World Trade - October 2008 - (Page 26)

SUPPLY CHAIN SURVIVAL GUIDE The shipments receive handling and stowage priority on vessels destined to Los Angeles and Seattle. Once the containers arrive the U.S., they are among the ﬁrst to be discharged and loaded onto trains heading for the East Coast. The service achieves 99 percent on-time accuracy. APL Guaranteed Continental™ guarantees delivery times from Hong Kong, Shanghai, Chiwan, and Yantian, China to any zip code in the continental U.S., Canada and Mexico. Customers receive a 20 percent refund if APL fails in this contract. The service offers two crucial advantages: speed—that’s unmatched in the full container load market—and reliability normally associated with airfreight delivery. “The beauty is it’s about 75 percent discount off the transportation in the U.S. APL executives believe the premium big-box service on a regular, weekly basis could make a signiﬁcant difference to shipping options on the trans-Paciﬁc. “The bigger box offers greater loadabilty and reduces per unit costs on imports,” Zasimovic says. Other programs include changing the terms of sale to Freight On Board (FOB). This helps shippers control the import process so that they are just dealing with the product’s cost. “Many importers will buy via Hong Kong to go more direct to the source,” states Zasimovic. “We help them manage the vendor from origin.” Now APL Logistics takes a step further by implementing Free Carrier Alongside (FCA). This shifts cargo responsibility from the seller to the buyer when the goods leave the factory. “If you buy out of the factory, the cargo is treated like an export,” he explains. “Then we help manage the costs from the factory to the port. This helps reduce transportation costs and duties.” “By using our trucks so shippers do not need to lease their own, we can drive empty miles and drop off containers near drayage operations. This helps customers with their cost points.” — Steve Van Kirk, Schneider National Schneider National cost of airfreight,” says Zasimovic. “The combination can result in better-performing supply chains that are also more cost efﬁcient for shippers.” This year, APL Logistics also rolled out a full container load guaranteed service that expedites movement of containers from ship to truck on APL-owned roadworthy chassis. Here shipments can be quickly moved out by truck and delivered anywhere in the U.S. “An electronics ﬁrm that normally ships by air out of Shanghai recently gave us a shipment that was to go to their Chicago distribution center. They didn’t believe we could do it,” Zasimovic says. APL Logistics performed, and the next week the company canceled two 747s of shipments valued at over $2 million. APL also just launched a service for ocean-capable 53-foot containers, a move that observers believe could signiﬁcantly alter the U.S. import market. For now, they are only coming out of South China and Qingdao, but 53-footers are fundamental to domestic intermodal 26 WORLD TRADE OCTOBER 2008 Rail is becoming a cost-effective and environmentally friendly option (one fright train typically keeps 200 trucks off the road). And, it is another place where 3PLs can help. “We see customers attracted to intermodal because it allows them to more effectively control their fuel costs,” says Steve Van Kirk, vice president, Intermodal Commercial Development, Schneider National. In general, intermodal is most cost efficient for shipments exceeding ﬁve hundred miles and involving hauls from the West Coast to central distribution points like Chicago and Atlanta. But given current fuel surcharges, intermodal is increasingly being used for intermediate moves from Chicago to the Northeast or Florida. Another new development, shippers are increasingly comfortable using intermodal directly to a customer’s facility. Trucks are typically needed to ﬁnish the move, which is where Schneider differs from other trucking intermodal providers by using its own trucks so shippers do not need to lease their own. “This means we can drive empty miles and drop off containers near drayage operations,” Van Kirk says.

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

World Trade - October 2008 Contents Tune Up Your Supply Chain Globalization: The Real Competitive Threat Supply Chain Watch Tradewinds Shippers and Providers Collaborate to Take on a Challenging Economy Tweaking the Supply Chain to Optimize Value and Minimize Cost Supply Chain Software Morphs Into Enterprise Management Can Warehousing Really, Truly Be Strategic? Everybody is Global Between the Devil and the Deep The Hidden Costs of ‘Free’ Translation Blowing Smoke

World Trade - October 2008

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