In Dr. Kent’s second paper in his For the Beauty of Logistics series, he explores a unique setting for port development to serve Gaza: one that seeks to balance Israel’s security needs with Palestinian sovereignty aspirations. The paper presents five port options according to their locations: inside Gaza, on the border, and outside Gaza. The favored option, the South Gaza/Kerem Shalom plan, entails an autonomous Palestinian port to be constructed in Egypt, adjacent to Gaza’s border. This port will be connected to the existing Kerem Shalom border crossing terminal via a dedicated 10-km port truck corridor. Then, Kerem Shalom will be expanded and turned into a logistics hub and special economic zone connected by rail to the West Bank. The chosen port solution not only addresses security concerns, but also holds promise for significant economic improvement, offering hope for Gaza and a stable peace for this war-torn region.

Click here to read the full paper.

The For the Beauty of Logistics series, authored by Dr. Paul Kent, consists of short papers that aim to showcase how the principles of logistics can enable groundbreaking advancements, optimize processes, and revolutionize our understanding of complex systems. The first paper of the series, “From Nobel Laureates to the Cellular Supply Chain: Unveiling Logistics Concepts to Foster Wider Understanding of Scientific Research”, can be accessed here.

Monument’s Dr. Paul Kent was the primary author of the Freight and Supply Chain chapter of the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics Annual Report 2023. In the 2022 edition, Paul had highlighted a significant development: U.S. East Coast port Asian trade container volumes exceeded U.S. West Coast port Asian trade volumes for the first time. This shift is credited to improvements in the Suez Canal, increased capacity in U.S. East Coast ports for handling larger vessels, and enhanced connectivity with global shipping lines, rendering these ports more competitive than their West Coast counterparts. The 2023 Chapter, posted here, indicates a continuation of this trend, with U.S. East Coast Ports capturing greater market share of the U.S.-Asian trades.

Next year’s data can be intriguing considering the adverse effects of the Panama Canal’s drought conditions leading to reduced vessel transits, and the Israel-Hamas war prompting vessel diversions around the African Cape instead of utilizing the Suez Canal. As reported today in the Journal of Commerce, both Shanghai-New York and Shanghai-Los Angeles container trades are at their highest rates since December 2022. The diversions caused by the Panama Canal constraints and the Israel-Hamas war are likely to contribute to a rise in U.S. West Coast container volumes as shipping lines redirect shipments to U.S. West Coast ports.

One would normally anticipate an increase in freight costs from these diversions, potentially leading to price hikes in retail goods. However, such price increases may be tempered by a flood of new container ships entering the markets, posing a risk of overcapacity in container ships.

The full 2023 Annual Report, which includes data on non-maritime modes and transportation economics, can be found here: Transportation Statistics Annual Report | Bureau of Transportation Statistics (bts.gov)

Have you ever wondered how logistics concepts can unlock new perspectives and advancements in scientific research? Monument Economics Group’s Dr. Paul E. Kent and co-author Dr. Hercules Haralambides, in their paper From Nobel Laureates to the Cellular Supply Chain: Unveiling Logistics Concepts to Foster Wider Understanding of Scientific Research, explore the fascinating parallel between logisticians’ endeavors to optimize systems and drive progress in logistics and how scientists, including Nobel laureates, are dedicated to enhancing the performance and efficiency of the processes and systems they investigate. Nobel laureates applied logistics principles to unravel the intricate mechanisms of cellular transport. The authors mention that specialists in their fields can use their unique logistics lens to interpret breakthroughs in drug delivery systems and apply logistics-inspired thinking to explain scientific findings. Importantly, the authors point out that that the general population due to COVID-related supply chain issues has greater awareness of logistics and hence could better understand scientific processes if they are explained in those terms. Obviously, this increased understanding has implications for the clarity medical patients need to comprehend treatment plans, leading to better treatment adherence, patient satisfaction, and overall well-being.

This paper marks the first of Dr. Kent’s For the Love of Logistics series, a series of short papers that delve into the fascinating intersections between logistics and various scientific and technological disciplines. The series aims to showcase how the principles of logistics enable groundbreaking advancements, optimize processes, and revolutionize our understanding of complex systems, driving progress in diverse fields.

Click Here to read the full paper.

In their editorial “Perfect storm or imperfect supply chain? The U.S. supply chain crisis”, Monument’s Dr. Paul Kent and co-author Dr. Hercules Haralambides examine the current supply chain problems and their possible remedies. The surge in e-commerce has exposed weaknesses with the just-in-time logistics paradigm where maximizing capacity utilization is viewed as being efficient; as a result, logistics asset owners strive to minimize slack capacity, even going beyond industry maximum utilization standards, thereby creating supply chain bottlenecks. In addition to problems with slack capacity, the authors identify other issues related to dominant market players, including liner shipping alliances and international chassis service providers.

The authors outline recommendations that address a seeming lack of preparedness for disruptions, capacity management issues, and weaknesses in regulation. The open-source editorial can be accessed using the below link via the Maritime Economics and Logistics.

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In an Expert Analysis published in Law360, Mark Kaplan, CFA offers his thoughts on the role economic analysis might play in SEC enforcement of climate-related matters. In the article, he first summarizes the SEC’s ongoing development of climate risk disclosure rules and the SEC’s focus on identifying climate risk disclosure gaps and misstatements. He then provides a brief overview of SEC economic analysis of corporate misstatements. Finally, he discusses several potential economic risks to corporations as climate risk disclosure enforcement likely increases in the future, providing examples of how the SEC might assess economic benefits to a corporation from material gaps or misstatements in climate risk disclosures.

Law360 published a piece co-authored by Jamie Donovan and Kenneth Grant of Berkeley Research Group exploring the rising tensions between states’ climate policies and investment treaty duties.
They note the absolute need for states, investors, and tribunals to comprehend the evolving economics of power generation and the opportunity to allow states more flexibility in climate policy.