TORONTO, Ont. – Dealing with rising transportation costs and a shortage of capacity at the same time as meeting corporate expectations to expand to new markets and boost supply chain efficiencies will require a great deal of new thinking, editorial director Lou Smyrlis advised in his recent address to the Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Logistics Association (PPCLA) .

“To succeed in this kind of environment, you are going to need friends. There must be an evolution towards deeper and more integrated relationships with your service providers – a process by which you can progress from tactical to strategic relationships,” Smyrlis said at PPCLA’s annual general meeting.

Smyrlis also pointed out pharmaceutical companies can benefit from greater cooperation within their own industry, which includes tight controls and validation processes for its products. Jointly defining what they expect from carriers would allow their service providers to standardize processes to provide better service, Smyrlis suggested.

Supply chain managers will have to adopt new ways of thinking because the capacity shortage and higher pricing trends appear to be long term. More than 80 per cent of shippers using truck transportation reported paying higher rates and almost half are concerned about capacity, revealed a recent study completed by Transportation Media (Truck News’ parent company) in partnership with the Canadian Industrial Transportation Association and CITA.

Smyrlis also warned shippers to prepare for a new wave of stricter border legislation, starting with a revamping of the C-TPAT program.