Shippers predict global bottlenecks
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Manufacturing News, Source : The Manufacturer US
Published : 27 Jun 2007 14:47
Logistics: Transport congestion imperils global economy, say shippers
Inadequate transportation infrastructure and congestion will negatively impact worldwide economic growth in the years ahead, requiring urgent action to accelerate the pace of infrastructure development.
That’s the warning from Ron Widdows, CEO of one of the world’s top 10 container shipping lines, Singapore-based APL. Widdows spoke in June before the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT) and told the continent’s leading transportation officials that “if our transport infrastructure can’t keep pace with the rate of growth, then big question marks hang over the continuation of the kind of economic prosperity that’s been delivered this decade.”
The 54-year-old ECMT, created to focus on Europe’s transport issues, convened its meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, to consider a single issue for the first time: “Congestion: A Global Challenge.” This was the latest in a series of high-level alarms sounded by shippers like APL to warn against overcrowding at seaports, highways, and railways worldwide. Widdows drew his conclusions following a series of engagements with the US Department of Transportation and the Bush Administration’s Domestic Policy Council in 2006.
By 2010, Widdows predicted, global container volumes will be double the level of 2000, but the transportation infrastructure in key markets won’t be able to handle the load.
In the first quarter of 2007, only 46 percent of container vessels globally arrived at ports on time—the lowest level on record. At the port of Rotterdam, only 35 percent of vessels arrived on time. At European ports overall, less than 30 percent of vessels arrived on time.
For the leading consumer economies, being Europe and the US, the call to action is expansion and greater efficiency at ports.
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