Changing
the way we think
about shipping

Change is in our DNA

Once we were the drivers of change

Containerisation revolutionised the world because it fundamentally overturned the ingrained ways of thinking about global transportation.

We had to change everything. Stevedores and longshoremen had to retrain almost overnight. A whole new class of ship, truck, equipment, and port terminal machinery had to be built. And suddenly unimaginable complexities of schedules, equipments and timelines had to be factored in.

It took time, effort, money and a belief in the future
– and huge amounts of potential were unlocked, for both ourselves and customers.
We all benefit from that change every day.

CASE: Music players and mobile phones

What happens if you can't see what's coming next and just try to hold your existing position?

Music players:

For 20 years, the personal music player market – be it cassettes, CDs, and later mini-discs – was filled with a wealth of similar products and where market leadership was decided on brand alone.

While music was shared and stored in physical formats, these brand leaders had an unassailable edge. Until, they missed a new way to think about portable music …

Mobile phones:

Ten years ago, almost overnight, mobile phones in the developed world went from luxury item to everyday essential. The major players jostled for position behind the industry leaders and were focused solely on the now traditional, and back in 2005 the presumed only, design of mobile phone.

What they all failed to see coming was a totally new way to think about mobile phones ...

What happened?

In the space of a few years, Apple twice gave customers what they had always wanted before they themselves knew that they had always wanted it and in the process, they completely stole both the music player and mobile phone markets overnight.

In the face of competitive innovation, every successful and well-established service business in the world is only one surprise product launch away from being left behind.

The customer is king
…occasionally

We have a whole new generation of customers that expect a different kind of service level from all their suppliers. Our customers repeatedly tell us that other buying factors matter to them besides price such as schedule reliability, money-back guarantees, quick notifications of delays, intuitive self-service wherever possible, and ease of business. They expect that we will serve them.

If we are truly to reassess where we need to be, we must first realise that the old conversation no longer applies. We have to rethink our business focusing on the tremendous value we could add to our customers' supply chains. We really could be so much more. We must make the industry of tomorrow, today.

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

Is it really true that the needs of the shipping industry's customers have changed so much?