April 11 is the one month passed after the mega earthquake which is said to occur once every several hundreds of years hit the Pacific side of Northeast region of Japan. The Mega earthquake was caused by rebound of the American Continent plate as a result The Pacific Continent plate had gotten into under the American Continental plate for several hundred of years in the area of 500 km from the north-south(long) and 200 km from the east-west(wide) off the Pacific side of Northeast region of Japan. the unprecedented tsunami power in history had brought unexpectedly the severest casualties. The height of Tsunami was 10~20m along the costal and 40m (upstream power) recorded at the place. As of April 10, the quake-tsunami toll is 13,031 people and over 14,600 people is missing and the number of missing people are still increasing. Many aftershocks have been continuing. There were over 400 aftershocks of the magnitude of 5 on the Richter scale attacked on the disaster-stricken area for the past one month which caused uneasiness among people and we could easily imagine that it created more difficulty in restoration work there.
The unexpected happening was 6 nuclear power plants in Fukushima Prefecture seriously damaged by this earthquake-tsunami which perfectly destroyed its safety myth of the nuclear power plant in Japan. Japan depends on the nuclear power of 30% of total electric power. Thus, Japanese government has been trying to seal the radioactivity from the nuclear power plants with all possible efforts in order to recover prestige of the nuclear power plant. Japanese major companies such as Toshiba, Hitachi, Mitsubishi Heavy Industry have been promoting the nuclear power plants in the world market. However, the future of the nuclear power plant in the world would be subject to how soon Japanese government gets control over its crisis of Fukushima nuclear power plants.
The disaster-stricken area, Northeast region has been highlighted as the source of parts supply of the automobile companies and the electrical machinery companies in the world how this region is important by this earthquake-tsunami. The high degree of perfection of the supply chain system seeking economy in Northeast region of Japan have a great influence on the world production such as Japanese automaker of Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Renault-Sumsung of Korea, GM in USA, Peugeot-Citroen in France who have been driven into reducing or stopping the production.
However, as a result it might deprive Japan (especially from Northeast region) of economic power at the same time? Kobe port was No.6 in the container handling ranking in the world in 1995 when Great Kobe-Awaji earthquake attacked but most of export cargo never came back to Kobe port since then shown as No. 26 in the world ranking of 2009.
I entertain misgivings about degeneration of not only Northeast region but Japan’s economic power in coming few years unless we have to support the recovery of supply chain system of Northeast region as a body of whole nation now. In order to avoid such crisis it is inevitable for Japanese government to vitalize and recover industries in Northeast region by securing employment which is the urgent matter in the disaster-stricken area. I believe that the coming one year would be important for encouraging people with hope and dream for the future by guaranteeing employment which is the quickest way for recovery in this region. I also would like to urge Japanese government vigorously that Japanese could do.At the same time, I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to many countries in the world who send the rescue parties. the relief goods, contributions and cheering messages which have truly impressed and encouraged very much not only the sufferers but the ordinary Japanese people.
The Sendai Port, the largest port in Northeast region has been suffering from devastating damage. Korean shipping lines have engaged in Korea/Sendai route and their containers piled up in Sendai port have also been seriously damaged and by flowed into the sea. Yen was historically recorded the highest of $1.00=\76.25 on March 17 after the past highest of \79 in 1995. Therefore, shipping lines and export enterprises who were favorably recovering have been suffering from the triple tortures of increasing price of crude oil, the earthquake disaster and high Yen and their March settlements of accounts have been forced to reduce the profit. On the other hand the leasing companies have been continuously enjoying 98~99% container utilization with few depot stock in the world. The leasing companies who have the fund have earnestly placed an order for the new containers. The number of the new containers in factory has been roughly reduced to 400,000teu from 500,000teu in the past one month which means that 100,000teu has been released to shipping lines. However, there are few in 2nd hand container market from shipping lines or leasing companies so that its prices have been in uptrend. In other words shipping lines have continuously kept using the old containers in their system.
The new container price in China was recorded over $3,000 per 20f before Luna New Year but now is around $2,950 per 20f which is said to be continued for a while due to drop in steel price while Chinese makers will have to accept the raise of labor costs to some extent in order to secure the necessary manpower. However, Chinese makers have been supported by strong demand and the tax rebate for export products and they have been attaining high profit. On the other hand their quality has been questionable as before.
This is gilding the lily, but I traveled Yangzhou in Jiangsu from April 2 to 4 after arriving at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport in order to see 20f Hybrid Open Top Container and 20f Full Side Open Sliding Door Container made by FBC in Yangzhou Runyang Logistic Equipment Co., Ltd (RYC). We have uploaded the video of these innovative products in EFI’s home page. Could you access to our home page? These two products are all in ISO specification. The manufacturer is RYC, one of the subsidiaries of CIMC. The reason why we say it innovative is that this Sliding Door would have high possible to replace the ordinary double doors of containers because the ordinary double doors would not be safe from theft but the Sliding Door is surely anti-theft and easy operation.
On the way back to Shanghai Hongqiao Airport I got on the speedy train of China similar to the bullet train of Japan from Zhenjiang railway station to Hongqiao Airport. It gave me a comfortable ride at the speed of over 300 km per hour for 350 km in distance. All seats of the train had been fully occupied after people getting on and off at the stop. I think this is China of now, dynamics of people and logistics in China. China already compares favorably in technology of various fields of industries with the industrially advanced countries. Their manner we are frowned at would be improved in coming 10 years which will make us surprised not long before.
EFI has been starting as the agent of TydenBrooks in April. Their parent company, Crimson bought Tyden Brammal in 2004 and EJ Brooks in 2009 and they started as one company name of TydenBrooks in 2009. Both companies are over 100 years to handle the Security Seal in USA. However, A surplus in personnel (sales staff and technical experts) of Asia over merger left and some of them joined the competitors. Therefore, the personnel change of TydenBrooks would cause uneasiness in their customers as a result they lost their share of business with shipping companies of Japan, Europe and Asia. According to TydenBrooks their competitors who employed staff and technical experts from TydenBrooks have been violating patents of TydenBrooks’ products so that they are ready to take them to court shortly. Thus, depending on the lawsuit the seal users may consider stop of supply of the seals in use from the current suppliers. Therefore, we would like to promote TydenBrooks’ products of good quality to the users while explaining the patent issue to the users.
EFI started one year ago as the agent of Kukdong MES / JJ MES. One year later EFI could add FBC’s innovative products such as Hybrid Open Top and Sliding Door Containers proving anti-theft and easy operation and at the same time EFI also act as the agent of TydenBrooks to handle their products of good quality in April. We would like to offer our sincere service to our customers with these innovative products of FBC and good quality of TydenBrooks’ security seal products. If our customers request us to provide them with mope powerful and supportive service we will not hesitate to support our customers by all means.