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By Ian Walker
The first day of the TOC Supply Chain Conference in Hong Kong addressed the “wildly fluctuating” service levels given to shippers by shipping lines. There were calls for partners to improve communications between shippers and carriers to achieve collaborative supply chain efficiency. “Understanding customer requirements is key to meeting their expectations,” said Mark Holloway, head of Supply Chain Asia for Diageo, who also claimed that in his experience shipping lines have little to no engagement with customers. However, he did concede that the onus is one shippers to “to elevate the quality of the conversations we have with carriers”.