Amazon’s supply chain architects are reportedly working on a new concept of “near-shoring” that could see container vessels anchoring off the coast of large consumer centres – such as the San Pedro Bay, Hudson River or English Channel – and using drones to deliver directly from ship to consumers. In this futuristic operational model they can remove the need to use container ports, truckers and freight forwarders.
Speculations started floating on Amazon’s intentions and plans based on the above idea and what Amazon is intending to become in the decades to come.
By this amazon is trying to:
- Not just control the entire end-to-end of its supply chain, but every other supply chain too.
- Seek new economies of scale in every area of its international supply chain.
- Consolidate the freight buyer’s market to just one: Amazon.
- Become the world’s first retail oligopoly, integrated into an oligopsony.
According to analysts “Acquiring ships is the final part of that strategy. Amazon’s advanced predictive data has outlined that, with so much overcapacity in the global container shipping fleet, we should buy all of the world’s containerised consumer goods and store them on the vessels – there’s certainly enough spare space.”
Amazon investors are understood to be backing the strategy and are braced for two or three decades of losses.
Source: The Loadstar
