Logistics, Trade Administration and Supply Chain

By Toh Kar Hin EVEN before this week’s big Jack Ma event, logistics stocks have been seeing strong interest. The sector had already boasted of having one of the most highly-valued companies on Bursa Malaysia in the form of GD Express Carrier Bhd (GDEX), which trades at price-earnings (PE) multiple of a whopping 72.36 times. GDEX is a leading package delivery services company and boasts attracting such big names as Singapore Post Ltd (Singpost) and Japan’s Yamato Holdings Co Ltd to take up chunks of shares in the company despite its high PE. Companies like GDEX and Pos Malaysia Bhd were long seen as being the beneficiaries of e-commerce growth. And then this week, Ma’s presence at the launch of the Digital Free Trade Zone (DTFZ) seems to have sparked even more interest in this sector. Since March 17, logistics stocks have seen some RM342.6mil increase in their combined market capitalisations. Hence the question is, are these stocks running ahead of themselves or are

By Robert Bowman It wasn't as if it was a huge surprise. Rumors that Hanjin was financially imperiled extended back to 2013. The Korean line sought to restructure its debt in April of last year, then submitted a last-ditch liquidity plan in August for raising an additional $450m. At the time, Hanjin expressed optimism that it could come to terms with creditors while remaining in business. But the Korean government refused to bail out the carrier, the plan was rejected, and Hanjin went into receivership on Sept. 1. Then, on Feb. 17 of this year, a South Korean court declared Hanjin bankrupt, ordering liquidation of its assets. Hanjin left a huge mess to be sorted out. It had 89 ships in service and was involved in some two dozen alliances or vessel-sharing arrangements (VSAs) with carrier partners. Huge amounts of money were owed to terminals, crewmembers and supporting vendors, with total outstanding debt of approximately $6bn. It could take years for them to recover even a fra

Tell me if you have heard this recently - we are undergoing a major digital transformation! I realize this is not a news bulletin, but one industry that is seeing the greatest impact from the digital revolution is retail. Why? Because digital is having the greatest impact at the consumer level. Retailers have already experienced the impacts of digital transformation. Just think of mobile commerce and e-commerce and how these have changed their businesses. So how can retail supply chains take advantage of these changes? The constantly changing consumer. The biggest driver of disruption in retail supply chain is the consumer. As consumers continue to grow with regard to their influence and ability to dictate how retailers service their needs, supply chains, which are foundational, will have to keep pace. We are going beyond omnicommerce and into ambient commerce. Commerce that is not only always-on but not constrained to a separate practice. Look at efforts by social giants such as F

Maersk Line and the Oetker Group have reached an agreement for Maersk Line to acquire the German container shipping line Hamburg Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft. In 2015, Hamburg Süd turned over some €6 billion and operated a total of 130 container ships. The sale and purchase agreement is subject to board approvals, which are expected during the second quarter of 2017. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2017.-SCM News

Analyst Insight: Global trade compliance remains a topic that most C-level executives successfully ignore. This should not be regarded as an accomplishment but as a serious corporate deficiency that will affect a company's bottom line and its ability to compete on a global basis. Ignorance of global trade compliance is no longer an option. – Beth Pride, president, BPE Global Profit & loss statements still ignore the intricacies and costs of crossing borders. True product landed cost remains buried and unexplored in most companies. The decision to market and sell products in a new country or region seldom considers how challenging it is to accurately clear goods from an export and import perspective. Now the U.S. election has brought this issue front and center. As president-elect, Donald J. Trump announced a goal to impose a 45-percent tariff on Chinese imports. At the very least, C-level executives should look at their current costs for goods sourced from China and es