How Amazon Beat Supply Chain Chaos With Ships, Containers And Planes

Summary

El caos en la cadena de suministro está causando pánico en la temporada de vacaciones, con 77 barcos esperando en California y un déficit de camiones que alcanza los 80,000. Amazon, anticipando el problema, ha aumentado su control sobre la logística, fabricando sus propios contenedores, contratando barcos y aviones para acortar tiempos de entrega. Esto ha permitido a Amazon reducir el impacto de los retrasos en la cadena de suministro, aunque no está exento de los problemas que enfrentan otras empresas.

Takeaways

• 🚢 En California, hay 77 barcos esperando en el puerto, lo que es un récord histórico, y algunas de estas embarcaciones no tienen citas para atracar.
• 💸 Los puertos de Los Ángeles y Long Beach comenzarán a multar a las compañías de envío por cada contenedor que dejen en el muelle a partir del 1 de noviembre.
• 🚚 La escasez de camiones en los Estados Unidos alcanza su punto más alto con una falta de 80,000 conductores.
• 🛒 Amazon ha tomado medidas inusuales para evitar los peores efectos de la crisis de suministro, como el alquiler de sus propios barcos de carga y la fabricación de sus propios contenedores.
• 📈 Amazon ha experimentado un aumento del 14% en artículos sin stock desde el comienzo del año y los precios en su sitio web han subido un 25% en promedio.
• 💡 Amazon ha estado anticipando y tomando medidas desde 2020 para aliviar los problemas que otros minoristas enfrentarán, lo que les permite tener menos impacto que otros.
• 💼 La inversión de Amazon en controlar cada nodo del proceso de envío les permite reducir los costos y la vulnerabilidad a los retrasos que afectan a otros.
• 🌐 Amazon ha invertido más de 61 mil millones de dólares en envíos en 2020, lo que representa un aumento significativo desde 2019, y ahora envía el 72% de sus propios paquetes.
• ✈️ Amazon ha estado ampliando su flota de Amazon Air y está considerando alquilar aviones de larga distancia para transportar bienes de China a los Estados Unidos.
• 🌱 La crisis de la cadena de suministro también ha afectado la capacidad de los almacenes, lo que ha llevado a Amazon a abrir más de 250 nuevas instalaciones en los Estados Unidos en 2021.
• 🌐 El plan del presidente Biden para modernizar infraestructuras y operar los puertos 24/7 puede ayudar a aliviar la congestión, pero también podría generar más emisiones y desafíos logísticos.

Q & A

¿Cuál es la situación actual de los envíos navales en California?

Hay un récord de 77 barcos de contenedor esperando en la bahía de San Pedro, California, algunos sin una cita de atraque programada.

¿Qué medidas están tomando los puertos de Los Ángeles y Long Beach para abordar el atraso de contenedores?

Anunciarán multas a las compañías de envío por cada contenedor que dejen en el muelle a partir del 1 de noviembre.

¿Cuál es la magnitud de la escasez de camiones en los Estados Unidos según los datos recientes?

La escasez de camioneros en los Estados Unidos está en su nivel más alto, con una falta de 80,000 camioneros.

¿Qué estrategias inusuales ha implementado Amazon para evitar los problemas de la cadena de suministro?

Amazon ha contratado sus propios barcos de carga, duplicado la inversión en trabajadores y almacenes, y arrendado aviones de larga distancia por primera vez para acortar el tiempo de entrega de bienes de China a los Estados Unidos.

¿Cómo ha cambiado la disponibilidad de productos y los precios en Amazon desde el inicio del año?

Amazon ha experimentado un aumento del 14% en artículos sin stock y los precios en la plataforma han subido un 25% en promedio.

¿Cuánto gastó Amazon en envíos en 2020 y cuál fue el porcentaje de paquetes que manejó por sí mismo?

Amazon gastó más de 61 mil millones de dólares en envíos en 2020, y manejó el 72% de sus propios paquetes, subiendo desde el 47% en 2019.

¿Cómo está Amazon tratando de controlar más de su proceso logístico?

Amazon ha invertido decenas de miles de millones para controlar tantos nodos del proceso de envío como sea posible, lo que le permite pagar menos a terceros y ser menos vulnerable a los retrasos.

¿Qué es el 'primer milla' en el proceso de envío de Amazon y cómo lo gestiona?

El 'primer milla' se refiere a la etapa en la que Amazon utiliza datos para predecir qué productos se venderán y dónde, y ordena esos artículos temprano a precios de granel, a menudo desde China.

