摘要: |
THE MOVIES OF THE "OCEANS" SERIES DEALT WITH mega-millionaire casino owners who were able to force their will on smaller casino operators and on the gambling customers. In the movies, a group of independents band together to counter and "put in their place" the out-of-control operators. I went looking for those heroes in the ocean and airfreight markets today. The sky-high prices and the lack of reliability in service-particularly in international transport modes-are dominating the headlines. Shipper executives are now trying to determine if this is a permanent condition that would force them to invest in near-shore and domestic production and supply chains for the long term. For many years, I've had my graduate supply chain classes do a case study on total landed cost (TLC) for Chinese versus U.S. products to gain some understanding of the complexities in global supply chains. In reviewing this case study for next semester, I found the numbers used for freight transport as a part of the supply chain are no longer realistic, as ocean and airfreight rates have more than doubled. |