Topic 19 : Airline Industry

The airline industry is highly competitive, is characterized by low profit margins and high fixed costs, and we may be unable to compete effectively against other airlines with greater financial resources or lower operating costs.

        The airline industry is characterized generally by low profit margins and high fixed costs, primarily for personnel, aircraft fuel, debt service and aircraft lease rentals. The expenses of an aircraft flight do not vary significantly with the number of passengers carried and, as a result, a relatively small change in the number of passengers or in pricing could have a disproportionate effect on an airline's operating and financial results. Accordingly, a minor shortfall in expected revenue levels could harm our business.

        In addition, the airline industry is highly competitive and is particularly susceptible to price discounting because airlines incur only nominal costs to provide service to passengers occupying otherwise unsold seats. Although we do not currently face nonstop competition on many of our route competing airlines provide connecting service on many of our routes or serve nearby airports. In addition, we have faced other competing services in the past, and we cannot assure you other airlines will not begin to provide nonstop service in the future on the routes we serve. Many of these competing airlines are larger and have significantly greater financial resources and name recognition. We may, therefore, be unable to compete effectively against other airlines that introduce service or discounted fares in the markets we serve.

    The airline industry began its development in the early part of 20^th century, and its growth influenced  to a great extent iniatially by government interest and policy. airlines are unique in they face limited intermodal competition , but intramodal competition is very keen in term of pricing and service and has been exarcerbated by unused capacity. The higher cost of airline service can be trade off gain lower inventory and warehousing costs, as well as another logistic related savings.

    Airlines usually provide service for small shipments where value is high and the product may be perishable. Speed  also the major advantage of airlines service can for both passenger and freight , but the airlines speed of service has been offset recently by congestion and fewer flights. Major and national airlines use a hub approach to their service , which contributes to operating efficiency but often adds travel time.

Topic 18 : Terberg Tractors Malaysia Clinches RM10mil Kontena Nasional Contract

Pasir Gudang, Johor, 15 February 2012 - Terberg Tractors Malaysia (TTM), a joint venture between Terberg Group and Sime Darby Industrial Sdn. Bhd., was awarded a contract worth RM10mil by Kontena Nasional Berhad. The contract comprises 40 units of the YT220 MKII Terberg Terminal Tractors. The deal is also accompanied by a service and maintenance contract worth an additional RM5mil over the next five years.

Kontena Nasional is a leading container handling company in Malaysia and it recently introduced value-added services through its expansion into Container & Crane Handling. Kontena Nasional successfully clinched a tender by Westport to operate five quay cranes and TTM was subsequently awarded the contract to supply 40 units of terminal tractors.

Yoong Kee Sin (third from left), Senior Vice President Strategy, Sime Darby Industrial Sdn Bhd handing over the Terberg mock key to Mahnorizal Mahat, Chief Operating Officer of Kontena Nasional Global Transport at the handover ceremony in Pasir Gudang. The first delivery to Kontena Nasional was undertaken at a handover ceremony in Pasir Gudang, where TTM’s manufacturing and assembly line is located. Chief Operating Officer of Kontena Nasional Global Transport, En. Mahnorizal Mahat, was present at the handover ceremony.

Commenting on the contract award, Managing Director of Sime Darby Industrial, Chong Kwea Seng said, “The contract represents a testament of faith on the part of Kontena Nasional towards our products. Our focus has always been to deliver equipment and expertise to improve efficiency and competitive advantage for our customers”.

“More importantly, the use of quality terminal tractors in ports is the right way forward. Port operations can be distilled down to two things, efficiency and reliability; you need the right tool for the right job”. Chong added. TTM’s solid products are anchored on the philosophy of continuous improvement. The MKII sports an upgraded Euro 3 engine and ample enhancements in the overall specifications to provide more than 10% savings in fuel efficiency.

“In fact, the MKII is not an unfamiliar sight in Westport. The port is already running more than 100 units. With close to 40 quay cranes operating at Westport, there are sufficient opportunities for Kontena Nasional to expand its footprint in the Malaysian ports scene; and we too, are looking forward to Kontena Nasional winning more businesses from these ports,” said Chong. He added that TTM was committed to providing even greater value and quality service support to meet the port’s high expectations and deliverables to its worldwide customers. This included offering a comprehensive maintenance service for the Terberg fleet running in Westport under Kontena Nasional Berhad. The handover ceremony was held in conjunction with a luncheon with Sime Darby Industrial’s employees at the Pasir Gudang manufacturing and assembly facility. The luncheon was attended by more than 130 employees, with representatives from Kontena Nasional Berhad as guests of honour.

