‘Port-centric’ logistics the new buzz word

Now is the time for shippers to reassess their logistics patterns and seek out more cost-effective solutions. And it’s up to all service providers to come up with the goods. This was one of the conclusions at the recent UK conference and exhibition, Multimodal 2009. “The name of the game is to find ways and means to cut costs,” said Vincent De Saedeleer, vice president of the Port of Zeebrugge Authority. He admitted that volumes through the port had dropped “at a rate we have never seen before” but said this was encouraging the port to be more responsive to what the market wanted. Martyn Pellew, group development director PD Ports, said the recession was forcing people to think differently. “When times are good, people are not quite so focused on logistics costs – they just need to keep the volumes flowing to the retailers’ shelves. Now everyone is looking at every aspect of their supply chains.” PD Ports is a strong advocate of portcentric logistics and already Asda and Tesco have built huge distribution centres at Teesport in north-east England. The strategy is to build logistics facilities as close to ports as possible to reduce the costs of hauling containers to and from inland distribution centres. The goods are then picked and packed to serve the more local market directly.