World Trade - July 2008 - (Page 6)

® INSIDE WORLD TRADE Group Publisher Tom Esposito Publisher Sarah Harding Editorial Director Neil Shister shistern@bnpmedia.com Managing Editor Lara L. Sowinski Art Director Michael T. Powell Contributing Writers Mark Bernstein, Richard Barovick, Gail Dutton, Winn Hardin, Joshua Kurlantzick, Andrea MacDonald, Clay Risen, Jeremy Smith, April Terreri, Amy Zuckerman WORLD TRADE MAGAZINE EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Grant Belanger Ford Motor Company Director South America Operations Steve Palagyi Director, Paciﬁc Region PRTM Consulting Erik Autor Vice President and International Counsel National Retail Federation Susan G. Esserman Chair, International Department Steptoe & Johnson Beth Enslow Global Supply Chain Resiliency Marsh, Inc. Kurt Cavano, Chairman and CEO, TradeCard Frank Vogl, Vogl Communications, Washington D.C. Thomas E. Crocker Co-Chair International Trade and Regulatory Group, Alston & Bird LLP A Season for Buyers f ever there was a good time for World Trade to publish a Buyer’s Guide, this is it. I’m writing a few days after returning from a conference of transportation and logistics executives. It’s an annual event, a congenial assembly of folks who, while they may be competitors, are NEIL SHISTER collegial in sharing solutions to mutual problems. Some 200 of us spent several days at a resort outside Jacksonville, discussing the state of those who service shippers. Which, as the third quarter unfolds, could be better. A highly placed friend at the Congressional Budget Ofﬁce, the non-partisan ‘think tank’ tasked with providing economic forecasting to Congress, tells me that predicting which way the economy is heading is more difﬁcult right now than he can ever remember. For every upward trend, there’s a downward one. The economy is clearly slowing, but whether this is an ominous contraction or a more garden-variety down cycle can’t be discerned. “One step forward, one step backward, two steps sideward” is how he describes it. That’s a pretty good description of the mood in Florida. Seasoned veterans from ocean transport, trucking, and 3PL companies—people used to the abrupt swings of being in a ‘leading indicator’ business—were sober but not somber. Business is, at best, ﬂat but nobody was crying that the sky is falling (at least on the record). The stunning news of the overnight (literally!) bankruptcy declared by Jevic Transportation notwithstanding, the folks I queried ﬁgure they can ride out the storm. Time will tell. Volume is down (so much of U.S. domestic shipping is tied to the housing and auto industries), but petroleum is the deadly wild card in the mix. The price of diesel has doubled over the past twelve months, catching many transportation providers without adequate fuel surcharge provisions in their contracts. They’re trying to play catch-up as I SALES Publisher /Midwest Sales National Sales Director-East Sarah Harding 216.991.4861 hardings@worldtrademag.com Randi Giambruno 516.377.3906 giambrunor@worldtrademag.com Ed Lohmann 925.648.2562 lohmanne@worldtrademag.com Vito Laudati 630.694.4018 Fax: 248.283.6618 laudativ@bnpmedia.com Hong Kong Ofﬁce Publicitas Wendy Lin Tel: 852.2527.3525, Fax: 852.2528.3260 Steve Beyer Tel: 847.516.1977, Cell: 630.699.7625 beyers@bnpmedia.com National Sales Director-West Inside Sales Manager/Print Asia Director Custom Media OPERATIONS STAFF Production Manager Marketing Coordinator Web Seminar Project Manager Reprint Manager & Trade Show Coordinator Group Audience Development Manager Multimedia Manager Corp. Audience Audit Manager Research Editor Postal List Rental E-mail List Rental Single Copy & Back Issue Sales John Talan, 248.244.8253 Danielle Kimble Bryan Cairns, 248.786.1613 Sunny Coverly 610.436.4220 ext. 8522 coverlys@bnpmedia.com Christopher Sheehy Katie Jabour Catherine Ronan Amy Mills Robert Liska, 800.223.2194 robert.liska@edithroman.com Shawn Kingston, 800.409.4443 shawn.kingston@epostdirect.com Ann Kalb, 248.244.6499 kalba@bnpmedia.com WORLD TRADE HEADQUARTERS 600 Willowbrook Lane Ste. 610 West Chester, Pa. 19382 www.worldtrademag.com CORPORATE CORPORATE DIRECTORS Publishing Timothy A. Fausch Publishing David M. Lurie Publishing John R. Schrei Audience Development Christine A. Baloga Information Technology David P. Brown Finance Lisa L. Paulus Human Resources Rita M. Foumia Conferences & Events Scott A. Wolters Production Vincent M. Miconi Directories Nikki Smith Creative Michael T. Powell Marketing Douglas B. Siwek Clear Seas Research John E. Thomas BNP Media Helps People Succeed in Business with Superior Information BNP Media Corporate Telephone: 248. 244.6400 this year’s deals are being made, but shippers can bear only so much. Meanwhile, a real shortage in containers is making its impact felt, causing another wave of traffic slowdown. Simply put, demand for containers elsewhere than the United States is cramping trafﬁc here, particularly in the middle of the country (where, one broker told me, the delay can be as long as 12 days). This particularly hampers exports, one of the rare bright spots in the economy. “We could export a good 20% more in agricultural products from this country if there was the capacity to handle it,” an industry spokesman recently proclaimed, lamenting the container shortfall. So what does this have to do with our Buyer’s Guide? It means that for shippers— who are no strangers to the dual-pronged crunch (oil and recession)—this is probably an opportune time to take a hard look at your logistics and transportation service providers. Sellers are eager to get new customers and keep old ones, more so than usual. And while it is imperative that both sides of the deal respect the need for the other to be able to stay in business, buyers can exert considerable leverage right now. If not necessarily on price, certainly with respect to value and service. To repeat, in an economic context so uncertain as this, opportunity (as well as danger) abounds. Particularly amongst customers for supply chain service providers. In reporting our Manufacturer of the Year story on Stonyﬁeld Farm, CEO Gary Hirshberg told me how logistics accounted for a relatively inconsequential portion of operating costs when he began, little more than a rounding error. Now it’s into double-digits and high on his agenda of concerns. He’s not alone. So a word to the wise: consult this Buyer’s Guide carefully; keep it close at hand. Neil Shister, Editorial Director shistern@worldtrademag.com 6 For subscription information or service, please contact Customer Service at: Tel: 847.763.9534 or Fax: 847.763.9538 or e-mail WTR@halldata.com WORLD TRADE JANUARY 2007 PRINTED IN THE USA http://www.worldtrademag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Trade - July 2008

World Trade - July 2008 Contents Inside World Trade Logistics Service Provider Report Card 3rd Annnual Buyer's Guide to Logistics Suppliers and Services Supply Chain Partners Letter From the Publisher

World Trade - July 2008

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