Take your partners

摘要

Despite much hype about the growing need for integrated supply chain management services, most European deepsea shippers still prefer to live in a world of fragmented transport control, as demonstrated in 'Who's fooling whom?' (Containerisation International, October 2001, p4l-45). Many different parties remain involved in the transport chains set up between their overseas suppliers and their own local warehouses or distribution centres. The situation may be different regarding secondary distribution services after the goods arrive there, but that is another matter. So, having sorted out what shippers require, who do they really want to handle the different functions involved, and how do they see these service providers changing in future? To help answer these questions, Containerisation International sent an appropriate questionnaire to over 1,000 importers and exporters worldwide, excluding forwarding agents, and the answers are analysed below.