The transition from freight consolidation to logistics(4)

The transition from freight consolidation to logistics

248R.K.Cheungetal./JournalofTransportGeography11(2003)245–253

suggeststhatthereasonsforthisconcentrationarehis-torical.Thefreightforwarders,whoaretheprimarycustomers,frequentlyuseseveralconsolidators,andco-loadingwascommoninthepast,wherethesamecon-tainerwouldbeloadedbyseveralconsolidators.Afurtherfactorwastherelativelyrestrictedrangeofsai-lingstooverseasports(comparedwiththeglobalcov-eragetoday).Thisfactormadeitessentialthatcontainerswere lledtocapacity.Closephysicalprox-imityofconsolidatorsminimisedthemovementsofcargoandcontainers.

AsurveyoftheCFSwasundertakenwiththesupportoftheHongKongContainerFreightStationAssocia-tion(HKCFSA).Aclosedquestionnairewasdevelopedwiththeco-operationoftheAssociation,andwasdis-tributedtoits33corporatemembersin1999.Atotalof14questionnaireswerereturnedforaresponserateof42%.Foreachoftheresponding rms,weconductedtwomeetingswithitsmanagementteamandmadeatleasttwovisitstoitswarehousesforverifyingthein-formationobtainedaswellasobtainingfurtherinfor-mation.Theresponding rmsaccountfor70%ofthecargovolumeofallmembersoftheHKCFSA.Copiesofthequestionnairemaybeobtainedbycontactingtheauthors.

Thesurveydemonstratedthatdemandpatternsvar-iedacrossthedi erenttimespectra.ThereisamarkedpeakofbusinessactivityonFridays,aweeklypatternthatwasconsistentthroughoutthethreeyearsforwhichdatawerecollected(seeFig.1).AnoticeableseasonalpeakofbusinessisevidentbetweenJulyandSeptember(seeFig.2).Thisseasonalityintheconsolidationbusi-nessiscon rmedbyo cialdataoncontainerexportsthatshowapeakinshipmentsduringthethirdquarter(HongKongShippingStatistics,1999).Thisvariability

indemandhasanin uenceonresourceallocationandpro tability(seebelow).

ThesurveyrevealedthatoperatingcostsinHongKongÕsCFSindustryaredominatedbyrent.Justoverhalfofthetotalexpensesareaccountedforbyrentalcosts(seeFig.3).Thesecondlargestitemislabour,accountingfor35%ofthetotal(where22%areforlong-termemployeesand13%areforshort-termemployees).Thesetwoitemsthereforeaccountfornearlythreequartersofallexpenses.Thehighrentalcostisaseriousconstraintontheindustry.Rentalcontractsrunbetween2and5years,andthetrendoverthe veyearshasbeenforcoststoincreasefrom$9HKpersquarefootin1994,tonearly$11HKin1999.Asmentionedearlier, rmsleasebythemodule,butgiventhelengthofthetermofleases, rmshavedi cultyinadjustingtothe

temporal