The World Bank has published a new logistics study ranking 150 countries and pinpointing places where it's easy or difficult to ship goods.
The study, Connecting to Compete: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy, finds that the countries with the most predictable, efficient and best-run transportation routes and trade procedures are also the most likely to take advantage of technological advances, economic liberalization, and access to international markets.
The United States is ranked No. 14 in the study, Singapore No. 1, and Afghanistan is at the bottom of the list.
Countries are given a score on a Logistics Performance Index that ranges from one to five. Nobody gets a perfect score -- Singapore got a 4.19, Afghanistan a 1.21
Countries with "higher overall logistics costs are more likely to miss the opportunities of globalization," said the study's lead authors, Jean Francois Arvis and Monica Alina Mustra of the Bank's Poverty Reduction and Economic Management group.
"The biggest source of costs is not really transportation cost (such as freight costs), port and handling charges, procedural fees (such as bonds), or even agent fees, and side payments, it is the predictability, the reliability, and the quality of services that are much more important than the cost," Arvis said.
"What matters most is reliability of the supply chain ?whether the goods can be delivered on time," adds Mustra.
Some 800 freight forwarders and express carriers working in the international logistics business in 100 countries were surveyed via the Internet on things such as whether customs brokers or rail transport service providers were competent, export shipments were cleared and shipped as scheduled, and criminal activities occurred or information payments (bribes) were sought.
Developed, high-income countries, such as the G-7, are all top performers, while the performance of developing countries, even those with similar income levels, varied considerably.
China, for instance, was 30th out of 150, while some higher-income oil exporters, such as Algeria (140th) performed below their potential logistically, according to the study.
The bank said "countries with good shipping logistics tend to attract export-oriented foreign direct investment -- seen, along with trade, as a way to access knowledge and technology."
Countries at the bottom of the index are "typically trapped in a vicious circle of overregulation, poor quality services, and underinvestment," the study adds.
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Source: americanshipper
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