Topic 17 : Freight Forwarder

A freight forwarder, forwarder, or forwarding agent, also known as a non-vessel operating common carrier (NVOCC), is a person or company that organizes shipments for individuals or corporations to get goods from the manufacturer or producer to a market, customer or final point of distribution.[1] Forwarders contract with a carrier to move the goods. A forwarder does not move the goods but acts as an expert in supply chain management. A forwarder contracts with carriers to move cargo ranging from raw agricultural products to manufactured goods. Freight can be booked on a variety of shipping providers, including ships, airplanes, trucks, and railroads. It is not unusual for a single shipment to move on multiple carrier types. International freight forwarders typically handle international shipments. International freight forwarders have additional expertise in preparing and processing customs and other documentation and performing activities pertaining to international shipments.

Information typically reviewed by a freight forwarder includes the commercial invoice, shipper's export declaration, bill of lading and other documents required by the carrier or country of export, import, and/or transshipment. Much of this information is now processed in a paperless environment.

The FIATA shorthand description of the freight forwarder as the 'Architect of Transport' illustrates the commercial position of the forwarder relative to his client. In Europe, some forwarders specialize in 'niche' areas such as rail-freight, and collection and deliveries around a large port.

Lloyd's Loading List is the freight forwarding industry's journal of record, first published 160 years ago as a UK export directory. Today it provides details of forwarders, NVOCCs and shipping lines/agents who serve over 10,000 ports globally. Some forwarders handle domestic shipments only.

Topic 16: Intermodal and Special Carriers

Special carrier is some of these carriers could be classified as air carries or trucking companies, however they provided some value added services not provided by the basic modal carrier. These value added services not shipper through freight cost savings or service improvements that lowered the shipper’s or buyer inventory cost. It will transport for high demand high value added. For example, gold they can more security for protect their product. They have air freight forwarders, freight brokers and shipper association. Air freight forwarders are consolidating small shipment for long haul and eventual distribution. Freight brokers are the middlemen between the shippers. Shipper association is the member firms. The benefit is through the better services and lower total transportation cost.

Inter modal is involves the use two or more mode transportation in moving shipment from one origin to the destination. For example Malaysia to China. Malaysia sends a product by water after arrived at China the supplier can use the other transportation to easy send to the customer by truck. They have 3 owner operators, express services and dragged carrier. Owner operators is the term operators was traditionally applied to a person who owned or leased the truck and often a trailer and made his or her equipment and driving services available to for hire carrier. An express service is for example FEDEX, UBS. The company provided their services. Fast delivery and no make more time to send for the one product. Dragged carriers are motor carriers that provided pickup and delivery services in the local metropolitan area, piggyback ramps area or container area.

Containerization is nothing more than a big box into which the freight is loaded; improve the efficiency of interchange among modes. Basic size for one container is length from 28 to 53 feet. They have advantages and disadvantages for the use container. A first advantage is safety; the product can be more protection from bad weather. Minimize handling and design by steel. Second, save cost; minimize handling, consolidate freight and fully utilize. Third, goods can be carried more easily. Four, temporary is not for rent warehouses.  Five is flexibilities; interchanges mode (water, rail, road), standard dimension, loaded into container become 1 unit. Lastly, high security is have a seal and able to trace. 

Topic 15: What Is a Pipeline?

Pipeline transport is the transportation of goods through a pipe. Liquids and gases are transported in pipelines and any chemically stable substance can be sent through a pipeline. Seawage, slurry, water, and even beer pipelines exist; but arguably the most valuable are those transporting crude petroleum and refined petroleum product including fuels: oil and natural gas. Pneumatic tubes using compressed air can be used to transport solid capsules. Not many companies to use the carrier. They have advantages and disadvantages. The advantages is low rates, warehouse functions and unaffected by weather. Disadvantages are slow speed, limited geographic flexibility and limited number of product. They also cannot be easily extended to complete door to door service.
How does a pipelines work? To transport products, pipelines have to be full, since each product propels another. There also has to be sufficient receiving capacity at the exit point to handle the batches.
A pipeline that carries a number of different products is known as a multi-product pipeline. The product batches propel one another in a predefined sequence, which is determined in line with the compatibility and specifications of the products carried (diesel and home heating oil, unleaded regular gasoline and unleaded premium gasoline). Only jet fuel cannot be transported with other products, for safety reasons
They are general pipelines can be classified in three categories depending on purpose is Gathering pipelines. In this group, pipelines are usually short- a couple of hundred meters and with small diameters. Also sub-sea pipelines for collecting product from deep water production platforms are considered gathering systems.
Transportation pipelines is Mainly long pipes with large diameters, moving products (oil, gas, refined products) between cities, countries and even continents. These transportation networks include several compressor stations in gas lines or pump stations for crude and multi-products pipelines.

