Insights - May/June 2018 - 22

REALIGNMENTS

'Musical Chairs'

"We are looking at more beyond just the ocean carrier piece,"
said Greg Tuthill, senior vice president of CMA CGM (America),
speaking at IANA's Operations and Maintenance Business
Meeting in May. "Offering full service might become a trend. It's
become much more difficult to differentiate service."
Inland services recently haven't been particularly attractive
to ocean carriers, Jensen said, because of extensive staffing
needs and related costs. In addition, as companies consider
different ways to differentiate and integrate their own services,
they run the risk of alienating shippers as well as forwarders
and integrators who want the widest possible choice of inland
options, Jensen added.
The alliance shifts also are affecting cargo owners, said
Davison.
"The reduction of four major alliances to three could mean
less choice for the shipper/BCO," Davison said.
He also stressed capabilities.
"Does the port/terminal have sufficient intermodal services,
capacity to meet shipper/BCO needs?" he asked. "Ensuring that
potential bottlenecks do not exist is the solution. It means that
shippers, BCOs and 3PLs will want to see their cargo passing
through efficient ports/terminals which have good intermodal
rail capacity now, but also in the future."
He particularly cited other efforts to expand intermodal
rail capability at Savannah, Georgia and Vancouver, British
Columbia.

"The musical chairs the carriers
played initially caused quite a bit of
uncertainty and a lot of extra work
for the BCOs," said Steve Hughes,
a consultant to shippers and vice
president of HCS International.
"They often had contracts with
ocean carriers that were spread
among the four alliances to spread
Hughes
out the risk."
"After it was cut back to three, they could find all their
carriers in
the same alliance," he explained. "Now, the big task was to
look at them and see where you could spread the risk again.
That caused a lot of concern and a lot of extra work."
"The alliances may have made it easier for the BCOs,
once they have parsed their freight into the three alliances,"
Hughes said. "They can aim for an even spread to get the risk
mitigation."

Much More Stable
Today, Hughes said, the situation has settled down after a
protracted period to sort out relationships.
"I don't see a lot of movement [in alliances] in the future,"
Hughes said, in part because financial uncertainties created
by widespread losses and bankruptcy have abated. "Hopefully,
it will be much more stable."

If Your Chassis Isn't New, It's Old:
THE TRUTH BEHIND REFURBISHED CHASSIS
Some have had lights replaced, but not all

Axles are 15-25 years old

Repainted

REFURBISHED

Majority without ABS
Bias-Ply Tires
No tire inflation
5-spoke wheels
Built 2016-2018 LED lights

Powder coated paint for durability

NEW

ABS
OEM radial tires
Auto-inflation
Hub-piloted disc wheels

U P G R A D E TO DAY. M E E T YO U R M I L E STO N E . M I L E CO R P.CO M

22 Intermodal Insights | May/June 2018
http://www.MILECORP.COM
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Insights - May/June 2018