¿Qué desafíos presenta la escasez de contenedores y cómo Amazon está abordando este problema?

La escasez de contenedores ha hecho que el costo de enviar uno desde China a Los Ángeles haya subido de 1,200 a 20,000 dólares. Amazon está respondiendo fabricando sus propios contenedores en China y utilizando compañías como CIMC.

¿Cómo están otras grandes empresas como Walmart y Home Depot manejando la congestión portuaria?

Otras empresas como Walmart, Home Depot, IKEA y Target también están contratando sus propios barcos más pequeños para evitar los puertos más congestionados y obtener que sus mercancías sean desganchadas más rápidamente.

¿Qué medidas están tomando para abordar la falta de mano de obra en la logística?

Amazon ha ofrecido bonos de incorporación de hasta 3,000 dólares a los 150,000 trabajadores temporales que contrata este año, un aumento de 50,000 trabajadores en comparación con el año anterior.

Outlines

00:00

🚢 Desorden en la cadena de suministro y estrategias de Amazon

El caos en la cadena de suministro está causando pánico en la temporada de vacaciones, con 77 barcos en espera en California, un récord. Amazon ha tomado medidas excepcionales para mitigar el impacto, como la creación de sus propios barcos de carga, la fabricación de sus propios contenedores, el aumento del personal y la inversión en aviones de carga para transportar bienes de alta prioridad. A pesar de esto, ha habido un aumento del 14% de artículos sin stock y un alza promedio del 25% en los precios. La empresa ha invertido más de $61 mil millones en envíos en 2020, lo que les permite controlar cada nodo del proceso y reducir la dependencia de terceros como UPS y el Servicio Postal de EE. UU.

05:03

🌐 Amazon y la logística de alta mar

Amazon está fabricando sus propios contenedores de 53 pies en China a través de la empresa CIMC, similar a los que utiliza Walmart. Esto les permite no tener que devolver los contenedores a Asia y garantizar la disponibilidad de equipos. Además, Amazon ha estado aumentando sus puertos de entrada, expandiendo alianzas y duplicando la capacidad de procesamiento de contenedores. Otros minoristas como Walmart, Costco, Home Depot, IKEA y Target también están contratando sus propios barcos para evitar los puertos más congestionados. La empresa ha experimentado con la contratación de barcos desde 2017, a través de una subsidiaria china, lo que les permite controlar la ruta y atracar en puertos menos congestionados.

10:05

✈️ Amazon Air y la competencia en el mercado

Amazon ha estado ampliando su flota de Amazon Air, con 85 aeronaves en arrendamiento y propiedad para este temporada, volando desde 42 aeropuertos en los EE. UU. y realizando al menos 164 vuelos diarios. Esto les permite transportar productos de alta demanda y margen sin depender de los congestionados puertos. Sin embargo, el costo de arrendar y volar aviones de carga es elevado. Para abordar la escasez de mano de obra, Amazon ofrece bonos de incorporación de hasta $3,000 a los 150,000 trabajadores temporales que contrata este año, un aumento de 50,000 en comparación con el año anterior.

15:06

🌐 Colaboración y estrategias de expansión de Amazon

Amazon está considerando la venta de espacio en contenedores a competidores como Ford, GM o Chrysler, aprovechando la capacidad no utilizada de sus aviones. La empresa ha estado colaborando con otros grandes importadores para mejorar la eficiencia en el último tramo de la cadena de suministro. Además, el plan de Biden para operar los puertos de Los Ángeles y Long Beach las 24 horas y la inversión en infraestructura podrían ayudar a aliviar el congestionamiento, aunque también podrían aumentar las emisiones. La colaboración y la optimización de la logística son claves para abordar los desafíos actuales y futuros en la cadena de suministro global.

Keywords

💡Supply chain

La cadena de suministro es el proceso de producción y distribución de bienes que comienza desde la extracción de materias primas y termina con el consumo final. En el video, se discute cómo el caos en la cadena de suministro está causando problemas para las empresas durante la temporada de vacaciones, con colas de barcos y falta de contenedores, lo que ilustra la importancia de un flujo eficiente en la logística.

💡Container vessels

Los barcos de contenedores son los buques diseñados para transportar mercancías en contenedores estándares. En el guion, se menciona que hay 77 barcos de contenedores esperando en California, lo que demuestra la congestión en los puertos y cómo esto afecta el flujo de la cadena de suministro.

