Tag Archives: port

Is Virgin Hyperloop One going to change the supply chain game?

Posted on by

Here is a breakdown of the potentially industry disrupting impact points that the integration of hyperloops into global supply chain could have.

Speed

So, let’s say we get a hyperloop built in the kingdom that runs from the port city and modern commercial hub of Jeddah in the West, to the city of Dammam in the East. The 844 mile journey takes over 12 hours by road. With its projected top speed of 760mph, Virgin Hyperloop One’s train could cut that travel time to just over an hour.

In June, Port Technology magazine interviewed Ryan Kelly, Virgin Hyperloop One’s Head of Marketing raised concerns about the current global supply chain’s ability to measure up to the logistical demands of the coming years. “We are not poised to meet the demand of the coming decades. Today, on-demand deliveries are novel. Tomorrow, they will be the expectation. E-commerce, set to grow to $4 trillion globally by 2020, is driving a dramatic shift in both consumer and business behavior. The market for express and parcel freight is set to grow to $516 Billion by 2025– this expanding market is currently limited by airline/airport capacity challenges.”

Kelly believes that, by being able to deliver goods across long distances, at the speed of air freight and near the cost of conventional trucking, hyperloop technology “can serve as an integrated logistics backbone, supporting the fast, sustainable and efficient delivery of palletized cargo. Deliveries can be completed in hours versus days with unprecedented reliability.”

Sustainability

The ability for this new mode of transportation to support high-speed, high-reliability logistical solutions across vast distances is obviously a game changer for supply chains currently bogged down by air, sea and land traffic congestion. Virgin Hyperloop One’s cargo subsidiary, DP World Cargospeed, will reportedly be a carbon emissions neutral, electrically powered alternative to current freight strategies, given that, according to a UK government survey, “heavy goods vehicles are currently estimated to account for around 17%1 of UK GHG emissions from road transport and around 21%2 of road transport NOx emissions, while making up just 5% of vehicle miles.”

The ability for hyperloops to transport freight that otherwise would make its way via truck, cargo ship, cargo plane (by far the most environmentally harmful form of transportation) and traditional rail freight alternatives is a strong argument for its adoption.

According to Kelly, Virgin Hyperloop One is currently setting its sights on eroding the market share of supply chains currently taken up by air freight. “We’re focused high-priority, on-demand goods — fresh food, medical supplies, electronics — the same goods often delivered via air. Hyperloop doesn’t make sense for carrying things like coal and other bulk goods which can be on the back of a truck/train for weeks with little impact,” he explains. “Air cargo currently accounts for less than 1% of world trade tonnage, yet 35% of world trade value is carried by air. This is an expanding market that is currently limited by capacity challenges.”

Read more at Is Virgin Hyperloop One going to change the supply chain game?

Share your opinions with us in the comment box below and subscribe us to be the first one to get updates.

Tianjin Catastrophe Reinforces Need For Supply Chain Risk Management

Posted on by

A recent University of Tennessee-sponsored survey of leading supply chain executives helped quantify the continued apathy surrounding the proper assessment and management of supply chain risk. For starters, the survey found that none of the companies surveyed use third parties to independently assess their risk, 90 percent don’t even quantify the risk themselves, and while 66 percent acknowledged the existence of corporate officers focused on managing legal compliance, none of these same professionals touched the supply chain.

If HR can be directed to manage against the cost of a potential employee discrimination suit, how did global companies get to a place where they still don’t see the wisdom in protecting themselves against a potential supply chain disaster?

The Port of Tianjin, China’s third largest, just blew up. For companies that rely on that port and that didn’t have a crisis playbook in place, the lessons they’re about to learn could be fatal. If you saw the video of the explosion and are even remotely familiar with Chinese industrial accident rates (70,000 lives lost each year) then you know that the Chinese media is under-reporting the story and that “business as usual” at the Port of Tianjin is likely on indefinite hold.

But here’s the rub: if the Longshoremen at the Port of Long Beach decided to strike unexpectedly next week, the business effects for those without contingency plans could be strikingly similar. That’s how tenuous multi-tier supply chains can be.

Supply chain risk management (SCRM) is defined as “the implementation of strategies to manage both everyday and exceptional risks along the supply chain based on continuous risk assessment with the objective of reducing vulnerability and ensuring continuity.” It’s yet another operational discipline that technology has recently enabled to new heights, as the ripple effects of a catastrophic supply chain event are not intuitive. In fact, they’re usually mind-boggling.

Read more at Tianjin Catastrophe Reinforces Need For Supply Chain Risk Management

Leave your comments below if you have any thoughts about this topic. Subscribe to get updates in your inbox.

Related articles