World Trade - February 2009 - (Page 43)

“Nobody is too small to have a contract,” according to Bob Feldman, director of international transportation for Pilot Freight Services. Pilot negotiates contracts with steam ship lines, ocean carriers and intermodal carriers to arrange terms that allow for increase in trafﬁc based on their own estimates for the lanes involved. Working outside the box Sometimes, of course, the need for on-the-ﬂy shipments is triggered by natural disasters or the consequences of warfare, both of which disrupt the receiving end. Carriers need to be able to respond nimbly. Ron Cruse, president and CEO of Logenix international specializes in development world infrastructure programs, shipping rebar, backhoes, tires and other equipment needed to build—or rebuild—societies. Shipments were in transit to Armenia when Russia invaded Georgia, requiring him to reroute shipments from the Black Sea port of Poti. To handle such situations, shippers need partners who can work outside the box. Likewise, holidays—like Christmas in the West or Ramadan in the Middle East—can substantially slow shipments, so on-the-ﬂy shipments may not travel through affected ports in a timely fashion. Mitigate the slowdown by air shipping part of the order or by rerouting through unaffected ports, Cruse comments. “I’m stunned at how little the people in the worldwide shipping operations know about moving freight world- wide,” Cruse says. They tend to execute according to standard operating procedures, which makes it difﬁcult to troubleshoot or override the system when necessary. “That’s not what they do,” he emphasizes. One of the biggest hurdles in getting goods into those foreign locations lies in not knowing the export control classiﬁcation number, Cruse says. Not only do shippers often not know these numbers, but even U.S. Customs is sometime stymied by whether a shipment to a particular nation is permitted under export controls. “Government to government shipments (such as those to the U.S. military in a foreign nation) are exceptions,” he says, while shipments to government contractors working abroad are not. What works best for on-the-ﬂy shipments varies with the special requirements of each shipment, and often depends at least in part upon what the normal situation, Slater reiterates. When “normal” shipping arrangements are built for ﬂexibility, the disruption of special shipments may be lessened. Also, a bit of research now into the options for on-the-ﬂy shipments can streamline the process of going outside the usual arrangements. WT Contributing Editor Gail Dutton specializes in transportation logistics. For reprints of this article, please contact Cindy Williams at williamsc@bnpmedia.com or 610-436-4220 ext. 8516. Just In Time: Supply Chains Near and Far Blogs by Neil Shister Editorial Director, World Trade Magazine Two Big Tests for Obama Twas a great inauguration characterized by a release of national frustration and fear, coupled with a ‘contact high’ from Obama’s personal sense of determined, calm, serious-minded conﬁdence. So far, so good. But now, as the dust begins to settle, I’m getting a tingle of anxiety about the forthcoming stimulus package and the question beginning to form in my mind is how will Obama respond? (1/23/09) We want to hear from you. If you would like to comment on this and other current supply chain topics, visit www.worldtrademag.com/blog. One time registration is required. WTBlogHouseAd_0208.indd 1 WWW.WORLDTRADEMAG.COM 1/28/09 3:00:03 PM 43 http://www.worldtrademag.com/blog http://WWW.WORLDTRADEMAG.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Trade - February 2009

World Trade - February 2009 Contents Taking Stock in America Confronting Corruption in Latin America Supply Chain Watch Tradewinds Where's the Goods? Where's the Money? Hope on the Horizon Managing Fleets in Turbulent Times The Impact of China's Economic Slowdown on U.S. Supply Chains The Fuel Volatile Supply Chain Getting the Most from On-the-Fly Transactions Managing Supply Chain Risk by Managing China Sourcing Capacity OECD Global Economic Outlook for 2009 'Natural' Agricultural Monopolies No More

World Trade - February 2009

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.