💡Trucker shortage

La falta de conductores de camiones es un problema que se discute en el video, con una falta de 80,000 conductores en los Estados Unidos. Esto afecta directamente la capacidad de distribuir bienes, una parte crucial de la cadena de suministro, y subraya la dependencia de la logística terrestre para el movimiento de mercancías.

💡Amazon's logistics

La logística de Amazon es un tema central en el video, donde se describe cómo la empresa ha tomado medidas para controlar más aspectos de su cadena de suministro, como la fabricación de sus propios contenedores y la charter de sus propios barcos. Esto muestra la estrategia de Amazon para mitigar los problemas de la cadena de suministro y mantener su ventaja competitiva.

💡Out-of-stock items

Los artículos fuera de stock son un problema mencionado en el video, con Amazon experimentando un aumento del 14% en artículos fuera de stock desde el comienzo del año. Esto es un reflejo directo de los desafíos en la cadena de suministro y cómo afectan la disponibilidad de productos para los consumidores.

💡Cost increases

Los aumentos de costos son una consecuencia directa de los problemas de la cadena de suministro, como se discute en el video. Cuando los costos de transporte aumentan, estos costos se transfieren a los consumidores, lo que resulta en un aumento de precios en la plataforma de Amazon y en otros lugares.

💡First-mile

El primer kilómetro se refiere al inicio del proceso de logística, donde los productos son empaquetados y preparados para su envío. En el video, se describe cómo Amazon utiliza datos para predecir qué productos venderán y donde, y organiza el mejor viaje a través del océano, un ejemplo de cómo la planificación temprana es crucial para la eficiencia en la cadena de suministro.

💡TEU

Un TEU (unidad de equivalente de 20 pies) es una medida estándar utilizada en la logística para medir la capacidad de carga de un barco de contenedores. El video menciona cómo los barcos de gran tamaño, que pueden cargar hasta 20,000 TEUs, están limitados a ciertos puertos y contribuyen a los atrasos en la cadena de suministro.

💡Amazon Air

Amazon Air es la flota aérea de carga de propiedad de Amazon, que se utiliza para transportar productos. El video destaca cómo Amazon ha estado ampliando su flota y considerando la posibilidad de alquilar aviones de larga distancia para evitar los atrasos en los puertos, lo que demuestra la diversificación de estrategias para manejar la cadena de suministro.

💡Infrastructure bill

El proyecto de ley de infraestructura es una ley que se discute en el video, que incluye fondos para mejoras en los puertos y en el transporte ferroviario. Esto es relevante para la cadena de suministro, ya que mejoras en la infraestructura pueden ayudar a aliviar los atrasos y mejorar la eficiencia del transporte de mercancías.

