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Practically non-existent 25 years ago, Greece's logistics service provider industry received a boost from the elimination of customs taxes in 1993, which sent demand for warehouse space soaring. But the market for outsourced services still lags well behind the rest of the European Union.
Today, everybody seems to be going global. Logistics people who once couldn't locate Zhongdian on a map suddenly find themselves arranging multimodal moves from the area. The result has been soaring demand for third-party international services.
Since before the railroads, New Orleans, with its location on the Mississippi River, has been vital to U.S. commerce. The city will rise again, right where it is, because not having New Orleans in New Orleans simply is not a logistical option.
Previous transportation bills have contained their share of "pork," to be sure. But the recent bill, larded with allocations for 6,376 such "special interest projects," set an all-time record.
Ask a dozen logistics managers to define "4PL" and "LLP" and you're likely to get a dozen different answers. We desperately need some standard definitions.
Some have begun to think of international "outsourcing" as synonymous with "offshoring," the controversial practice of shutting down U.S. factories or offices and sending the jobs overseas. And as a result, the mention of "outsourcing" today is greeted with the same enthusiasm generally reserved for the avian flu virus.
Transportation management systems first hit the market in the early 1980s. Though the early versions may seem primitive today, they literally transformed many a logistics operation.