This month’s issue features our second annual Performance Partners Awards of Excellence-a reader survey that identifies the top ocean carriers in the world. The results were pretty exciting this time around, with Hyundai Merchant Marine sweeping the survey and plenty of jockeying around in the second through fifth place rankings.

After speaking with executives at Hyundai and two of the other top-ranked carriers in this year’s survey-APL and CMA CGM-it became clear to me what being a supply chain partner really means, especially today.

Each of the executives spent most of the time talking about their efforts to improve customer service, to better understand their customers’ business, and to keep finding ways to bring value to the equation. There wasn’t a whole lot of whining about rates, even though that would have been justified. This has been a long, hard year and just when it seems we’ve turned the corner another piece of bad news hits the wires.

Around the same time I was conducting the interviews with the ocean carriers, I took a few days to attend the National Industrial Transportation League and TransComp trade show down in Anaheim, California. The conversations I had with exhibitors and attendees were similar; people weren’t bemoaning the economy as much as they were really looking to have deep discussions about working closer together. In other words, creating lasting partnerships.

The cynic would likely take a different spin, but I think the recession has given us a few gifts, including a dose of humility, some more clarity, a touch of wisdom, and a bit more appreciation for those we’ve called ‘partners’ in the past. On a personal note, the people that I work with have been true partners this past year, and I thank them for that.

Partners don’t bail when things get tough and they will even carry you on occasion when you can really use it. That’s rewarding.

As we look forward to 2010, there’s plenty to get turned on about at WT100 and in the supply chain industry. Our company is launching a Global Green Expo in August, which will be a virtual trade show covering three pillars of sustainability: business, social, and environmental. In fact, we’ve added sustainability and economic development to the list of subject areas that we cover each month, and we’ve got six new faces on our editorial advisory board for next year: Jay Bellin from Mainfreight, David Gustin of Global Business Intelligence, Susan Kohn Ross of Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, Mark Woodward of E2open, Bob Madden of Eaton Corporation, and Nancy Woo Hiromoto of Citizen Watch Company of America.

In the broader supply chain sector, you can bet that we’ll see a number of technology advancements that will change the way we do business, such as new, lighter and stronger materials created with nanotechnology, better tracking equipment that will make supply chains more visible and safer, and software and IT offerings that will improve automation and communication.

As we turn the page on another year, I’d like to thank the readers of WT100 for their comments and suggestions and look forward to sharing a new chapter in partnership.



Lara L. Sowinski, Editor

laras@worldtradewt100.com