Taipei Plans Port Expansion

Taiwan’s Port of Taipei is planning a $558-million expansion over eight years, creating an alternative to existing major ports as trade with China is expected to boom, an official said. The expansion, which is planned in at least three phases, will raise the port’s profile but not likely rival the island’s leading Port of Kaohsiung, which handles about 10 million TEUs per year, and second-ranked Keelung, which handles about 2 million TEUs. The expansion’s first phase, a 119-acre container terminal worth about NT$2 billion ($60 million), will be put up for a build-operate-transfer bid at the end of the year. A 304-acre offshore storage zone costing US$78 million will also go for bid at the end of 2009, Hsiao said, and a US$420-million container terminal also covering 304 acres should go for a bid within three to four years.

Pearl River Delta to expand transportation network

The Chinese government says it will build a highly convenient and efficient transportation network in the Pearl River Delta by expanding capacities of roads, railways, ports and airports over the next 12 years. The resolution was made in a 2008-2020 national plan on the development of the Pearl River Delta released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The plan sets the goal of turning the delta into the most efficient and safest passenger and cargo transport center in the Asia-Pacific region. The move will help bolster exchange among the country’s booming southern regions including the Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

 

2009 Logistics Rate Outlook: A Window of Opportunity?

The confluence of global economic weakening and widespread carrier problems offers shippers a rare rate opportunity. As 2008 came to a close, world markets were in slow-motion freefall, retail spending was off significantly, and overcapacity was the prevailing condition of virtually every transportation mode. But how long this opportunity will last depends on the duration of the present economic doldrums. Now may be the time to review all carrier contracts and strike while the iron is hot. In terms of the intermodal situation, the leverage is even more in favor of the shipper. However, with business downsizing and some going bust, the rate situation might most probably stay stalled – since the drop in capacity has been matched by the drop in shipper volume and fuel surcharges are no longer an issue. Nowhere is the capacity glut more apparent than in the air and ocean freight sectors; in fact, ocean rates slipped by as much as 30 percent last year due to a combination of factors.

Tianjin Port cargo throughput up in 2008

Tianjin Port, the largest in north China, handled 354 million tonnes — 8.5 million TEUs — in the past year, a year-on-year increase of 19.7%. When Tianjin Port opened in 1952, it was a small, shallow-water harbor capable of handling less than 700,000 tonnes of cargo a year. It has since become a deep-water port with many specialized berths. In 2007, it handled 300 million tonnes of cargo and 7.1 million TEUs of container cargo, which put it in the sixth and 20th place in the world, respectively. There are more than 400 ship movements at the port each month to all points of the globe.

Middle East expanding as a logistics region

While the Middle East is starting to feel the ripple effect from the global economic crisis due to its reliance of trade from China, the region as a whole still presents a brighter scenario for expansion. While air freight volume continue to decline, sea freight container volumes, in Dubai for example, grew by 17% in the first half of 2008 compared with the same period the previous year. This year will also witness the opening of Dubai Logistics City (DLC), an integrated logistics and multimodal transport platform. A number of global and regional logistics providers with major operations in the Middle East, such as GAC Logistics, Aramex, Agility, TNT and others, see major opportunities, and have announced major expansion plans, both within the region and in other parts of the world, particularly Asia. GAC has reserved a 200,000 sq m plot at DLC. TNT Express has announced the extension of its road network in the Middle East to include destinations such as Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Yemen. With the major logistics infrastructure developments under way in the Middle East, particularly Dubai, further initiatives are expected to be announced over the next few years.

Top Consumer Goods Supply Chain 2008

The annual survey conducted by Cannondale Associates covers a number of company performance measures for both consumer goods manufacturers and retailers, including such areas as brand power, marketing programs, sales teams, etc. The rankings are developed by asking retailers to rate manufacturers on each of these categories, and manufacturers that participate to rank retailers on a similar set of attributes. The consumer goods companies are generally from the food and packaged goods sectors, and the retailers are correspondingly in the channels that support those manufacturers, such as mass merchandisers, grocers, and drug store chains. The following companies were rank in order with P&G taking the top spot followed by Kraft, General Mills, PepsiCo, Unilever, Nestle, Clorox, Kimberly Clark, Coca Cola and Kellogs.