LSCMS Blog

In an earlier post, we reported how Air Asia had managed to trump Singapore Inc  by securing approval to fly out of Sydney from April 2012.

In a new development, it was recently reported in the press that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission were taking legal action against AirAsia, as the airline failed to display its full airfare prices, inclusive of all mandatory charges, which went against the Australian Consumer Law.

AirAsia has reportedly taken “corrective action” to resolve its online airfare lawsuit with The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and alleged that the inaccurate airfare costs arose due to an IT issue, and that they sought to resolve the matter with ACCC.

“As soon as we became aware of the matter based on the ACCC’s complaint, we have taken corrective action and are focused on ensuring that our customers have all relevant information on our fares,” the carrier reported on its website.

We attended an industry symposium earlier this week and the presenter from K Line shared some interesting facts with us. Many of our readers are probably aware of this information but we thought it interesting enough to share this with those, who like us, were not.

- It cost carriers US$ 1 million each time one of their vessel transit the Suez Canal

- A container vessel burns about US$88,000 per day or around $4,500,000 in fuel per round voyage

- Asia Europe Capacity growth stands at about 13 – 15 % but the market is growing at about 5% (which is down from the forecast of 7% growth earlier this year). Coupled with news that we have been hearing elsewhere, it looks like carriers could have to resort to withdrawing capacity like they did in 2009.

ED

It was recently reported in the times of India that the sexual temptation produced by the here-today-gone-tomorrow aviation lifestyle is producing a disproportionate number of divorces.

“Around 300 cases of divorce and open relationships have come to me in the past four years, of which 70 per cent come from the aviation industry,” said marriage counsellor Nisha Khurana.

“A number of marriage counsellors in Gurgaon and Delhi, whom I have worked with, agree that the industry has a high rate of divorces, which is primarily because of the nature of work, hectic hours and long stays out of home,” Dr Khurana said.
A typical working day in an aviation worker’s life is spent either in the airport and flights, or in different cities where they have to stay over, said the report.

“We fly around eight hours a day and on an average, spend four days a week away from home. Even on the days we get back home, we usually end up taking enough rest before we start work again,” said Oman Air pilot Koustuv Goswami.

An unidentified pilot said loneliness of the flying life induces aviation workers to give into vices which lead to infidelity and divorce.
Said another unidentified fifty-something pilot: “When people around you don’t frown on things like these, you gradually start accepting them as a norm.”

This pilot, now living with his flight attendant girlfriend, divorced his wife of 20 years. “I love to have a lot of women around me, and I do. I really tried to make my marriage work initially, but could never derive much happiness out of it. Now I’m happily single again, and now feel much happier,” he said.

Most cabin crew members, said the report, find it difficult to avoid temptations, especially with all the money around.
“I started working at the age of 18 with a starting salary of INR80,000 (US$1,670). For the first few years, I just spent all my money on alcohol and drugs. It is like a black hole that just sucks you in till you realise that there’s no going back,” said the former 29-year-old female flight attendant, now attending the School of Open Learning in Delhi University, after quitting her job with Qatar Airways

AN aircraft engineer was killed after he was sucked into a plane engine during a routine maintenance check which turned horribly wrong.

The man had reportedly entered the testing engine enclosure when the engine was running at Woodbourne Airport, near Blenheim, New Zealand.

Police would not immediately confirm how the man died but said officers were “assisting an Occupational Safety and Health investigation” into the matter.

Emergency services were called to the airport just after 8am (6am AEST) on the 9th of August but the man was already dead by the time ambulance crews arrived.

Ironically the engineer was working for a company called Safe Air – an aviation maintenance, repair, overhaul (MRO), design and manufacturing business which works on both commercial and military aircraft.

It was reported in the Singapore Straits Times that Asian businesses are being affected by slow steaming – a method developed by shipping lines that reduces fuel consumption but increases traveling time – a recent survey shows.

Some 110 Asia-Pacific firms responded to the survey conducted by American logistics management firm BDP International to study the impact of slow steaming on their businesses.

