Discuss about the Qube Logistics for Port Botany Freight Terminal.
Qube is the largest provider of the import and export logistics service provider. The company originated in the year 2010. Qube logistics deal with diverse services which are the road transport, distribution, warehousing, rail and the container parks. The company has expanded itself as one of the largest service providers of the logistics in Australia over the past five years and almost 45% of the company is contributed by the Qube Logistics (Qube.com.au, 2017).
The company operational in the New South Wales (NSW):
– Port Botany Freight Terminal
– Port Botany Empty Park
– Yennora Intermodal Terminal
– Macarthur Intermodal Terminal (Qube.com.au, 2017).
NSW Qube logistics strategy is to put together the domestic logistics and undersized companies to merge and generate the effectual and competent company. From last few years, the company has gone through some acquisition and added them to the company’s network. The organization is operating aggressively in the market. The company operates in the warehousing, empty containers parks, and freight depots. Having the biggest terminals of the rail network in the NSW. The fleet size of the rail is around 750 wagons and 65 locos (Qube.com.au, 2017). The Port Botany passes the 320,000 TEU p.a on the rail with one of the fine quality management team. The company generates the revenue of almost 17% from the import of the retail goods under the management services related to supply chain (Qube.com.au, 2017). The company generates the customer value through reliability and high-speed delivery.
The company logistics accomplished the success in the past but the diligence of the company is competitive and also unpredictable. The company is getting affected by numerous factors which challenges the functioning of the organization (Ellinger and Chapman, 2011). Presently the NSW network of the logistics is struggling with the issues related to the strategies, issues related to national policies the Logistics Network of the NSW is also struggling with some of the issues such as the strategies and the national policies issues, as the consequences of the provincial planning, convention, and expansion policies, planning related to the regional transport, transportation strategies of the infrastructure and state investment (Ellinger and Chapman, 2011). The company issued numerous such policies which indirectly or directly affect the logistics and the supply chain. The company also evident, such issues and need urgent action.
The activities of the Port are shifted from the Port Jackson to the Port Botany and resulted in the containers modification which is to be used for the transition at the Port. The Port Botany is designed in such a way which helps in the transport via trucks (Bar-Lev et al., 2011). At the Jackson Port, the containers are passed through the rail and moved to trucks to reach Port Botany. The trucks carrying the containers are then oriented towards the Rockdale in the west because the other routes were embarrassed due to heavy traffic. There is the theme of divergence on the import and the export business so that the truck containers do not breach the environmental policies or relates to any of the environmental issues or else the alternatives of the operations will be closed (Lynch, Jordan and Bennett, 2016). The management of the local council dispossessed the consumption of the newly constructed road network for the transfer of the shipment (Shan, Wang and Zhang, 2011). Later the state rail relocated the 70% of the containers by transferring them through some specific routes of the railway. In the year 2011, there were changes in the rule and 20% of the containers are shifted underway through the railway network of Port Botany (Shan, Wang and Zhang, 2011).
The container used in the handling plays a vital role in the costs downfall and to maintain the records of the shipping. The increased demand and the limited space act as one of the upcoming issues in the coming time (Shan, Wang and Zhang, 2011).
The Port Botany is one of the second biggest Container Ports of the Australia. The lease of the port is held with the association of the NSW Ports. The privatization resulted into the initiative of the recycling within the Australian Government (Whiteing, 2003). The transaction also resulted in the new innovative construction for the better functioning. In the plan the tunnel was proposed which is constructed between the Rozelle and St Peters to release the jam on the nearby network (Whiteing, 2003).
The company Qube is new in the commodity market of the rail haulage and have to offer high-quality services for possessing new position in the market (Whiteing, 2003). The downturn in the commodity market is affecting the operations adversely and weakens the demand for the iron ore and coal, mainly for the emerging economies (Whiteing, 2003).
The adverse conditions of the weather greatly affect the activities of the logistics. All the transportations and the logistics are designed to resists all the conditions of the weathers whether the high or low temperature, unfavorable conditions of the climate and the snowfall. The high temperature may result into the bursting of the tires which results in the increased rate of the accidents (Lynch, Jordan and Bennett, 2016). Also, the level of the sea may fall or rise as a result of the shipping lane. The coastal infrastructure and the harbor facilities are affected due to such conditions.
Logistics management deals with forward and reverses the flow of resources between the point of generation and the point of utilization. It deals with the movement of goods, services, and critical information. Logistic management can be defined as the component of the supply chain that deals with several operations related to flow of information, inventory management, packaging, warehousing, and transportation. Logistic management helps to meet the customer demands in an effective and efficient manner. Thus, proper planning, implementation, monitoring, and control are required for logistic management. Logistic management helps to enhance the level of customer services. It also helps the organization in controlling expenses and reducing supply chain costs (Whiteing, 2003). Logistics management starts with selecting the best vendors for raw materials and ends with selecting the best mode for delivery of finished goods. Due to competition in the marketplace, the organizations keep re-inventing their supply chain. Thus, there is a requirement for logistics management to serve the customer requirements. Strategies related to logistics are required because an organization has to serve different customer segments on the basis of geography and the organization has to manage different product segments. It is important for the management to have flexible logistics management strategy due to changing market conditions. The management of Qube is considering certain strategies related to logistics in order to overcome the business challenges (Whiteing, 2003). The company is taking initiatives to identify the issues related to logistics management. After analyzing these issues, the company will take corrective measures to improve customer services. This will make the organization more profitable.
