A Boatload of Kitties

When there are glitches in the logistics pipeline, sometimes it's good to have an outsourced provider on your side.

[From iSource Business, February/March 2003] We all remember well the massive lockout a few months ago involving the 29 ports operated by the Pacific Maritime Association along the West Coast of the United States. The lockout came after the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which controls all work on the West Coast docks, engaged in several months of slowdowns to make known their disagreement with the Pacific Maritime Association over the organization's desire to use new technologies such as cargo scanners to speed cargo handling.

It couldn't have come at a worse time.

The ports operated by the Pacific Maritime Association handle at least $300 billion in cargo a year. Many of the ports are designed to accommodate massive container ships from Asia that are too large to be diverted through the Panama Canal. Because the holiday retail season was fast approaching, many in the manufacturing, retailing and agriculture industries had already been preparing for the increased demand. And don't forget those just-in-time facilities that rely on the latest shipments to keep pace with their lean inventory. In a study commissioned by the maritime association, the dollar impact of the strike was estimated at $934 million a day, however that figure was expected to rise the longer the strike lasted.

As stated earlier, it couldn't have come at a worse time, especially for a boatload of little kitties. In one of those cargo ships, floating maddeningly close to the West Coast but with nowhere to unload its hold, was a shipment of Nakajima USA's Hello Kitty plush toys bound for U.S.-based-Toys "R" Us stores. The longer the strike lasted, the later and more costly their arrival would be.

First, Let's Begin at the Beginning

A little over two years ago Nakajima, a Japanese manufacturer that has owned the license to create trademarked Hello Kitty toys and PVC figurines in Japan and Korea for over 25 years, decided to expand its operations.

Now, in case you don't have a little daughter, granddaughter or niece that owns one, Hello Kitty is a soft, tiny cat doll, sporting any number of poses and pastel outfits. Nakajima also manufactures all the paraphernalia that are made especially for the kids