who is also executive director of the Transportation Consumer Protection Council, board member of the Logistical Institute and adjunct law professor at the University of Arizona, will offer in-house seminars based on his book. The program will cover such topics as the legal consequences of entering into transportation agreements, statutory remedies that have become available since the demise of the Interstate Commerce Commission, legal problems that frequently arise when using parcel and household-goods carriers, and much more. For more information, contact Augello at (520) 531-0203 or by e-mail at williamaugello@worldnet.att.net. Details on his textbook may be found at www.transportlawtexts.com.
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A long-time champion of the transportation industry is coming out of retirement to make another run for Congress. Helen Delich Bentley of Maryland, former chair of the Federal Maritime Commission and a five-term congresswoman, has announced that she is the Republican candidate for her former seat in the House of Representatives. Bentley, 78, was the highest-ranking woman in the federal government during the Nixon administration. The Nevada native began her career in Baltimore as a reporter covering the maritime industry and was instrumental in gaining support to build the Port of Baltimore into the regional economic engine it is today. In announcing her candidacy, Bentley said that her decision to run for office was largely motivated by the "unique perspective" on maritime security that she could bring to Congress.
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Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has proposed a bill that would require the creation of a national database of all radioactive materials, including those used in industrial, medical and research settings. The bill was prompted by the recent apprehension of a suspected Al Qaeda agent who allegedly intended to release a "dirty" bomb containing radioactive material. In announcing his proposal, Schumer noted that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was responsible for monitoring use of the widely available materials but had no means of tracking who was using radioactive materials outside of the nuclear power industry and where they were located. The legislation as proposed would affect shippers by tightening security requirements during the production, storage, transportation and disposal of radioactive materials.
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Bet you thought you'd heard every possible use of the phrase "supply chain." Well here's a new one: Banks, financial service consultants and providers of software that manages the payment and settlement process are calling the flow of money from buyer to seller the "financial supply chain." Although the term frequently appears in relation to international trade transactions, it also pops up in promotional literature and consultants' white papers about domestic payment procedures. The analogy most likely arose from the nature of the payment process, which in the case of international transactions may involve numerous parties and requires a complex series of steps and exchanges of information.
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A practical self-study guide from the Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC) helps managers learn how to recruit, interview and choose employees. The guide is designed for individual study, as a supplement to other training, or for use in group discussions. Although examples and exercises focus on warehousing and distribution situations, the basic principles of human resource management apply to almost any industry, says WERC's director of research and education, Rita Coleman. The guide includes quizzes, "what-if" scenarios and exercises, and worksheets. It is the first of a planned series on various supervisory topics. The WERCbook Series I—Recruiting, Interviewing and Selecting is available for $14.95 for WERC members and $29 for non-members. Contact WERC at (630) 990-0001 or visit www.werc.org for ordering information.
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A new organization that includes more than three dozen logistics technology companies is investigating ways to improve supply chain security for hazardous materials shipments. The Freight Transportation Security Consortium (FTSC) focuses on three areas: asset visibility, financing for new security-related technologies, and solutions to the problem of insufficient insurance coverage. FTSC also wants to develop common standards for security-related messaging and data encryption for Global Positioning System (GPS) devices that are used to track railcars and trucks carrying hazardous materials. For more information about the group and its initiatives, call Drew Robertson at (212) 297-6226 or go to www.transmatch.com.
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Third-party logistics provider Total Logistic Control (TLC) is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The Zeeland, Mich.-based company began as a produce marketer in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1902 and evolved into a public warehouse and third-party logistics service provider over the years. The company lays claim to several industry firsts, saying that it was the first public warehouse to offer consolidated less-than-truckload refrigerated service (1958) and the first public warehouse to offer online inventory management (1976). Fires, floods and the unexpected death of its CEO in the 1980s led managers to reorganize the company as Total Logistic Control and expand nationally. Today, publicly traded TLC owns or operates 20 logistics facilities nationwide and employs 1,400 associates.
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The latest edition of Who's Who in Logistics is hot off the presses. The 10th edition of the two-volume guide to third-party logistics service providers, published by Armstrong & Associates of Stoughton, Wis., provides detailed information about 200 North America-based regional and international service providers. As always, the book includes information about company contacts, services, clients and information technology capabilities. New this year is a quick-reference chart of providers' capabilities and a second volume that is exclusively devoted to details about international providers. Who's Who in Logistics sells for $495 (hard copy only) or $995 for both the hard copy and an MS-Access searchable database version. Contact Armstrong & Associates at (800) 525-3915 or go to www.3PLogistics.com for more information.
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