CASE STUDY
Tashtego
Advanced Topics in Management Accounting and Control
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the economic situation of the company Macedonian Shipping and give a recommendation whether the company should use the motor vessel Tashtego as a freight tender beween Dar-es-Salaam and Zanzibar in East Africa or as a tapioca ship between Balik Papan and Singapore in the East Indies.
Fundamental to all these considerations are measurement issues. Financial measures, in particular, cost measures, are needed to evaluate alternate strategies on whether to introduce a new product or service line, to determine the appropriate sale price and the consequent market position for the firm’s product.
Question 1)
“Contribution”
…show more content…
For the total revenues for each vessel the freight rates for Tapioca and for manufactured goods are multiplied with the amount of tons that are moved from one harbour to the other.
2. Total contribution for a round trip | | | | | | TASHTEGO | LARGE VESSEL | | BP-SP Tapioca | SP-BP goods | BP-SP Tapioca | SP-BP goods | | | | | | | | | | | Capacity (t) | 3.950,00 | 3.150,00 | 6.850,00 | 3.150,00 | | | | | | freight rate/t | 5,10 | 2,70 | 5,10 | 2,70 | Revenue | 20.145,00 | 8.505,00 | 34.935,00 | 8.505,00 | | | | | | | | | | | Total Revenue | 28.650,00 | 43.440,00 | Total Cargo costs | 10.153,00 | 14.300,00 | Total contribution | 18.497,00 | 29.140,00 |
As cargo costs vary with the freight moved they are calculated as a product of Cargo costs per ton, as stated above, and the capacity for each of the vessels, i.e. for Tashtego 1,43*3950 + 1,43*3150 = 10.153,00 and for the large vessel 1,43*6850 + 1,43*3150 = 14.300,00.
Question 3)
Incremental cost is the cost associated with increasing production by one unit, in this case sending Tashtego on a round trip. It represents the added costs that would not exist if the round trip was not made.
The turnaround at Balik Papan takes 3 days for one of the large vessels and 2,5 days for Tashtego. The
Summarizing these figures we get the total trip costs for a roundtrip for each vessel.
If cargo is rated as weight (metric tons = 1 ton = 1,000 kilogram) or volume metric (cubic meters, CBM) whichever produces the highest revenue will be considered the Revenue Ton (RT) on which the shipment is freighted. Weights are based on metric tons and measures are based on cubic meters.
The unit transportation costs (in $) for shipments from the two plants o the two warehouses and from the two warehouses to the three distributors are as follows:
Intuitively one might assume that Dollar General, the well-known extreme-value retailer, has an established competitive advantage versus other consumer goods retailers with respect to price. It would then follow that cost would be a defining characteristic of the company, and a cost analysis an appropriate analytical tool.
For the product line managers the new system brings clarity and makes us more responsible. Specific goals for profit contribution, providing us with measurable assessment of performance, allow us to track and improve processes. What’s more with individual measurement of financial positions such as sales, revenues, costs etc. we can influence on each of them by increased level of responsibility for making profit. Similarly, each product line will have individually measured costs for each product which will contribute to cost control.
Port Botany is a deep-water seaport which is dominated by trade in containerised manufactured products as well as bulk liquid imports which includes natural gas and petroleum (NSW Ports Botany, 2013). It handles about one-third of Australia’s maritime container traffic and is the nation’s second largest container port. In the year 2011-12, the proportion of containers transported by road at the port was 86%, while the remaining 14% was transported by rail (Guimarans, Harabor & Van Hentenryck, 2015).
The purpose of this report is to analyze the price and revenue management in containerized ocean freight industry. First of all, we will introduce the background and development of ocean freight industry; explore the characteristics of ocean freight price and demand. Then we will analyze relationship between demand and price. Two famous shipping companies, COSCO and MSC will be introduced as examples to implement price optimization with price differentiation and competition considered in ocean shipping industry. Finally, we will discuss revenue management in ocean freight, the strategy of enlarging their margin during such a recession period. Based on current economy circumstance, we will analyze the trend of ocean
transported by road, the weight and volume of the individual shipment, and the type of goods transported.
In this process, the functional design and pricing strategy of a new product will be planned before cost and profit accounting. As Figure 1 revealed, based on market research, the analysis of market competition and willingness of target customers in paying each function will be taken as two criterions guiding the design of products. The positioning and pricing should be closely linked to each other in order to engage the product in target groups. Afterwards, with the restriction of price, the profits and costs involved in manufacturing and selling will be balanced. The profit margin, which is estimated from expected return of investment from shareholders, is an indicator for managers to determine the proportion of profits and costs.
This is a review of an article on ‘4 FACTORS FOR CONSIDERING AIR FREIGHT VS. OCEAN FREIGHT’.
The contribution of each local operation was calculated by subtracting local costs from revenue. This implies that, the P&L is calculated by deducting the cost incurred within their region from the revenue of that region. Revenue is recognized at the location where a shipment was originated. This system is unreasonable in the sense that it did not consider the costs to other country operations of delivery and whether the selling price was sufficient to cover the cost of pickup, line haul, hub transfer, delivery, and headquarters overhead and management costs. Therefore, a region 's revenue is not being matched with its costs. Its real cost should include all costs along the way of sending its documents or parcels to their destinations. For regions with higher incoming traffic, this system assigns a higher cost to it. The higher cost will distort management 's incentive to maximize profit. If use MR=MC to calculate optimal price, the region 's MC will become higher than its real MC, resulting in a higher price, and it is not the real profit maximizing price.
Managers must assess the product profitability of a product so they are able to make optimal decisions about product mix and set appropriate prices. The true cost to produce a product can be exposed and any possible reduction in the cost to produce this good can be identified. Additionally, non-value adding activities may be identified and eliminated. This will prevent underpricing for a good where the company mistakenly believes profits are possible when true costs and profitability are hidden under inadequate analysis.
There are many definition and methodology in measure trade cost. In general approach trade costs can be measured as, the difference in values between the goods at the starting point it is exported and when its aimed the importing country after customs clearance, but not include the import duties (Sourdin and Pomfret, 2012). This transaction costs in trade also involved time of transport, infrastructure condition, and other factors
Freight cost of 90$/MT would also positively impact the prices of local rice by decreasing a 4.29% and cut the emission of CO2 from sea freight ships, cranes and trucks. This will apply on custom duty of 20% as well. (Ghana Revenue Authority, 2014)
This report provided a research and analysis using the analytical tools to present the potential venture in the maritime tanker industry. Methods of analysis consist in this report is the PESTLE Analysis, which can be separated into Politic, Economic, Social, Technology, Legal and Environment. Besides, another analysis used is the Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threat (SWOT). The company that included in this analysis is DHT Holding Inc. All the source can be found in the references.