The headline is, in part, borrowed from a recent World Bank report on trade logistics in the global economy. The document takes the global economy as a given and globalisation of every industry as the only way in which progress can be made. It calculates the overall logistics efficiency of each country: Singapore is tops, Britain holds 9th place, Ireland is 11th, the US is 14th, while Afghanistan is last at number 150.
It’s not just a matter of trucks, planes, ships and so on. It also includes the efficiency of Customs, overall national infrastructure, competence at handling international shipments, how good tracking and tracing are and how domestic logistics costs stack up. Being in the business of shipping timber products, you will not be surprised to learn that both the UK and Ireland score very badly under the latter heading, coming in at 143rd and 121st respectively.
Writing in the 2006 Medite 2016 compendium I conjured up visions of wind- and solar-powered ships and of the ultimate mega-containership getting stuck in the sand off Ramsgate. All of these things are still on to happen but the shorter window to 2012 looks, from the perspective of the manufacturer seeking to connect with his customer, a bit difficult.
There are two sets of problems: the first in the areas of security/documentation and the second, physical transport from the forest right to the final wood or wood product user.
The security/documentation question is really part of the fall-out of 9/11. First the US introduced its voluntary C-TPAT (Customs and Trade Partnership against Terrorism). The compliant US importer must be able to validate every link in the supply chain of his imported products and the bona fides of the manufacturers supplying him. In return for his compliance, the importer sees fewer Customs examinations of his goods, which means more examinations and delays for everyone else.
Staying with the US, the Democrat-dominated Congress has passed an Act requiring that, from July 2009, all goods destined for the US are advised to US Customs before leaving the country from which the shipment is made. The risks of this resulting in cargo pile-ups in ports in Europe and elsewhere are only too evident. Election of a Democratic Party president would copper-fasten this arrangement.
Now the EU, Singapore, East Africa, Canada, China and many other countries are introducing authorised economic operator (AEO) status for approved exporters and importers. The processes and thoughts behind most of these arrangements are something of a mix of the C-TPAT and the more familiar ISO standards, but it is clear that within a year or two, a company that is not AEO compliant will be at a considerable competitive disadvantage. Fortunately, new software is being developed for SMEs as well as for larger businesses to smooth the road to compliance and move towards the use of internet-based ‘single windows’. By 2012 every business will have to be using ‘single windows’ for all documentation and communication with the authorities. If it all works it will give the smaller and/or less sophisticated exporter a real chance to compete on product quality and on delivery.
When it comes to the physical transport of timber, is it becoming easier? Well, maybe. Let’s start with logs headed for either sawmill or panel board plant. Use of rail rather than truck suddenly is seen to make sense – environment, road safety, drivers’ hours rules, together with new dynamic management in rail freight companies and a willingness of governments to contribute towards the cost of private sidings, all help make the case.
For the shipment of pre-slung timber by sea, the expected demise of the small coastal vessel with the box-shaped hold has not happened, and stevedores are becoming cleverer at how to load and discharge these vessels in the shortest possible time. The move to mega-containerships on trades ex China is cascading some smaller vessels back into the general cargo market.
Containerising of timber products has never been easy, but over the past 18 months the arrival in European markets of 45ft-long containers with curtains on each side promises easy loading and more flexible transport.
As the requirement grows for panel board to be delivered in ever wider and longer pieces, the industry will have to look at working more closely with the lines operating ro-ro vessels equipped to take ‘high and heavy’ traffic. It is now possible to load up to 70 tonnes onto a ‘mafi’ (jumbo-sized flat trailer) at, say, Dublin and, switching vessels but not ‘mafi’ along the way, reach any one of a multitude of destinations with little risk of damage.
We have not yet run out of ideas on how to ship timber but, true to the concepts of Medite 2016, we need to keep thinking in ever more creative ways.
