FBJ 4 FREIGHT BUSINESS JOURNAL


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Issue 2 2013 FROM THE EDITOR


Logistics and supply chain in all its various manifestations employs around a million people in the UK, according to some figures we were shown recently. But such is the paucity of public awareness, you wouldn’t really think it was one of the country’s biggest industries. It’s scarcely at the top of school-leavers’ lists of desirable careers; very rarely does it make the national headlines, except for the odd occasion when something goes wrong with a truck or a ship. Logistics, as someone involved in a local enterprise partnership told us, is still “the hidden industry”. Trucks and ships are of course the high-profile end of the industry. Trying to explain to the


By Chris Lewis


uninitiated what a freight forwarder does, let alone an NVOCC or a customs clearance agent, soon brings forth glazed eyes and a baffled expression. (Though maybe it’s just the way I tell it.)


Does this obscurity matter? It can do – for one thing, it can make the task of attracting new


talent to the industry harder than it otherwise might be, although large operators such as ports, industry bodies and others are working to raise awareness among school-leavers. The other way it can cause problems is in legislation, as we have recently seen with the


failure of the US-EU security recognition pact to include AEO-accredited freight forwarders and customs brokers freight forwarders. Were they leſt out simply because legislators were simply unaware of our existence?


It may only be the latest installment in a long-running saga but the CBI’s recent report calling for the Government to be more decisive about runway building at the UK’s major airports is a timely reminder that infrastructure issues haven’t gone away, despite the recession. With the Davies Enquiry dues to make its interim report sometime this year, the employers’ organisation would like some answers on if, where and when new capacity will be built, pointing out that there have been around a dozen such enquiries since the country last received a significant new runway. Just as pertinent is the question of new land transport capacity to service any airport


expansion and this is an issue that concerns seaports as much as it does airports. The first phase of the new London Gateway, not to mention an expanded Felixstowe, is due to come on stream late this year and that will bring the question of how freight is to get round the Capital into sharp focus. The M25, as we all know, is already clogged for large periods of the day. On the railways,


virtually the only route from east London to the north is the inadequate North London line, which is already saturated with passenger trains for much of the day and closed for remedial engineering work for many of the night hours. Some Felixstowe traffic to the North is also routed this way and will continue to be so until the direct route via East Anglia and Nuneaton is fully upgraded. London politicians’ thoughts on how to make paths available for freight trains from the ports is that it should somehow go away as they don’t benefit London – an incredibly blinkered and short-sighted view in our opinion. Computers are equally a blessing and a curse to business. Modern day commerce would


be unthinkable without them, of course, and we all tend to take them for granted every time we find the information we need in an instant on Google or send an electronic payment in seconds. However, making substantial changes to IT systems can be a fraught process, especially when it involves one computer system ‘talking’ to another. (As you can see the FBJ editorial department is well up on all the technical terms.)


It’s no accident that at least two of the news stories in this issue concern IT systems. In one case, the government has blithely assumed that it is possible to feed information from one Government body’s system (HMRC) to another (DVLA). Not so, says the trade – the issues are much more difficult than might be imagined and, as with all modifications to HMRC’s systems, there is the ever-present risk of bringing the country’s international trade to a halt. Nor, as another story suggests, should the cost and difficulty of modifying the many


legacy systems be underestimated. There are undoubtedly benefits to switching away from the archaic freight messaging systems currently used in airfreight to something based on the Internet’s XML protocol. But the vexed question is: who benefits, and who pays. In a complex supply chain, they are not necessarily one and the same.


///OPINION


FBJ has already become established as the only UK and one of the few pan-European Multimodal newspapers. The comments we have received prove there is still room for a hard copy publication with the freighting industry. You don’t have to look at a screen all day!


FBJ boasts the most informative and authoritative source of information with unrivalled in-depth knowledge of the rapidly changing freight business environment.


As the definitive publication within the sea, air, road and rail freight sectors, each issue includes regular news and analysis, in-depth coverage discovering the business decisions behind the news stories, shipper and exporter reports, opinion, geographical features, political and environmental issues.


If you have any stories or letters which should be of interest or any feedback on FBJ, please contact our editor Chris Lewis - +44 (0)208 6450666 chris.lewis@fj-online.com


next issue >> circulation >>


To guarantee your personal copy of FBJ please register by emailing your details to circulation@fj-online.com or cover sheet included with this issue.


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Our next issue will include features on Multimodal, Italy,


Heavy-liſt & Project Forwarding, Animals & Livestock and Logistics Property. There will also be our regular IT Section and news pages. For further details contact: John Saunders - +44 (0) 151 427 6800 john.saunders@fj-online.com


Cargo Business Development Manager, Aer Lingus


Aer Lingus Cargo operates as a separate business unit within Aer Lingus. Cargo services are provided on both transatlantic and European flights and generated revenues of €46m in 2012.


Applications are currently being invited for the position of Cargo Business Development Manager. This position is part of the Cargo Management team, reporting to the Director of Cargo. The successful candidate will have responsibility for cargo revenue forecasting, budgeting, pricing and capacity management processes, marketing, and product development and management.


For further details on responsibilities, essential criteria and skills required please visit our careers page on www.aerlingus.com


Come and see us at Multimodal, Stand 906.


Our April issue will include a major preview and guide to the show. If you are an exhibitor please fill in your free entry form at: www.fj-online.com/?page_id=5705


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