A total of 58 per cent reported snags in their customer service because they could not deliver goods on time or meet their commitments, while 51per cent felt the impact on their inventory because they were unable to get parts on time or were forced to hold more inventory. About 49 per cent had changes to their production schedules, while 27 per cent said cash flow was hit as billing and payments were delayed.

Despite the negative effects highlighted, slow steaming is gaining popularity among shipping lines. The method, used since the economic slowdown in 2009, involves ships travelling slower on long-haul routes.

This greatly reduces fuel consumption and greenhouse emissions, and improves the unilisation rates of ships as fewer are left unused.

Slow steaming raises the shipping time from Singapore to Los Angeles from 15 to 22 days, and from Singapore to European ports like Rotterdam from about 17 to 24 days, according to Mr Arnie Bornstein, BDP’s executive director for marketing and corporate communications.

“Companies affected by slow steaming are doing what they can to adjust,” he said. “Nearly every industry is affected by slow steaming, and the managers of import- and export-focused businesses want a say in how the practice affects them.

Some 48 per cent of the firms said they responded to the longer travelling times by doing more advance planning, while 38 per cent increased the number of carrier companies they use to get the best combination of prices and travel times.

About 73 per cent of the firms feel that ocean carriers should pass on the cost savings of slow streaming by reducing their rates, while 36 per cent want to see the savings used to offset future increases.

The survey included firms in consumer goods, retail, health care and electronics. Another 180 firms from the Americas, Europe and the Middle East were also studied in the same survey, and they reported similar problems and responses.

But container liners have defended slow steaming by highlighting the environmental benefits and fuel savings amid rising oil costs and weak freight rate. “Customers are not enthralled, but they understand,” said a Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) spokesman. NOL has added more vessels to its services to maintain its schedule of weekly port calls and to “better manage schedule reliability”.

To improve transparency in rates and charges, the firm has adopted a new formula for the calculation of fuel surcharge for its trans-Pacific routes that reflects the financial impact of slow steaming. This includes the savings from reduced fuel usage as well as the additional capital costs for adding more vessels and containers to NOL’s services.

Maersk Line’s Asia-Pacific chief executive Thomas Knudsen said his firm sees slow steaming as the “new norm”: “Our customers accept the speeds that we have now and the cost picture that we face, in view of rising bunker (fuel) prices.”

He said slow steaming creates a “buffer” in Maersk’s network that allows it to speed up if something unforeseen happens. He also pointed to lower greenhouse gas emissions, which will help firms reduce their carbon footprint as end consumers start to make it part of their purchasing criteria.

Sri Lanka plans to expand its ports with a US$3.4 billion investment from China in a bid to transform into an Asian shipping hub along the ranks of Singapore and Dubai.

Sri Lanka has a goal to create a trade gateway to emerging markets after the end of its 26-year civil war, with port revenues expected to triple to 72 billion rupees from 2010 to 2015, according to president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The country’s container volumes hit a record level last year with a 22% increase to 4.16 million TEUs, Sunday Observer reported. It is expected to increase 10% this year, and as much as 20% next year.

Sri Lanka Ports Authority chairman Priyath Wickrama believed its Hambantota port is well-positioned to feed the Indian subcontinent, and a combination of Colombo and Hambantota will be able to compete with Dubai, Salalah, and Singapore.

With its natural deep sea ports and with more post-Panamax ships of over 14,000 TEU’s coming on line in the next few years this vision could well become a reality as Sri Lanka is ideally positioned between the Middle East and Asia.

China will be involved in the development of Sri Lanka’s ports with its commitment of at least US$3.7 billion since 2005. In 2007, it offered US$306.7 billion to the initial phase of the Hambantota port with another US$808 million loan expected from Export-Import Bank of China.

Download the PDF version of these Rules and Regulations

RULES & REGULATIONS

ELIGIBILITY

1. The Logistics & Supply Chain Management Society Photography Competition is open to all photographers, worldwide.
2. Employees of The Logistics & Supply Chain Management Society are not eligible to enter.
3. Members of the Executive Committee and Advisory Board of The Logistics & Supply Chain Management Society are not eligible to enter.

