A profound paradox has emerged in global shipping between the physical activity of transportation
and the logistics planning of increasingly geographically dispersed supply chains. The paradox can be
explained as follows. The principles of logistics and supply chain management are built around justin-time
delivery, the reduction of inventory costs and an optimal coordination between the different
suppliers of components in the final assembly and distribution to consumer markets. Flexibility and
reliability are crucial. Logistics heavily relies upon ICT, but ultimately also upon actual physical
transportation. An integral element of these supply chain systems is thus the actual physical or
material transportation of goods carried out by ocean carriers and by land-based haulage of road, rail
and barge. While economies of scope are the state-of-play in global logistics and supply chain
management, global transportation and port infrastructure is far-more driven by economies of scale.