A coastal shipping operator has warned against a tendency by Australian manufacturers to be blindly led by just-in-time manufacturing principles.
Craig Thompson, managing director of the Fremantle-based Seacorp Logistics, said many procurement and logistics, managers who were keen to satisfy just-in-time principles were under the mistaken impression that shipping did not serve their needs.
Mr Thompson said many people still clung to outdated perceptions about the shipping industry and thereby deprived themselves of enormous economic and logistical benefits.
Some commonly held myths were that shipping was much slower, it was more expensive, it was marred by poor productivity and that using this transport mode would have an impact on storage space.
Australia’s waterfront and maritime industries had undergone major workplace and productivity reforms since the early 1990’s thereby generating enormous benefits for transport users, he said.
“I can’t remember the last time a day was lost due to an industrial dispute,” Mr Thompson said.
ONE SIZE FITS ALL
“Our docksides are very efficient and Australian seafarers are not only amongst the world’s finest trained, but they also bring greater potential of improving security around our vast coastline.”
Mr Thompson, a shipping industry veteran of over 30 years, said most logistics managers had a “one size fits all” mentality and utilized just-in-time practices for all of their transport needs.
Taking a smarter approach to logistics, which utilized marine as well as land transport modes, could improve inventory management and achieve significant savings on freight bills, he said.
“With some logical thinking there are serious savings to be achieved by utilizing a mixture of urgent and non urgent systems,” Mr Thompson said.
“In some cases, business is being blindly led by just-in-time principles and is forgoing an opportunity to achieve substantial commercial savings.
“There are lots of situations where cargo can be mixed and matched.
“Procurement and logistics managers stand to gain a lot if they think about what cargo can go now and what can go later.”
Mr Thompson said Seacorp Logistics consistently achieved savings and added value for shippers of non-time sensitive and heavy, dimensional and awkward project cargoes.
The coastal shipping service, which was partly under written by the Western Australian Government, offered the cheapest option for transporting cargo between Fremantle and the ports of Dampier, Port Hedland, Broome, Wyndham and Darwin.
Mr Thompson said another myth among logistics and procurement managers was that utilizing a shipping service – in particular one with a 16-day turnaround – could impact on storage space.
But this was not an issue because Seacorp Logistics offered continuous receivals on the wharf to all of the ports it serviced as well as a complete door-to-do service.
There were many situations where transit times between a sea journey to a northwest destination and a road journey varied by just over a day.
For example, there were three sailing days between Fremantle and Dampier compared with a two-day road journey and it took seven sailing days to reach Wyndham and Kununnurra compared to five days by road.
There were eight sailing days between Fremantle and Darwin compared with a seven-day road transit time.
Seacorp Logistics coastal shipping service is serviced with the 105-metre SCS Anne, a multi-purpose vessel that can ship containers, break bulk, heavy lift, over dimensional and hazardous and dry bulk cargo.
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