This commentary appeared in the print edition of the Jan. 6, 2020, Journal of Commerce Annual Review and Outlook.
As we look forward to 2020 and beyond, the primary and ongoing challenge facing the transportation and logistics industry is to optimize the fluidity of the supply chain whenever and wherever possible. We often hear speakers address this issue in conferences and presentations, or perhaps read about it in industry periodicals. In the end, if we are to meet our customers’ expectations, we must find a way to take these academic principles and turn them into real and practical actions within our day-to-day business practices.
At CCM, we take this challenge seriously. Our industry has seen many changes over the past 10 years regarding chassis provision. We can honestly say that the past decade has been a business test case as to what works best for the greatest number of supply chain participants. What has become clear is that there are certain key deliverables in chassis provision that nearly all participants not only agree with, but demand, as they strive to improve fluidity in their own businesses. While there is no perfect system or business model, the CCM Interoperable Gray Pool model has evolved to meet these demands. These components are:
- Service quality: providing safe and reliable chassis to get the job done;
- Availability: having the right chassis in the right place at the right time;
- Flexibility: providing fungible assets via fair and open competition with low barriers to entry;
- Operational efficiency: focused, reliable, and consistent process execution across the network.
- Environmental sustainability: best operational efficiency driving the lowest carbon footprint in the industry;
- And neutral management: objective business execution, single point of contact, impartial decision-making.
From its inception, CCM was designed to deliver on these cost-effective and service-conscious practices for its entire stakeholder group, including ocean carriers, truckers, terminals, railroads, equipment providers, and especially BCOs. Our organization and our technology have been specifically structured toward this end, and we are committed to deliver on these key expectations in 2020 and beyond.