Managing Trade Corridors
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Examples in Arvis, Raballand, and Marteau (2010) show that gains will come primarily from reduction of extreme times in the distribution, change in market structure and operating cost structure of services, and reduction of the rent impact on overheads. Hence, the critical information needed to compute these gains is the following: • Structure of operating costs of transportation and notably the relative share of variable (for example, fuel maintenance) versus fixed cost (gross margin and monthly use). • Distribution of lead time of the supply chain, which is typically a lognormal distribution over a baseline minimum feasible time. • Structure of overheads including unofficial payments. At the implementation level, a consistent set of indicators should measure the tryptic cost-time-reliability for the full supply chain. Underlying data do not require heavy statistical instruments but do need a sustainable partnership with freight forwarders and trucking operators, who are precisely the ones handling the supply chain from origin to destination and who are in position to provide the data on survey or statistical basis.
Designing the Monitoring System for Corridor Performance Design of a feasible system for monitoring the performance of a corridor requires careful decisions in four key dimensions: (1) the parameters that need to be measured, (2) the locations for which they should be measured, (3) the types of product and forms of shipment to be covered, and (4) the cost and frequency with which the measurements are made.
Parameters to Be Measured Comprehensive assessment of corridor performance requires acquiring data in five main parameters: time required, cost of the movement, flexibility, reliability, and safety and security, and then assessing the differences in these parameters for export and import products. Table 8.1 gives an example of the breakdown of results that are sought.
Locations for Which the Measurements Are Needed The parameters should be measured for each major stage of transport of the freight, including locations where significant amount of time is spent, documents are reviewed, and freight is subject to inspection,