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Issue 16 Do you have a friend or colleague who would like to receive this eFlash, click here. |
As the peak shipping season moves forward, statistics show that cargo volumes in Los Angeles-Long Beach have surged in September, indicating that the diversions of cargo from Southern California ports has virtually stopped.
Containerized imports through Long Beach increased over 22 percent in September 2005 compared to September 2004. More than 310,000 TEUs, a monthly record, came into the Port of Long Beach for the month.
Los Angeles handled more than 350,000 TEUs, up 10 percent from September 2004. While the monthly volume was not a record, the growth figure is significant in that cargo volumes in Los Angeles were down almost every month this year.
Shippers and carriers began large-scale diversions of cargo from Southern California in the summer of 2004 because of severe congestion at the nation's largest container complex. Carriers rerouted services to Oakland and the Pacific Northwest. The northern ports this past year have experienced exceptionally strong growth of 20 percent or more.
All-water services from Asia to the U.S. East Coast have also continued to rise. Cargo volumes this year at the major East Coast gateways for Asian cargo have increased 10 to 15 percent.
The modest increases in cargo volumes in August, and a the larger jump in volume in September indicate that volumes in Los Angeles-Long Beach are beginning to return to the traditional growth rate of about 10 percent.
Carriers in 2006 are considering starting one or two new services to LA-Long Beach. A more significant increase in capacity will occur, though, as carriers begin phasing in vessels of 6,000-TEU to 8,000-TEU capacity into existing services, displacing smaller vessels on their Southern California strings.
In order to accommodate the mega-ships, the ports will have to remain congestion-free. The Marine Exchange of Southern California reported that LA-Long Beach has experienced no serious congestion this year after terminal operators hired thousands of longshoremen and expanded their gate hours under a new program known as PierPass.
According to a study released Friday by the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority, truck traffic during peak traffic periods on the ports' main artery, the I-710 freeway, has declined 24 percent compared to the weeks immediately preceding the launch of PierPass on July 23.
Shippers each week are moving 30 percent to 34 percent of their container volume during the off-peak hours.
The average price of U.S. retail diesel rose 0.6 cent to a record $3.15 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported Tuesday.
The increase was the second straight record and fourth straight overall increase.
Meanwhile, the national average price of regular gasoline fell 8 cents to $2.848, the first decline in the past four weeks. Gasoline is 85.5 cents cents higher than the same time last year.
The diesel uptick left the price $1.058 higher than a year earlier and followed a record 34.6-cent spike last week, pushing diesel to a then-record $3.144 a gallon.
Trucking burns an estimated 665 million gallons of diesel each week.
DOE said that despite a 3.1-cent dip in diesel to $3.252, the Lower Atlantic portion of the East Coast continued to have the highest price for diesel in the country, DOE said.
DOE surveys 350 diesel-filling stations every week to compile a national snapshot price. The price was not reported until Tuesday this week because of the Columbus Day holiday.
FMI International has increased its order fulfillment accuracy to near perfect rates due in part to the implementation of Dolphin 9550 mobile computers. The mobile computers have increased FMI’s “Pick & Pack” processing speed by nearly 30 percent as the company maintains their position as one of the world’s largest integrated logistics service providers to the apparel and retail industries.
“Pick & Pack” service is favored by retailers, led by Wal Mart, for its ability to reduce costs associated with on-premise overstocking. By shipping only the exact product that requires replenishment to the retailers, FMI helps to keep popular items on the shelves while preventing an overflow of slower moving products.
FMI implemented the Dolphin 9550s in late 2004. Since then, FMI has noticeably increased the efficiency of its packers and reduced the human error that resulted from hand-written orders. After FMI receives an order, an FMI “packer” is given a printed bar code that contains the entire order manifest. Using the Dolphin 9550, the employee scans the bar code and the manifest is uploaded to the device. Each item in the order is then individually scanned and packed while the order manifest on the mobile unit and FMI’s main servers updates itself in real time.
“By using the Dolphin 9550s we have improved our order accuracy and processing speed by leaps and bounds and that has had a direct impact on our customer’s bottom line,” said Paul Gaidis, FMI's senior vice president of information technology. “We have found that the Dolphins virtually eliminate human error, and their extended battery life prevents the need for employees to swap batteries during their shift. In addition, the fact that the Dolphins run on a Windows Mobile platform made implementation a fast and easy process with seamless communication between the devices and our Windows terminal server.”
For more information about FMI and our Pick & Pack services, please contact your local FMI sales representative, our visit our website www.fmiint.com.
©2005 FMI International