They could help manufacturers build systems enabling them to customise their products as late as possible in the manufacturing process. The capacity of electronic systems to improve efficiency can be improved a step further if auctioning is introduced. Internet technology can make such auctions work much more quickly and cheaply than they would by fax or telephone. The important point to note is that shipping is a very variable business. Certainly there are opportunities for shipping lines to expand from their present position.
Shipping has a huge future if companies can utilise the opportunities available.
The saying 'if you can't beat them join them' is true. But joining doesn't mean surrendering. Shipping companies need to progress beyond their current often conservative stance, although the relationships do not need to be that clear cut, he explains. They can still work together in some respects and competitively in other respects, like big retailers do when they share information about their customers with one another. There comes a point, he says, where the potential for shipping companies to cut costs goes so far that the only way they can expand the business is by looking for ways to increase revenue and market share.