Filed in Transportation

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

As if navigating the Great Recession, earthquakes, tsunamis, terrorist threats, revolutions, volcanos, and high fuel prices over the past 24 months wasn’t enough, along comes the European economic crisis to tug on the wings of world’s leading air cargo carriers.

Global manufacturing and retail shippers now have their eyes firmly fixed on the tentative economic condition of Europe, attempting to calculate the eventual impact the situation will have on supply chain operations in the region and the rest of the world.

Analysts agree: One of the greatest challenges facing both shippers and carriers over the next year will be rebuilding relationships on the high seas.

It’s my honor to present the logistics and transportation community with the results of the 29th Annual Quest for Quality Survey. This is the culmination of a six-month research project conducted by Peerless Research Group (PRG) that’s become known as the most important measure of customer satisfaction and service performance excellence available in our industry.

Shippers are increasingly telling me that the number of options in the less-than-500-pound shipment market confuses them. The one thing that many can understand is that costs continue to climb despite the deregulation of rates. However, enormous savings can be achieved by knowing your shipment weight and distance, direction, and cube as well as the capabilities of your carrier.

The average truck consumes roughly 11,000 gallons of diesel per year. Consequently, even minor shifts in fuel prices have a significant impact on operating costs. For instance, when applied to a fleet of 100 trucks, a price drop of 25 cents per gallon generates annual savings exceeding a quarter of a million dollars.

It dawned on me the other day that some of the practices we employ in the planning and management of our logistics operations are similar to how farmers plan and harvest crops and how baseball managers select their team and deal with the variety of performance issues and injuries throughout the long season.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

As the world transitions to low-carbon alternatives, logistics managers will continue to depend on fossil fuels for the majority of their energy needs for the foreseeable future, said Business for Social Responsibility executives in San Francisco.

The survey-based “Supply Chain Metrics Report” also suggests that supply chain managers may be expecting too much from transportation providers

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

After seeing weekly declines for three months straight, diesel prices headed in the opposite direction this week, rising $3.5 cents to $3.683 per gallon, according to the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA).