The 3rd Annual LogiPharma Asia is the strategic platform where pharmaceutical supply chain and logistics professionals meet to discuss the key challenges of the life science industry in Asia.

4 reasons why you shouldn’t miss LogiPharma Asia 2011:

• It tackles the latest regulation changes in Asia that will impact the entire supply chain of both pharma and logistic vendors in 2012 and beyond
• It provides more case studies from key pharmas instead of vendors as this is what the customers have asked for
• It tackles the latest changes in the supply chain industry in Asia and brings solutions to help pharma firms and vendors enhance their SCM performance to stay competitive
• It is the only event that looks at the entire supply chain issues including the healthcare/FMCG consumers

Read more…

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The increasing incomes of Asians particularly in China and India has prompted airline companies like Qantas to cater to their needs. “Research on affluent Chinese travellers, for example, shows they are strongly influenced by prestige brands and considerations of safety,” he noted.

Mr. Joyce also addressed the company’s pilots and engineers, with whom the management has an ongoing dispute over salaries and benefits.
He said Qantas was competing against airlines with overheads up to 25 percent lower.

He clarified a demand by the pilots to extend their pay and conditions to Jetstar flights with a Qantas codeshare could not happen.

“To pay Qantas rates to Jetstar pilots would simply drive up ticket prices, set precedents for other staff salaries and make Jetstar unviable,” he said.

And he said Qantas maintenance and repair costs were “among the least efficient and most expensive in the world”.

Parent company AMR Corporation said that the new single-aisle planes would “transform” American’s fleet during their delivery dates, which are rolled out over a period from 2013 to 2022.

The new planes will hold around 200 passengers and are classified as short to medium range airliners, but AMR chairman Gerard Arpey said that the new planes would significantly reduce American’s fuel costs and give the airline greater financial flexibility.

According to Boeing, American Airlines also has an option for the purchase of a further 100 aircraft, although it is unclear whether the airline will exercise that option.

The financial details of the twin deals have not been released, but its total value to both aircraft manufacturers is expected to be several billion dollars.

Four Different Industry tracks, 4 Different Supply Chain Strategy tracks and 4 Different Country Focus tracks all happening at theSAME TIME. Attractive group booking discounts are available. So bring along your team to maximise the learning.

Contact Aaron at +65 6746 2250 or email him at aaron@lscms.org for more information.

As LSCMS is an Endorsing Association for SCM Logistics World 2011, members qualify for a 30% discount off registration tickets.

The forwarding executive interviewed said, “I believe that the thinking now is that you cannot just have one service provider offering the same kind of service all over the world, because nobody offers the same level of service all over the world. One company may be strong in one area, while another is strong elsewhere.

“It’s no longer about finding one solution to provide services everywhere, it about finding the best in each region. I definitely see this as a trend,” he added.

Call Edmund Lee at +65 6746 2250 or e-mail: frontdesk@lscms.org

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The Logistics & Supply Chain Management Society

50 Kallang Pudding Road

#06-06, Golden Wheel Building

Singapore 349326

Even those working in performing arts and music enjoyed their jobs less than the logistics professionals but were happier than those in other sectors. Workers in the construction and property industries rated third for job enjoyment while administration staff were unhappiest. Perhaps not surprisingly as well, administration and customer services were voted the worst colleagues and also came bottom of the list for job enjoyment.

And despite a glamorous image, careers in media and broadcasting were rated third worst in terms of enjoyment – behind only administration and IT.

Natasha Freeman, of TheJobCrowd.com said: “We were also to discover that those working in transport and logistics enjoyed their jobs more than those in any other sector including performing arts which obviously has a more glamorous image.”

The data was provided by 525 professionals. It also showed that when it comes to rating colleagues those working in insurance and pensions score more highly than any other professionals. We do advertise positions in Logistics & Supply Chain Management newsletter every fortnight and if you would like to subscribe to the newsletter or post a position, please refer to our website at www.lscms.org or drop us an email at Aaron@lscms.org.

There are growing concerns over the failure of naval forces to deter the pirates. According to shipping minister Mike Penning, the increasing number of pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia has inspired the Department for Transport to consider amending the current policy to recognise that engaging armed personnel is an option for UK-flagged ship owners to combat piracy.There is also a lack of action in bringing the guilty to justice when they are caught. While there have been a few cases in Europe, the bulk of the burden has been carried by Kenya and the Seychelles, plus one high-profile case in Yemen when six Somali pirates were sentenced to death.

