Supply Chain by the Numbers
   
 

- Jan. 10, 2013
   
  Supply Chain by the Numbers for Week of Jan. 10, 2013
   
 

My Ship is Bigger than Your Ship - For Now; Tesco's US Journey was Fresh, Not Easy; Levi's Is Going Green Jeans; China Makes It, the US Buys It
   
 
 
 

16,000

The number of TEU's the currently largest container ship can hold, the "Marco Polo" is being used by France's CMA CGM, according to a nice article on global shipping in the Wall Street Journal this week. That new ship now edges out the seven 15,500-TEU Emma Maesk ships operated by Maersk Lines, the world's largest ocean carrier. Maersk will get the title back soon enough, however, as the first of some twenty 18,000-TEU "Triple E's" are delivered later this year.
 
 



 
 
 

$1.6 Billion

About the level of investment that will be lost by UK retail Tesco, after its CEO said last month the chain will likely close its 199 Fresh and Easy stores in the US. When it went into the US market in 2009, Tesco was much feared, in part from supply chain prowess in making multiple deliveries daily to its stores, which in the US are somewhere between a convenience store and smaller grocery store. The stores are located in just three states, California, Arizona and Nevada. "The main thing is that they underestimated how Americans shop," said Natalie Berg, global research director at Planet Retail. She said Fresh & Easy stores are "too clinical."
 
 
 
 
 
10

Number of contract manufacturing facilities that iconic jeans company Levi's says it is working with to achieve full "supplier transparency of discharge of hazardous chemicals," and share the outcome with the public by the end of 2013. That according to Levi's chief supply chain officer David Love, in a recent blog post. That right after the company had reached an agreement to work with environmental group Greenpeace to "detoxify" its supply chain. The entire apparel sector has been under fire for years over claims about discharges into the water system and more.
 
 
 
 
 

14%

Rise in Chinese exports in December, as announced this week, reversing a year long slump in the country's export driven economy that has been fueled by on-going weakness in Europe and a general slowing of global trade. Many were predicting a rise of just 4% or so. No surprise, US imports led the way, up 10.3% in the month. Trade figures released today showed the US had a trade deficit in goods with China of another $29 billion in November, for a 2012 total of $290 billion, $5 billion below last year's record with another month to be added in.
 
 
 
 
 
 
.