Highlights

在线假日订单激增，但供应链混乱导致本季恐慌。

加州圣佩德罗湾有77艘集装箱船等待，创历史新高。

洛杉矶和长滩港口将从11月1日起对滞留在码头的每个集装箱向航运公司罚款。

美国卡车司机短缺达到历史最高点，据本周发布的新数据显示为80,000。

亚马逊采取了一些不寻常的大动作来避免最糟糕的情况。

亚马逊多年来一直租用自己的货船，沃尔玛、家得宝和好市多等零售商本季也在尝试这一策略。

亚马逊还在制造自己的集装箱，加倍投资工人和仓库，甚至首次租赁长途飞机以加快从中国到美国的高优先级货物运输。

亚马逊自2020年以来一直在采取步骤，以减轻其他零售商将面临的问题。

亚马逊的缺货商品自年初以来增加了14%，网站上的价格平均上涨了25%。

消费者在购买的所有商品中都感受到了价格上涨。

亚马逊已经在控制尽可能多的运输过程的每个节点上投资了数十亿美元。

亚马逊理解他们不想成为最大的零售商，而是想成为最大的物流公司。

亚马逊在2020年的运输上花费超过610亿美元，比2019年的380亿美元有所增加。

亚马逊现在自行运输72%的包裹，高于2019年的不到47%。

亚马逊使用数据预测哪些商品会畅销以及它们的位置，并提前以批量价格订购这些商品。

亚马逊在中国制造自己的53英尺集装箱，使用CIMC公司，该公司也为沃尔玛制造类似的集装箱。

亚马逊和其他零售商正在创造性地使用海洋货运，从重新利用旧船只和租用自己的船只，因为最繁忙的美国港口拥堵达到了创纪录的水平。

亚马逊自2017年以来一直在尝试租用船只，通过其中国子公司作为全球货运代理，帮助其中国卖家将货物跨洋运输。

亚马逊正在考虑租赁至少10架更大的长途飞机，这些飞机可以比传统用于飞越北太平洋的飞机多装载25%的货物。

为了应对工人短缺，亚马逊表示将为今年招聘的150,000名季节性工人提供高达3,000美元的签约奖金。

亚马逊在2021年仅在美国就开设了超过250个新设施，这清楚地表明它提前计划了供应链积压的最后一个瓶颈：仓库容量。

亚马逊的目标是在美国90%或至少90%的人口在10到15分钟内，以便他们可以向几乎所有客户交付商品。

尽管亚马逊可能很好地避免了最糟糕的情况，但全球供应链仍然容易受到未来积压和短缺的影响。

Transcripts

Online holiday orders are streaming in, but supply chain chaos is causing panic this season.

There are 77 container vessels waiting in California, San Pedro Bay. That's a record high, but some of those ships are unscheduled container charters

with no docking appointment.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach announcing they'll fine shipping companies for each container they leave on the dock starting the first of

November.

The trucker shortage in the U.S. is at an all time high: 80,000, according to new data released this week.

But Amazon has made some unusual, big moves to avoid the worst of it.

Los Angeles, 79 vessels sitting out there up to 45 days. Amazon's latest venture that I've been tracking in the last two days: it waited two days in

the harbor.

For years, Amazon has chartered its own cargo ships, a tactic that retailers like WalMart, Home Depot and Costco are trying this season.

Amazon is also making its own containers, doubling down on workers and warehouses, even leasing long-haul planes for the first time to expedite

high priority goods from China to the U.S.

They've been anticipating this. So they've been taking steps since 2020 to alleviate the issues that other retailers are going to have. So Amazon will

not be as impacted as other retailers. But they're not immune to this.

Amazon has seen a 14% rise in out-of-stock items since the start of the year. And prices on the site are up an average of 25%.

The consumer has been feeling price increases in everything that they're purchasing. I mean, ultimately, when there's an increase in the cost of

transportation, it gets passed down to the consumer.

We talked to former Amazonians, maritime lawyers and supply chain experts about all the bold but costly ways Amazon is trying to skirt the shipping

delays plaguing other retailers this holiday season.

Across every node of the complex, winding shipping journey, Amazon has been investing tens of billions to control as much of the process as possible.

The more Amazon controls each node, the less it has to pay outsiders like UPS and the U.S. Postal Service to ship its goods, and the less vulnerable

its goods are to delays impacting the rest of the industry.

Amazon always understood: they didn't want to be the largest retailer, they wanted to be the largest logistics company.

Amazon spent more than $61 billion on shipping in 2020, up from just under $38 billion in 2019. And Amazon is now shipping 72% of its own packages up

from less than 47% in 2019. And the more Amazon ships, the more data it gathers at every potential pain point of the process.

They're watching what's going on on an hourly basis, globally. So when anything changes in terms of a cost increase of one mode of transportation

versus another, then Amazon has the ability to say, you know what, shipping a container is so high, it's actually cheaper now for us to fly product via

a cargo aircraft.

Let's break down the complexities of the supply chain by looking at the journey of a holiday gift ordered on Amazon. Months or weeks before your

order, Amazon uses data to predict what will sell and where, and orders those items early, at bulk prices, often from China. There Amazon packs the

bulk orders into shipping containers and orchestrates the best journey across the ocean, based on the value of the goods and where they need to

go. This step is referred to as first-mile. Most often the shipping containers are loaded onto massive 14,000-container cargo vessels, the most

cost effective option, sharing space with goods from up to thousands of other companies. About 40% of the time, the vessels are headed to the ports

of LA or Long Beach on a journey taking between 25 and 40 days right now, at least 10 days longer than normal. Once there, they typically sit for

days, and right now, up to months, waiting for available dock space and workers. Once there's availability port workers unload the containers onto

trailers or chassis, which are also in short supply, then move the containers around on port property until they're ready to be picked up by

one of Amazon's 50,000+ semi-truck trailers or contractors and brought that middle-mile to one of its 260+ fulfillment and other facilities. It's

stored here until you place an order and one of Amazon's 260,000 global drivers, or its partners at UPS or the Postal Service, pick it up for that

last-mile delivery.

The first real bottleneck happening in this process is where to put the bulk orders of goods for their journey across the ocean. A decade ago

containers were in such oversupply that excess boxes were repurposed as houses and entire business parks. Now containers are so scarce that the

price to ship one has gone through the roof.

