DC Velocity - October 2012

inbound
Who needs ships? Just drive the container!

You’re at a harbor in a remote location—perhaps a construction site in a developing country or a military base on an island—awaiting delivery of a large shipment. But instead of a ship on the horizon, you spot a single 40-foot container speeding through the water, throwing up an impressive bow wave as it heads directly for shore. No ship, just the container.

It’s not your imagination. A Maryland company called Aeplog Inc. has developed a self-propelled ocean container, dubbed the Autonomous Sustainment Cargo Container (ASCC) but also known as a Sea Truck. The Sea Truck system consists of a propulsion module and a bow module that attach directly to commercial cargo containers, converting them into autonomously controlled vehicles. Once at destination, the container could be retrieved by a mobile crane as it approaches the beach or be directed to pull up alongside a dock for pickup by a shoreside crane with standard commercial fittings. A “pneumatic crawler” add-on enables the unit to roll onto a beach.

In tests, Aeplog has successfully demonstrated on-board manual control and steering as well as remote control via WiFi and radio-frequency signals. Commercially available GPS-guided navigation software can be used to direct the Sea Truck.

The unique “vessel” has drawn interest from the U.S. military, which could benefit from the ability to deliver materiel in dangerous conditions as well as the ability to dynamically alter the Sea Truck’s path in response to changing tactical situations. But the developers say there are many potential commercial applications, including delivery of containers from ships positioned offshore without the need to transfer to smaller ships or barges.

To see videos of the Sea Truck in action, go to http://aeplog.com. ;

E-commerce driving regionalization of distribution networks

The Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association (CEMA) just issued its semiannual sales report, and you might say it “conveyed” some pretty good news. The group reported that overall industry orders (bookings) for the first six months of 2012 tallied $5.46 billion—up 22. 8 percent over the same period in 2011. Actual shipments (referred to as “industry billed sales”) reached an estimated $5.2 billion for the first six months of 2012. That represents a hefty 30.4-percent jump over the same period in 2011.

CEMA tracks new orders and shipped sales volume in nine classes of unit-handling equipment and four classes of bulk-handling equipment. In the bulk-conveying area, orders were up 40. 8 percent and shipments were up 40. 5 percent. Unit-handling orders and shipments rose 10.0 percent and 22. 1 percent, respectively.

Executives from CEMA member companies who attended the group’s fall meeting were bullish on the outlook for the balance of the year. They predicted shipments for the entire year would be up 17 to 20 percent over 2011—a notable change from CEMA’s March 2012 spring meeting, when attendees forecast a 10-percent increase for the year. ;

CEMA conveys some good news

The explosive growth of domestic and international e-commerce will drive retailers to create more regionalized distribution networks in order to stock products closer to the end customer and simplify the process of product returns.

That is one of the main supply chain ramifications of what’s shaping up to be a period of eye-popping growth in Internet sales. At a seminar in New York sponsored by investment firm Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Michael DeSimone, CEO of e-commerce enabler FiftyOne Global Ecommerce, predicted that international e-commerce would see a compound annual growth rate of nearly 21 percent through 2015 and that U.S.-based e-commerce would grow 10 percent annually over the same period.

The move toward regional distribution networks to handle e-commerce is gaining traction both in the United States and internationally. That’s because online retailers here and abroad face the same challenges, namely expediting deliveries to the end customer, keeping costs as low as possible in order to accommodate customers’ demands for free shipping, and managing and facilitating product returns.

Numerous surveys have illustrated the importance of free shipping in influencing an online customer’s buying behavior. One study by the consultancy IMS Worldwide found that three of four potential online orders are never executed because the customer wasn’t promised free shipping. Research has also shown that online consumers consider the inability to return items an impediment to online shopping. ;