Ships a sure bet by Chris Thomson
The chief of Fremantle’s only WA-owned shipping line says businesses should give their hip pockets and the environment a break and send more cargo by sea.
“It can be easier to haul your whole load by road,” Seacorp Logistics managing director Craig Thompson told the Herald, “but that doesn’t mean you’re doing the right thing by your boss.”
Despite the spruiking for new business, Mr Thompson said Seacorp had turned around the loss-making routes of the old State Shipping Service since taking on the contract to service the North West and was now planning to purchase a bigger ship to meet demand.
“Procurement and logistics managers stand to gain a lot if they think about what cargo can go now and what can go later.”
Citing a recent study of 710 manufacturers that found transport costs equated to half their administration outlays, he’s bemused a one-size-fits-all mentality still pervades and many firms send all freight via road regardless of how urgently it was needed at the destination.
Although a day or two slower than road, Seacorp can deliver door-to-door from Freo to Dampier, Port Hedland, Broome, Wyndham and Darwin at two-thirds the road transport rate.
“Increasingly too, we’re seeing over-width loads coming off the roads and going by ship – which is softer on the load and safer,” he said.
Partly underwritten by the WA government, Seacorp has been hauling cargo on the 105-metre SCS Anne since it won the contract a year ago. The planned replacement vessel will be able to carry 160 tonnes as opposed to SCS Anne’s 110 tonnes.
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