Prior to the pandemic, it would cost about $1,200 to ship a container from China to Los Angeles. Today, it's about $20,000 for just one container.

One of the reasons that there's a shortage of containers is just the imbalance of where trade is. And so if you have a lot of imports coming in,

you're moving those containers from the port inland, and one of the challenges is then getting those empty containers back.

So Amazon is making its own 53-foot containers in China, using a company called CIMC, which makes similar containers for Walmart. In early October,

hundreds of Amazon's own containers arrived at the Port of Houston on the Star Lygra.

Amazon has produced probably somewhere in 5,000 to 10,000 of these containers over the last two years I've been tracking it. When they bring

these containers in to U.S. soil, once they unload them, guess what? They get to be used in the domestic system, in the rail system. They don't have

to return them to Asia like everyone else does.

By them creating their own containers, they are essentially guaranteeing that that equipment is going to be available for them.

Lauren Beagen was working at the Federal Maritime Commission when Amazon first registered with the agency in 2015, the first indication it was

exploring its own ocean freight business to give it more control over the shipping journey of certain goods.

What if we had Tickle Me Elmo this year? Guaranteed you wouldn't be able to find it anywhere because that would definitely fall victim to the

congestion that's happening out there right now. But that would be an example of something that would give you a competitive edge if you were to

be able to provide that good faster.

Amazon wouldn't disclose details of its ocean freight program, but says it's increased ports of entry by 50% this season, expanded network

partnerships and doubled container processing capacity.

Amazon and other retailers are getting creative with ocean freight, from repurposing old vessels and chartering their own, because congestion at the

busiest U.S. ports is at record levels.

This is really taking a lot of capacity off the market because you have fewer ships available. Why? Because they're sitting so long to be unloaded.

One solution is to simply call at a less busy port. But to control the route, a company needs to charter its own vessel. So that's exactly what

Amazon has been doing, for years.

You can pull into much smaller ports, the Port of Everett, Washington, for example, or Houston or New Jersey: those ports that have the lowest

congestion and the fastest offload times.

Amazon's been experimenting with chartering vessels since 2017, quietly acting through a Chinese subsidiary as a global freight forwarder, helping

move goods across the ocean for its Chinese sellers who pay to be part of the Fulfilled by Amazon program. Internally, Amazon dubbed this project

"Dragon Boat."

They're doing over 10,000 Containers per month of the small- and medium-size Chinese exporter. Amazon's volume as an ocean vendor - that's

right, you heard me correct, they're considered an ocean vendor - would rank them in the top five transportation companies in the Trans Pacific.

This season, a handful of other major retailers - Walmart, Costco, Home Depot, IKEA and Target - are also chartering their own smaller vessels to

bypass the busiest ports and get their goods unloaded sooner. And sometimes repurposing ships usually meant for other jobs.

The real purpose of these vessels when they were built was not containers. It was really lumber, chemicals, grain, agricultural products. But because

of the ingenuity and creativity and lack of space, Amazon and many other smart people have quickly figured out how to convert some of these

multipurpose vessels to containers.

John Esborn has been in the supply chain business for 40 years, streamlining logistics for Wayfair and now Perch, an Amazon aggregator.

You've got those fringe vessels that used to be $10,000 a day. They're now $150,000. And you can't do like a one-month lease. Everybody's got a

captive audience now, right? And so now you've got to lease that thing I've heard for as much as four years.

To understand why extravagantly expensive deals to charter smaller, older vessels makes sense right now, let's talk about different size container

ships and why some ports are backed up while others aren't. A traditional 20-foot container is referred to as a TEU or 20-foot equivalent unit,

although most containers used today are 40 foot, equivalent to two TEUs. Cargo vessels are measured by how many TEUs can fit on board. Ultra-large

container ships bringing goods to the U.S. from Asia can carry up to 20,000 TEUs and they're primarily limited to ports on the West Coast because they

can't fit through the Panama Canal. Although freight rates are at a record high, prices are lowest on these big shared vessels, making them popular.

And only certain ports can handle vessels that size. That's why 40% of shipping containers entering the U.S. pass through the ports of LA and Long

Beach, causing a backlog. Smaller cargo ships that can fit through the Panama Canal carry as little as 1,000 TEUs and cost about double the price

of moving cargo on the larger shared vessels. But the flexibility to dock and unload quickly at any number of ports may translate to on-time

deliveries.