During the first quarter of this year, an estimated 117 ships were attacked by pirates in Somalia, with at least seven crew members killed and 338 seafarers held hostage. According to the Greenwich Maritime Institute, at any one time more than 700 seafarers are being held hostage by Somali pirates.

In a throwback to the days when “Britannia Ruled the Wave”, the British Chamber of Shipping (BCS) plans to call for tougher sanctions, saying that instead of dishing out the ‘soft-glove’ treatment, pirates should be shackled and brought to the UK for prosecution. An official Danish government anti-piracy strategy, which advocates relaxing the rules under which ships can have armed guards on board, also suggests even tougher measures for the pirates, including the use of special forces and the bombing of pirate bases on land.It will be relevant and interesting to see how these discussions in the UK progress and the implications to our industry.

The expansion forecast in 2011 marks a slowdown from last year’s 18.9 percent rebound from 2009, when Armstrong & Associates reported the first annual decline in the 3PL market since the firm began tracking results in 1995.

The growth last year gave the 3PL operators $127.3 million in gross revenue, slightly better than the pre-downturn peak of 2008. Armstrong said the international transportation management segment of the business led the growth last year, expanding 30.1 percent over the year before.

“One driving factor of 3PL growth was world trade volumes, which increased 12.4 percent for 2010,” the firm said.

The final figures for last year left the compound annual average growth rate for the U.S. 3PL market from 1995 to 2010 at 12.7 percent.

Armstrong said last year’s recovery also came with bigger profit margins, saying net profit for the market grew 23.4 percent over the year before.

APL has added such terms to some transpacific contracts with shippers this year, reported Newark’s Journal of Commerce. “There are a number of contracts this year where we wrote service guarantees into the contract, where we have a certain on-time performance guarantee and a certain space allotment by customers,” said APL vice president Bob Sappio.

“If a customer fails to meet that space allotment within a window of tolerance, it will pay a penalty, and likewise if we fail to meet the service guarantee or the space allotment, we would be required to pay the customer a penalty,” he said. “The penalty is several hundred [US] dollars per dry container.”

Likewise, Maersk Line will conduct pilot tests of similar charges in the third quarter on some loops in Sweden, Germany and some Latin American countries. If the tests work well, the new charges will be introduced worldwide in summer next year.

The Maersk plan includes a so-called “load protection fee” on shippers that fail to deliver booked containers to the port. The charge would be US$100 per dry container and $500 per reefer container. On the contrary, it will pay the same charges to shippers for Maersk’s failure to upload the booked boxes on board.

Maersk charge management director John Nielsen said: “We will roll it out on a rifle-shot basis on trades that are ready for it, and not just on a big bang rollout.” Maersk, will also allow a seven days’ grace for shippers to change or cancel bookings.

The aircraft engineers’ union has said the suspension of Tiger’s flights could carry on for weeks, but Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese says Tiger could seek an injunction against the ban.

Tiger Airways chief executive Tony Davis has rejected CASA’s claims, saying he does not accept there are immediate risks to air safety. He says he hopes services can resume as soon as possible because Australians want competition and lower airfares.

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Managing Director of SCTS, Kien Nguyen said, “We’re excited about this partnership. Currently, most of the local Vietnamese logistics companies operate manually. With the Government opening up the Logistics market at the end of 2011, we will see a lot of competition from larger overseas players, hence, there is a pressing need to equip local companies with technologies to level the playing fields. We evaluated a few key software vendors in different parts of the world and found KEYfields’ iWMS most flexible and suited for the local marketplace. KEYfields’ KEY methodology makes implementation easier and quick. We have faith that KEYfields iWMSwill be a favourite consideration for most 3PL looking for a solution. To raise market awareness, we intend to hold a seminar for 100+ invited logistics players to introduce KEYfields iWMS to this marketplace.”

Kenny Tan, General Manager, KEYfields Pte Ltd commented: “In recent months, KEYfields has been aggressively expanding to the regional markets. Vietnamis one of our key target markets. We have identified that our industry expertise and value added offerings can make a real difference in this marketplace. SCTS is an ideal partner to help us achieve this because of their domain expertise and they are focused on working with logistics players in the same vertical markets.”

