Location, Storing, and Distribution
One of the most important aspects of launching a new international business is finding the locations where the goods imported from abroad will be stored and handled prior to sale or distribution among the local retailers. Warehouses are the tool to solve this problem. For the purposes of storing the ornamental goldfish imported from China, the warehouses should conform to the set of criteria. First of all, they should provide high-quality storage opportunities for the goods. Secondly, the warehouses should have sufficient territory as an ornamental goldfish business is intended to be large scale. As well, warehouses should be financially accessible and properly located (the less time transportation takes, the less costly the business is). Finally, acceptable warehouses should provide opportunities for business, i. e. have office premises included.
St Kilda Warehousing Location
Geographically, the preferred areas of warehousing in Australia are Port Melbourne, St. Kilda, or certain South East areas of the country. According to Commercial Real Estate (2009), there are certain warehousing buildings currently offered in these areas for sale, lease, or rent. The preferred location for warehousing is St. Kilda. The reasons for this include the facts that in St. Kilda prices are much lower than in Port Melbourne, although the geographical location of the warehouses and their operating conditions are not so perfect as in Port Melbourne. The only acceptable variant is a 390m2 building having the office premises and equipped for good handling at the cost of $30,000. This warehousing location will allow placing the ornamental goldfish delivered from China and opening the office to handle the fish delivery directly at the warehousing location (Commercial Real Estate, 2009).
Air Freight
Costs
As the ornamental goldfish will be imported to Australia from China, the problem of transportation and delivery becomes rather important. Seemingly the most convenient way to bring goods to Australia is by air. According to China Suppliers (2009) data, the best (in relation to quality and price) air freight forwarders are the Chinese companies like StarFly Logistics. This company specializes in the sea, railway, and air delivery of goods from China to Australia and New Zealand. The company provides air freight to Melbourne for $3200 – 7400 per ton of goods (depending on the goods type) but has a flexible discount policy applied mainly to the contractors, not one-time customers (China Suppliers, 2009). This is a rather acceptable variant as the import of ornamental goldfish to Australia is planned to be long-term and large-scale.
Other Conditions
Moreover, China Suppliers provides supporting services for its loyal clients. For example, the company includes picking and handling the goods samples, and single-rate delivery of goods from multiple locations to the list of its value-added services. The transportation time to St. Kilda takes up to 36 hours, the time needed for the proper handling and delivery and assuring that the goldfish is alive. It is an acceptable delivery time, especially given the price–quality proportion and the above stipulated value-added services. Drawing from the above data, the business of importing ornamental goldfish from China to Australia might be a potentially beneficial business. First of all, it is not explored enough in Australia to have strong competition, and the company that starts such a business might own a considerable market share at once after launching. Secondly, the Australian fishing industry currently experiences the need for import transactions and cooperation with foreign companies (Taylor, 2008, p. 4).
Fishing Industry in Australia
Finance and Future Development
On the whole, the pet fish industry is rather developed in Australia. According to PIAA (2009), over 19 million pet fish have been imported to Australia in 2009. The pet fish industry in Australia reports an annual turnover of about $2 billion and serves as the employer of over 10,000 citizens of Australia (Evans and Johnstone, 2006, p. 1). The future development of the Australian pet fish industry is connected by scholars like Taylor (2008) with the ornamental goldfish sector (pp. 4 – 6). The estimated annual value of this sector in the Australian economy amounts up to $300 million, and this is only the figure for the emerging, not yet developed, industry sector (Taylor, 2008, p. 4). International trade is also viewed as one of the major developmental directions for the country’s pet fish industry, and PIAA (2009) singles out China as one of the major strategic partners of Australia in this respect, alongside Japan and the United States.
The main risks connected with importing ornamental goldfish from China include potential diseases like Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD), Viral erythrocytic necrosis virus (VENV), etc. that might cause fish extinction and damage the business (NAAH-TWG, 2004, p. 2). To fight these risks, permanent monitoring of the health conditions of the imported fish and ensuring the proper hygienic conditions in the warehouses are needed (PIAA, 2009, p. 6). Accordingly, the following budget-timeframe combination will be necessary for the successful project implementation:
Reference
China Suppliers. (2009) StarFly Logistics, Made in China. Web.
Commercial Real Estate. (2009) Warehouses for Sale/Lease, Real Estate. Web.
Evans, G. and Johnstone, I. (2006) ‘A Review of People Development in the Australian Fishing Industry’, A report prepared for the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC), vol. 309, no. 22, pp. 1 – 16.
NAAH-TWG. A Review of Australian Ornamental Fish Import Risk Management for the Period 1999 – 2004. National Aquatic Animal Health Technical Working Group, pp. 1 – 3.
PIAA. (2009) Importation of freshwater ornamental fish: review of the biosecurity risks associated with the Gourami iridovirus spp and related viruses. Pet Industry Association, pp. 1 – 25.
Taylor, R. (2008) ‘Data to Drive Ornamental Opportunities’, FISH, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 2 – 4.