Logistics Management

Patrick Burnson

As all LM readers know, mainstream media often identifies a carrier as being a “shipper.” It’s a careless mistake made by many of the most trusted and valued sources of information. Ocean carrier vessels are the usual suspects, but all-cargo air carriers, too, are frequently called “shippers.” The most maddening example of this ignorance occurred here in San Francisco when the Cosco Busan struck the Bay Bridge. As you will recall, the accident resulted in the spilling of substantial amounts of bunker fuel, and launched a Congressional investigation. All the papers covered it, naturally, with most defining the container ship as a “shipper.”

 

But it gets worse.

 

More confusion clouded the issue when Dave Eggers – a gifted local novelist – wrote a guest column for The New York Times describing the Busan as “an errant tanker.”

 

Meanwhile, The City Star’s headline screamed: “Tanker Leaves San Francisco Today.”

 

What hope have we of educating our lawmakers on transportation policy if their constituents are relying on these reporters and editors for their business intelligence?