When leasing a ship that can only carry about 1,000 containers, you're actually paying twice as much to move your containers. But what choice do

you have as a retailer?

You don't want to be the person that doesn't have goods on the shelf, right? You don't want to be the CEO that's explaining to Wall Street that

you made that decision or didn't have those goods. So we're moving our hottest-selling items this time of year that also bring the highest

margins.

For those high margin goods, there's another way Amazon is bypassing ports altogether. Since 2016, Amazon has been building its Amazon Air cargo

fleet, saying it'll reach 85 leased and owned aircraft this season. They fly out of 42 U.S. airports, totaling at least 164 flights per day, with

some additional flights out of Canada and Europe. Now amid the current challenges, Amazon is reportedly looking to lease at least 10 larger

long-haul planes that can hold 25% more volume and have traditionally been used to fly across the North Pacific, getting goods from China to the U.S.

One of the converted Boeing 777s can carry 220,000 pounds of cargo, equivalent to the cargo that can fit inside about 5.5 fully loaded 20-foot

containers. Most of the small 1,000-container freighters being chartered by Amazon and others can hold 180 times that, with the biggest cargo ships

carrying more than 3,600 times what the planes can hold.

Wouldn't it be easier just to move all that product, say from Asia to the U.S. in a cargo plane? No, it can cost over a million dollars in certain

cases to lease and fly a cargo plane. It's a very, very expensive endeavor.

They were flying hot tubs, which is crazy. I mean, can you imagine hot tubs on freight aviation? The demand was so high that they were able to mark up

the goods enough, people were willing to pay the extra surcharges for that cargo movement.

Another strain on the supply chain that's gotten costlier is manpower.

We've been hearing a lot about the great resignation, with a lot of jobs going open and unfilled. So I think companies are looking to get very

creative in attracting labor. That might be signing bonuses, higher pay.

To fight the worker shortage, and a reputation for relentless workload and breakneck speed, Amazon says it's offering sign-on bonuses of up to $3,000

to all the 150,000 seasonal workers it's hiring this year. Last year, it hired 100,000 seasonal workers.

That 50,000 increase in employees this year over last year is probably people to do the unloads. You know, they've got these containers coming in

the last second, man, they want to unload those goods and get them on the shelves in the fulfillment centers as quickly as possible.

The seasonal workers are unloading and loading, picking and packing at more than 250 new facilities Amazon says it's opened in the U.S. just in 2021, a

clear indication that it planned far ahead for the final bottleneck in the supply chain backlog: warehouse capacity.

Their goal is this: be within 10 to 15 minutes of 100%, or at a minimum 90%, of the population in the United States to where they can make

deliveries to basically all the customers and deliver just about anything.

While Amazon may be well positioned to avoid the worst of it, the global supply chain remains vulnerable to future backlogs and shortages.

Okay, here we go.

In November, President Biden signed into law a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that aims to help, with $17 billion for improvements at ports and $66

billion toward freight and passenger rail over the next five years. In October, he also unveiled a plan to run operations at the ports of Los

Angeles and Long Beach 24/7.

In total, that will almost double the number of hours that the port is open for business from earlier this year.

It's wonderful to have 24/7 as one of the solutions, but what does that mean? I mean, now it just means that the next part, maybe the warehouses,

are going to be overflowed with all these goods that are coming in.

24/7 port operations and chartering private vessels also worsens another related problem: the massive amount of carbon created by all this

congestion.

When you have more smaller ships carrying only 1,000 cargo containers, you're generating much more emissions from having more smaller ships, that

frankly have less efficient engines than these massive cargo ships.

One solution may lie in greater collaboration.

At any given time, there are tractor trailers moving back and forth on highways that are only a quarter loaded. And right beside it is another

truck and trailer going to the exact same location. If you combined supply chains, if you collaborate, you would be removing thousands of trucks from

the road.

Two of the country's biggest importers of goods by container ship have already started collaborating on the last-mile portion of their supply

chain. Home Depot is outsourcing its same- and next-day deliveries to Walmart in New Mexico, Texas and Arkansas. As for Amazon, shipping for

third parties is already part of its strategy to keep scaling its massive logistics empire.

One of the next phases that Amazon could potentially get into is actually selling container space to the Fords, the GMs, the Chryslers of the world.

What Amazon's going to do is say, look at the capacity we have. We have planes that are only going to be 25% full or 50% full. We will sell that

capacity to our competitors, to other companies. That then pays for the operational costs. It's really smart on Amazon's part how they've been

doing this.