SUBMISSION

1. Each participant is eligible to submit only 1 set of prints (one entry).

2. Each entry should consist of three (3) prints, that must cover three (3) of the following five (5) categories:

Category 1 – People in Logistics
Category 2 – Sea Transport
Category 3 – Road Transport
Category 4 – Air Transport
Category 5 – Storage & Handling

3. If an entrant exceeds any of these limits, all of that entrant’s entries will be disqualified.

4. The set of 3 images can be in colour or monochrome. They can be shot in or out of Singapore.

5. All entries must be submitted in 8R prints (without mounting) together with a CD/DVD (non-returnable)
containing the digital file of the images.

6. At the back of each print, clearly affix the following information:

• Photographer’s name
• NRIC/Passport/Photo ID number
• Address
• Contact number(s)
• Email address
• Subject matter (from the 8 categories listed above)
• Title of entry
• A brief description of where and when the picture was taken

7. The longer side of the digital image must be at least 2,400 pixels in JPEG (JPG) format.

8. All submissions of prints together with official entry form and CD/DVD must be addressed to:

The Logistics & Supply Chain Management Society
Photography Competition
30 Kallang Pudding Road, #04-01A
Valiant Industrial Building
Singapore 349312

9. The submission deadline is 5 November 2010.

10. Images that have previously won prizes in other competitions are not allowed to be submitted for this competition.
11. No photos will be acknowledged or returned. By entering a photo in this Contest, each entrant grants a nonexclusive, transferable, royalty-free, worldwide license to edit, adapt, publish and distribute such photo in a royalty free logistics images collection. The photos will also be used in connection with the Contest and promotion of the Contest for advertising, marketing and promotional purposes in commerce and in any and all media now known or hereafter known throughout the world in perpetuity, without attribution, compensation, permission or further notification to the entrant, his/her successors or assigns, or any other entity, unless prohibited by law. Except for the foregoing license, the LSCMS does not claim ownership of any copyright in Contest Submissions.

PHOTOGRAPH REQUIREMENTS

Each entry must comply with the following requirements (the “Photograph Requirements”):

1. Photographs must be in physical and digital format. Entrants must submit 1 set of images of min. 8R size (8″ × 10″ or 203 × 254 mm), without backing, as well as one CD of the images (refer to point 7 under ‘SUBMISSION’ for digital file requirements)
2. The photograph need not be taken with a digital camera; scans of negatives, transparencies, or photographic prints are acceptable;
3. All digital files must be in JPEG or .jpg format, and must be at least 2,400 pixels wide (if a horizontal image) or 2,400 pixels tall (if a vertical image);
4. The photo must not contain material that violates or infringes another’s rights, including but not limited to privacy, publicity or intellectual property rights, or that constitutes copyright infringement;
5. The photo must not contain brand names or trademarks;
6. The photo must, in its entirety, be a single work of original material taken by the contestant;
7. The photo must not, in the sole and unfettered discretion of the LSCMS, contain material that is inappropriate, indecent, obscene, hateful, tortuous, defamatory, slanderous or libelous;
8. The photo must not, in the sole and unfettered discretion of the LSCMS, contain material that promotes bigotry, racism, hatred or harm against any group or individual or promotes discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age; and;
9. The photo must not contain material that is unlawful, in violation of or contrary to the laws or regulations in any state where photo is created.
10. Minor burning, dodging and/or color correction is acceptable. Hand tinting is acceptable, as is cropping. Fish-eye lenses are acceptable. High dynamic range images (HDR) and stitched panoramas are acceptable only if the combined parts are all made around the same time.
11. Any changes to the original Photograph not itemised here are unacceptable and will render the Photograph ineligible for a prize.

JUDGING CRITERIA

1. Judging will be based on the following criteria (“Judging Criteria”):

• Extent to which photo captures the essence of Theme selected (25%);
• Impact and Creativity (50%); and
• Composition, clarity and technical quality (25%)

2. Results of the competition will be posted on the www.lscms.org website.

3. Winners will also be notified by email.

COPYRIGHT

1. Images submitted for this competition must be the ORIGINAL WORK of the participants who must also own the sole copyrights to the pictures.

