BY MARK B. SOLOMON, EXECUTIVE EDITOR – NEWS
MARITIME/PORTS
Transportation Report
IN LATE FEBRUARY, AP MOLLER-MAERSK GROUP
CEO Soren Skou laid out perhaps the most audacious strategy in the container shipping industry’s 62-year history.
Within three to five years, the Danish giant would become
a provider like FedEx Corp., DHL Express, and UPS Inc.,
delivering reliable end-to-end service across an integrated
transportation network, with Maersk as the customer’s sole
point of contact.
It will be a tall order. Integrators spend billions of dollars
each year on infrastructure, technology, and manpower.
This yields a stunning degree of delivery reliability across
their global networks, all the while keeping custodial con-
trol of each shipment. The liner industry, focused on just
keeping its head above water amid prolonged periods of
overcapacity and rock-bottom freight rates, is not even
close to meeting that benchmark.
Still, one has to start somewhere. Perhaps the best place
is ensuring that customers’ cargo is moved as booked, a
discipline that’s fundamental to all transportation but one
where the liner trade’s supply chain execution falls woefully
short. The process has two components: getting the cargo
to the right ship at the right place and time, and then moni-
Better visibility, forecasting, and ironclad digital contracts are
all in play in a bid to end the vicious cycle.
Can IT help the shipping industry
deep-six the container “no-show”
problem?