Distribution pipelines is Composed of several interconnected pipelines with small diameters, used to take the products to the final consumer. Pipelines at terminals for distributing products to tanks and storage facilities are included in this group.

Topic 14: Water carrier

What the water transport? Water transport is movement by means watercraft. They have many types for the water carrier this is because most domestic in global water carriers transport bulk materials. Such as barge ship, general cargo ship, reefer ship and container ship. They use the ships with large size to transport their products and easy to loading and unloading. Besides that, they have advantages and disadvantages to use the carrier. The need for float is common to watercraft to making the hull a dominant aspect of its construction, maintenance and appearance. Transport by water is significantly less costly different with another transport.
General cargo ship is General cargo vessels carry packaged items like chemicals, foods, furniture, machinery and motor. General cargo vessels carry a broad mix of cargoes, such as forest products, manufactured goods, heavy equipment, vehicles, machinery, bagged goods, steel, food products and containers, which poses challenges to the cargo system. It should be designed for maximum efficiency, optimized cargo space flexibility, compromised weather tightness for sensitive cargoes, fast and reliable port operations as well as for full safety and reliability at sea. The cargo are still built but in small quantities.
Reefer ship is they transport perishable foods such as fruit, vegetables, meat, and dairy. The cargo must be to send the product very require faster delivery. Besides than to protect and condition for one product. Specifically designed and used for shipping perishable commodities which require temperature controlled.
Container ship is Container ships are cargo ship that carry their entire load in truck-size inter-modal containers, in a technique called containerization. They are a common means of commercial inter-modal freight transport and now carry most seagoing non-bulk cargo. Container ship capacity is measured in twenty-foot equivalent units. Typical loads are a mix of 20-foot and 40-foot (2-TEU) ISO-standard containers, with the latter predominant.
Tanker ship is a merchant vessel designed to transport liquids in bulk. Major types of tank ship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and gas carrier. Tankers can range in size of capacity from several hundred tons, which includes vessels for servicing small harbors and coastal settlements, to several hundred thousand tons, for long range haulage. Besides ocean or seagoing tankers there are also specialized inland-waterway tankers which operate on rivers and canals with an average cargo capacity up to some thousand tons.

Topic 13: Travelling by Train

Travelling by train is an excellent way to see the Malaysian countryside and many towns in West Malaysia. However if you are pressed for time, you may find the journey by rail from town to town rather slow. (Best option of those with limited time is by bus or coach) There are a number (still few compared to buses) services per day for intercity travel. You can catch the electric train services (ETC) if you travel between Seremban, KL and Ipoh

Trains from Kuala Lumpur International Airport     From Kuala Lumpur International Airport, a fast train, the KLIA Express, takes you to the Kuala Lumpur city centre (KL Sentral terminal) in less than 30 minutes. At KL Sentral, the main railway terminal, there are connecting trains operated by Malayan Railways (KTMB) to Butterworth (Pulau Pinang), Alor Setar (Kedah) and to Arau (Kedah). The journey by train to Butterworth takes more than six hours from Kuala Lumpur and about 12 hours from Singapore .

Trains in Malaysia     In peninsular Malaysia, the KTMB operates over 12 intercity express services daily on weekdays, 18 intercity express services on weekends and eight local train services daily. (most are commuter services with Selangor) There are also services operating from Bangkok, which stop at major towns such as Haadyai (Thailand), Alor Setar, Padang Besar, Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Seremban, Johor Bahru and Singapore . You can also travel from KL to the east coast of West Malaysia, right up to Tumpat in the state of Kelantan.

You can buy tickets for some train services on-line or make reservations by phone.

Train services by KTM are classified as Express trains, Shuttle Trains and Local trains (multiple stops)