2. Copyright of any work submitted as an entry to the photographic competition will remain with the photographer. By submitting the photograph to the LSCMS Photographic Competition, the copyright owner gives the LSCMS permission to reproduce, communicate and display the work in public. The LSCMS may also reproduce the work in any publication. The LSCMS reserves the right to edit or crop images for the purposes of promotion and publicity on the internet, events and other formats. All photographers will be acknowledged for their work at all times.

THE LSCMS PHOTOGRAPHIC COLLECTION

1. The LSCMS is developing and expanding a library collection of logistics images for public use. All entries to the LSCMS Photographic Competition and Exhibition will remain the property of the the LSCMS to be added to the Image Collection. This collection will be ultimately made publicly available online, to allow the community access to our collection of logistics and transportation photographs. Credit will be given to each photographer on the LSCMS image library site.

PRIZES

1. Prizes will be awarded for first, second and third positions as follows:

• First Prize: $1000 (one thousand Singapore Dollars)
• Second Prize: $500 (five hundred Singapore Dollars)
• Third Prize: $200 (two hundred Singapore Dollars)

ORGANISER’S RIGHTS

1. The decision of the judges is final. No correspondence will be entertained.
2. The organisers reserve the right to reproduce an image for publication, on an Internet website and/or display in
media without payment on any fees to the photographer.
3. An entry may be rejected when the judging committee, in its reasonable discretion, believes the entry does not
conform to rules and regulations

ACCEPTANCE OF RULES & REGULATIONS

1. Submission of entries signifies acceptance of the rules and regulations of the competition.

Download the PDF version of these Rules and Regulations

I was sent an email yesterday from a student in Europe who wanted to know what ‘our ‘definition of LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT was.

Traditionally, LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT is seen as the planning , implementation and control of our Logistics processes for the efficient, effective forward and reverse flow and storage of goods, services and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customers’ requirements.

When this practice is extended beyond the organisation to the macro level, it includes the integration of the Logistics processes or pipelines of suppliers and customers thus forming a ‘chain’ from the point of origin to consumption.

An extension of the definition of the Supply Chain is that we are not really just a chain or a series of events but rather we are a web of inter-related organisations made up of numerous suppliers, customers and even competitors that form a “Dynamic Value Network”.

This makes absolute sense but also raises the bar somewhat.

From my post yesterday about how difficult it is to truly collaborate with our 3PL, just imagine trying to achieve through collaboration that is both efficient and effective with a network of organisations with differing objectives and cultures.

I am reminded of a picture of a confused orang utan, a friend used to have hanging in his office with a caption that said – Just as I figured out all the answers, they went and changed all the questions.

Raymon Krishnan

Logistics providers, academia and practitioners are all familiar with the theory of Collaboration. The ideal is that manufacturers, retailers and others are most likely to achieve maximum supply chain efficiency, particularly where global operations are involved, if they work closely together. This includes choosing one 3PL as a lead logistics provider (LLP) .

Whilst this theory is generally acceptable, there are those of us who remain dubious about developing a relationship with just one 3PL. Aside from over dependency, there is the concern that a proposed solution from the LLP could perhaps not be the ‘best’ solution. The 3PL, would most certainly (as they would be expected) be acting in their own self interest. Additionally the solution would be based on their perspective of our supply chain or what they perceive the supply chain to be.

What do you think? Raymon

We are delighted to advise that the 6th ASEAN Ports and Shipping 2008 Viet Nam will take place in Ho Chi Minh city on Thursday 5 and Friday 6 June 2008.

Viet Nam is today the fastest growing economy in the South East Asia.

This international transportation gathering will be one of the opportunities to promote Viet Nam,regional shipping and transport logistic to foreign investment and Ho Chi Minh city showcase as a cultural, tourism and conference destination.

The Logistics & Supply Chain Management Society is pleased to be a supporting organisation of this event.

For more information, visit the event website, or view the Conference Programme (PDF).