As part of the agreement, KEYfields will work closely with SCTS to ensure they have the sales and technical training they need to properly market and support iWMS. SCTS will send their technical staff to KEYfields HQ in Singapore to attend a two weeks iWMS product training programmes.

We have recently upgraded and revamped the format of this newsletter and it will now be available in HTML format to all subscribers. Aside from news about the Society and the industry in general, members are also encouraged to send us information about their companies for inclusion.

Companies and HR recruiters are also encouraged to send in job postings to us to reach out to our more than 27,000 readers across the region. For more information on the newsletter or any of our activities, please contact the Secretariat at elee@lscms.org.

The expansion forecast in 2011 marks a slowdown from last year’s 18.9 percent rebound from 2009, when Armstrong & Associates reported the first annual decline in the 3PL market since the firm began tracking results in 1995.

The growth last year gave the 3PL operators $127.3 million in gross revenue, slightly better than the pre-downturn peak of 2008. Armstrong said the international transportation management segment of the business led the growth last year, expanding 30.1 percent over the year before.

“One driving factor of 3PL growth was world trade volumes, which increased 12.4 percent for 2010,” the firm said.

The final figures for last year left the compound annual average growth rate for the U.S. 3PL market from 1995 to 2010 at 12.7 percent.

Armstrong said last year’s recovery also came with bigger profit margins, saying net profit for the market grew 23.4 percent over the year before.

Given that the Chinese government has been allowing a flow of cheap energy to manufacturers in order to boost productivity, the options are not very palatable. If importation is not an option, manufacturers in China will be forced to continue to endure blackouts and power rationing as hydro-electric generation falls in the summer. Financial analysts believe the root of the problem is that electricity prices are too low to manufacturers and without increases in prices; China will suffer serious power shortages.

Of course the increase in energy prices will make the cost of manufacturing in China that much more expensive for foreign companies who have flocked to China as a low cost manufacturing base. With an increase in salaries, benefits and general expectations in China, the days of cheap manufacturing may be over sooner than expected, and perhaps then some of those jobs may land again back on US soil or to other lower costs countries in the Asia Pacific region.

“We’re not blind,” SkyTeam managing director Michael Wisbrun was quoted as saying in Munich after a meeting of the alliance’s cargo chiefs, reported Bloomberg. “It will be tough. There’s no reason to have a hub in Qatar or the United Arab Emirates, and adding capacity with supply and demand as they are won’t help the equilibrium.”

The comments come amid efforts by Emirates to grow its fleet to 90 aircraft and Qatar Air is awaiting delivery of 200 planes worth US$35 billion. The report said that the carriers are trying to tap the $68 billion air freight market by turning their bases into global cargo hubs.

It said Emirates plans to add up to 18 cargo aircraft in Dubai, while Doha-based Qatar Air is converting 15 passenger jets into freighters and buying 33 per cent of Cargolux Airlines International, which is Europe’s biggest freight only carrier.

It said Qatar currently has a five-strong freighter fleet of Airbus 300s and Boeing 777s. The fleet will increase to 16 planes with the addition of 11 Boeing 747 freighters from Luxembourg-based Cargolux. The total may reach 31 aircraft including the A330 passenger models earmarked for conversion.

Emirates has a total of eight 747 and 777 freighters, plus orders for five of Boeing’s updated 747-8s and two 777s, and nine options, giving a potential total of 24 dedicated cargo aircraft.

Qatar Air chief executive officer Akbar al Baker said in the report that the airline plans on developing Doha into a “viable hub” while meeting the needs of the economy. A $15 billion airport serving the city is due to open later this year and will be able to handle two million tons of freight annually.

The stakeholding in Cargolux, which serves 90 destinations, is intended to “complement and supplement” Qatar Air’s own growth plans as the airlines have contrasting networks, Mr Al Baker said. Following the deal the pair may take reciprocal bookings via code-sharing and could operate flights for each other, the report added.

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The Logistics & Supply Chain Management Society
Phone: +65 6746 2250
Fax: +65 6746 2251

Mail:
The Logistics & Supply Chain Management Society
50 Kallang Pudding Road
#06-06, Golden Wheel Building
Singapore 349326