The management of Qube considers the following three main elements while formulating logistics management strategies:
The organization can form a relationship with external organizations. These organizations have the expertise to carry out logistics activities. An alliance among the client, vendor and service provider can make a business successful (Wu, Tan and Zhang, 2013). The organization’s decision to execute all the logistics activities in-house may increase overall expenses for the organization. A good logistics alliance will also increase customer satisfaction.
Storage space is an issue of concern for the logistics managers. This approach is used to resolve issues related to less warehousing space. A warehouse needs to accommodate a large volume of inbound and outbound containers. To solve the storage problem, a record should be maintained that includes the exit time for each container. The workload should be balanced by allocating space to each container. This establishes the first horizon. A time-period is chosen for repeating the plan
It deals with the flow of goods from the consumers to the manufacturer. The end-users return the products in case of faulty delivery or damaged delivery. Organizations have a closed-loop logistic chain that helps them to manage the return flow of goods. The products are transported from the point of consumption to the point of origin (Ellinger and Chapman, 2011). There are several possibilities in the reverse flow of goods: repair, remanufacture, recycle and disposal of waste. Following strategies are adopted to manage reverse logistics:
– Distribution planning that includes a choice of distribution centers, distribution channels, delivery modes, transportation routes, delivery time etc.
– Inventory control that includes raw materials and ready for sale goods.
– Production planning that includes the flow of materials, deciding production schedules, maintenance of equipment, issuing instructions to workers, inspection of goods etc.
Limited warehouse capacity is a major issue. The concept of backhaul should be used. Empty vehicles should be used to compensate for the limited space. This saves a lot of money. The cargo trucks should be utilized properly during their return journey. This increases the efficiency of the logistics chain.
Qube utilizes multiple modes of transportation. This strategy helps in the faster delivery of goods. This also reduces the chances of damage during transportation of goods. This strategy can be used to serve remote locations. This increases convenience.
This strategy is being utilized by many successful companies. This technique is mostly used for small shipments. This strategy guarantees right product at the right time. The possibility of emergency shipment is covered in this technique. Proper delivery management is a challenging task. This strategy leads to higher customer satisfaction (Ellinger and Chapman, 2011). Customer satisfaction leads to higher profits. The quality of product and on-time delivery makes this model successful.
This scenario arises when the chosen mode of transportation cannot reach the end point. Transhipments happen when the vehicle carrying freight from the point of origin is interrupted in a one-to-many distribution system. This leads to two possibilities: many small shipments merge to form one large shipment or a large shipment may be split into smaller shipments (Ellinger and Chapman, 2011)Thus, a larger geographical area can be served with a lesser number of vehicles. It is recommended that an organization should use different modes of transportation in order to obtain economies of scale.
The government should focus on the development of infrastructure and make investments in this sector. There are several challenges like lack of container space at ports, lack of road access etc. The government should address these challenges so that companies like Qube can meet the increasing demands of logistic services (Avdeichikova, 2013). The private sector should also contribute for the up-gradation of infrastructure. Only government funding cannot support this task.
The government should forcefully implement several laws regarding safety and wellbeing- Heavy Vehicle National Law and The Road Safety Remuneration Act etc (Avdeichikova, 2013). Violation of these laws should lead to financial implications. Robust policies and safety programs should be implemented.
Politics should not interfere with the infrastructural projects. Infrastructure Australia Plan and Infrastructure NSW plan are two strong projects (Avdeichikova, 2013). Strong plans maximize the return on investment.
To meet the freight requirements, rail network should be strengthened. It is an efficient mode of transportation as low risk is involved. The government should ensure the proper construction of rail tracks.
Keeping in View the above-discussed issues it is recommended that through the application of some of the management theories the issues related to the logistics may get resolved. The Australian government also recommends a few steps for the disentanglement of the present issues. The industry long term relationship is to optimize the complete supply chain. The missile and the upper management are to get involved in the company operations to achieve the objectives of the organizations.
Conclusion:
The report assisted in understanding the Qube services of the Logistics in the NSW. The Qube logistics target area with the description of the company and its features are discussed in the report. The discussed issues help in a great understanding of the process and the logistic system and guide to the company to act as the industry leader.
References
Avdeichikova, E. (2013). Features Of The Formation Of Channels In The Logistics And Distribution System. International Journal of Advanced Studies, 3(1), pp.4-13.
Bar-Lev, S., Boxma, O., Löpker, A., Stadje, W. and Van der Duyn Schouten, F. (2011). Group testing procedures with quantitative features and incomplete identification. Naval Research Logistics (NRL), 59(1), pp.39-51.
Ellinger, A. and Chapman, K. (2011). Benchmarking leading supply chain management and logistics strategy journals. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 22(3), pp.403-419.
Lynch, C., Jordan, M. and Bennett, A. (2016). Optimising the logistics of life-saving drug procurement and supply in NSW and the ACT. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 12(5), p.e47.
Qube.com.au. (2017). Qube | Qube Holdings | logistics services, port services, bulk material handling, third party container logistics, infrastructure. [online] Available at: https://www.qube.com.au/ [Accessed 2 Feb. 2017].
Shan, L., Wang, X. and Zhang, Z. (2011). Systematic Analysis and Research on Logistics Network. Contemporary Logistics, pp.44-50.
Whiteing, T. (2003). Logistics management and strategy. International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, 6(3), pp.185-187.
Wu, L., Tan, Q. and Zhang, Y. (2013). Delivery Time Reliability Model of Logistics Network. Mathematical Problems in Engineering, 2013, pp.1-5.
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