The latest supply chain risk story hitting the news this week is … pirates. Yes, pirates. With 8 pirate attacks on oil tankers off the coast of Somalia in the last 10 days, the total number of attacks this year is up 75%.
The story has all the ingredients necessary for a hyped up post-US-election week [...]
Will Pirates Raise Oil Prices?
November 21st, 2008 · 1 Comment · LCCS and trade, oil/energy, sourcing, supplier management, supply management, supply risk
Tags: commodities·LCCS and trade·oil/energy·supply risk·transport
DHL’s Domestic US Pullout Shakes Up Parcel Market
November 17th, 2008 · 1 Comment · LCCS and trade, sourcing, supplier management, supply management
This week, DHL announced that as of January 30, 2009, they are halting US domestic service and focusing on “what we do better than anyone else - international shipping”. The move allows them to cut US costs by 80%, although with half of their top customers and global shipping volume based in or routed through [...]
Tags: commodities·LCCS and trade·rumors·transport
Will a TNT Acquisition make UPS or FedEx Truly Global?
November 10th, 2008 · 2 Comments · LCCS and trade, sourcing, supplier management, supply management
TNT has been the center of rumors that both UPS and FedEx may be interested in acquiring the company. While all companies involved deny these rumors, similar rumors surfaced between Exel and UPS right before Deutsche Post World Net bought Exel to form DHL Exel Supply Chain.
If the rumors prove to be true and TNT [...]
Tags: commodities·LCCS and trade·rumors·SupplyWatch·transport
Surging Dollar’s Impact on Steel Prices
October 24th, 2008 · 1 Comment · LCCS and trade, best practices, sourcing, supply management
It’s that time of the quarter again when I get a chance to take a step back, gather my thoughts and scour through the data as I write the metals category article for SupplyWatch. As you can guess…there’s a LOT to talk about this quarter. Plummeting commodity prices, a global credit crisis and an underlying [...]
Tags: commodities·Forex·LCCS and trade·steel·steel trends 2009·US$
Is Indonesia “the next (insert favorite LCCS nation here)”?
October 21st, 2008 · No Comments · LCCS and trade, sourcing, supply management
When asked for his thoughts on emerging low-cost country sourcing (LCCS) opportunities during an online Town Hall forum last week, Larry Welch cited an unusual contender; Indonesia. Welch, the former VP of Indirect and Services Procurement at Hewlett Packard, said Indonesia is making strides towards becoming a regional and global player. It was an intriguing [...]
Tags: commodities·LCCS and trade

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