Logistics boom muffled by red tape, crumbling roads, UPS chief says

ATLANTA (April 17, 2000) — Red tape and crumbling infrastructure will limit the effectiveness of the Internet as a tool to help move products efficiently around the globe, the leader of the world’s biggest package company said last week.

United Parcel Service of America Inc. chairman and CEO James P. Kelly said that electronic-commerce explosion has made it possible for “goods, information and money (to come) together seamlessly” for a fast-growing number of manufacturers and customers.

But Kelly said “problems with sky-high tariffs, with limitations on foreign investment and with customs procedures that make just-in-time operations nearly impossible to achieve,” he told a gathering of intermodal and logistics executives in Atlanta.

Another challenge, Kelly said, is the “physical infrastructure” of roads, bridges, harbors and airports that is needed “to allow those goods ordered online to get to market quickly and efficiently.” He also said well-oiled supply chains aren’t possible unless “unnecessary barriers to trade around the world” are eliminated.

Kelly also said that information about any package delivered by UPS “has become as important as the package itself.” Using sophisticated sorting and scanning technology, UPS collects detailed electronic information on about 75% of the packages in its system, or about 9 million packages per day, he said.