Efficiency Buys Speed, Quality and Low Prices

The old adage says you can select any two out of three of these: Price, quality or speed. Common business knowledge suggests that a company dedicates itself to any two but deliberately must sacrifice the third in order to be profitable. That adage ignores supreme efficiency.

Efficiency is the name of the game in shipping. Cargo containers make that possible. The largest cargo shipping vessel in the world, the Emma Maersk sets sail with a crew of fewer than twenty who carry its load of 11,000…yes, eleven thousand 20-foot containers. They can all be off-loaded at port in twenty-four hours.

The containers then can be transported via train, where nearly 300 containers can be transported across the continent by a crew of only two.

Finally, a truck tends to carry the container to its final destination, with its crew of one. The whole while, with the exception of government inspection, the contents of the container have remained sealed. They have traveled while sharing crew, vehicle overhead and fuel costs.

This level of efficiency, along with the world’s governments enjoining cooperative trade more often, have resulted in one of the most unique business situations in the history of commerce. A system that is inexpensive to use, relatively fast, performs at a high level of quality, and is profitable for all participants. Congratulations to everyone in the world who does their part in this great industry.