10,922 Loads in 72 Days

A few months back I posted about a show on the history channel called Ice Road Truckers. The premise was simple. The show followed 5 truckers shipping cargo to diamond minds located just south of the Arctic Circle in Canada. Well after about 20 episodes the season has wrapped up and the final run illustrated some serious logistics in action. In total, they trucked 10,922 loads in 72 days. In terms of weight, 622,000,000 pounds. The driver they called the "polar bear" trucked the most, making 37 trips, which equaled 722 tons. His cut $58,000. Doing some quick math, that's about $805 a day. Would you drive a truck with 30,000 pounds of cargo, on 15 inches of ice for 300 miles in below freezing weather? Whether you would or wouldn't you gotta show respected to these logistics professionals that do. I hope they bring the show back next year.

Chain Reaction: The Book by Bob Malone

I've had the great opportunity to work with hundreds of reporters over the years that cover supply chains. All of them, well the ones that are good, have their unique little ways about them. Bob Malone is one of them. His unique way is that he is a great story teller. He provides all the glitz, color and smells to actually make you feel like you were there. You may be saying, "Duh, Chris, that's why he's a writer." But not all writers, particularly supply chain writers are created equal.

So where was I, oh right, so it was of little surprise to me that he signed a book deal with Kaplan Publishing on supply chains. His book which came out last month is based on the premise that companies are no longer only competing based on product or service quality. They are also competing on the supply chain level, meaning who can get me the product when and want it and at the price I want to pay. In the book he looks at several examples including IBM. The premise makes perfect sense particularly when it comes to commodity products. So congratulations to Bob. I'm sure it will make the rounds at the universities this Fall. Chain Reaction is available now for $17.82 at Amazon.com

Please note as a disclaimer, I worked with Bob on providing some of the IBM related content in Chain Reaction.

The Logistics of Shipping My Car to Europe

Last week I was in New York and in this post I had hoped to enthusiastically share my experience of shipping my 2002 Mini Cooper from New Jersey to Germany. Why ship, instead of sell? Good question. Well I was one of the first 1000 owners of a Mini in the US, so I have a certain bond to my Mini. Also, I lived in New York City, so it only has about 30,000 miles on it, which is really low considering it's 7 years old. Lastly, I installed this really great audio system with iPod connections just before I left. So those are my reasons.

I am working with the folks at Planes Incorporated and according to them it should take about 30 days to go from New Jersey to the port of Bremerhaven in Germany, about 40 minutes from Hamburg. UPDATE: I've been asked to add a few more details, so here goes. The car will be shipped in its own fright container via the ocean. As for preparing the car, the fuel needs to be below 1/4 tank mark. No other prep is required. As for once I arrive in Europe, I have 30 days to have it registered, which I have chosen to do in Vienna, Austria. Since the car is made in Germany and sold on the European market, I don't expect any issues. Once I get to the next step, I will add more lessons learned.

The problem lies with the title of the car. According to the NY State DMV a lien is on the car, when it fact its been paid off for quite some time. I spoke with the folks at Mini Financing and they confirmed, but alas an audio confirmation doesn't work in the world of logistics. So I had to wait for a notarized letter to arrive with the confirmation, which didn't arrive in time - once again foiled by poor logistics planning. Now my Mini is in Queens, NY and I am currently lining up to have a 3rd party take it to NJ. After it arrives in Germany I'll be flying in and driving it back to Vienna - about 900 miles. Stay tuned.