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Issue 2 2014 Freight Business Journal


///FREIGHT BREAK


Pohnpei flying high, thanks to Coyne


The ‘world’s worst football team’ is set to be immortalised in a film released by its wonder coaches, Matt Conrad and Paul Watson. ‘The Soccermen’ charts


film student Matt and football journalist Paul’s quest


to coach


Pohnpei, a state team in the Federated States of Micronesia in the Pacific Ocean, whose most notable footballing ‘achievement’ to date had been a 16-1 defeat to the neighbouring island of Guam. All-cargo carrier Coyne Airways


stepped in to sponsor the no- hopers, helping fund them on a tour, which led to a seven-one victory against the as it turned out, rather inaptly named, Crushers of the Guam Premier League. This


was Pohnpei’s first victory in a competitive match ever and also their first competitive game in decades. “We felt compelled to help when


we first heard about Pohnpei,” said Larry Coyne, CEO, Coyne Airways. “We specialise in getting freight into some of the world’s most difficult-to-reach destinations, we understand the commitment and drive it takes to overcome serious challenges.” Toads were just one challenge


that coaching novices Matt and Paul, both British nationals, had to tackle – Micronesia has one of the world’s wettest climates - to turn around the fortunes of a team which had never won a


competitive match. Matt Conrad paid tribute to the


team’s sponsor: “Without Coyne Airways, not just the money they put up for the team, but their moral and logistical support, there would be no team, no story, no nothing.” The Pohnpei team is continuing hard,


to work although Matt


Conrad says they still needed more funding. The ultimate goal is for them to


be able to travel to international competitions, but to keep going they need money for basics such as fuel to fund players’ travel to soccer practice. The Soccermen will be out later


this year: www.thesoccermen.com


Keeping a lid on logistics


Don clocks up half a century of driving


We’re not sure if it’s a record but


there can’t be many


people who have been driving lorries for 50 years, let alone for the same company. Great- grandfather of six Don Fisher is putting the brakes on his lorry driving career after 50 years with the same logistics company -


haulier and Palletforce member, Chambers and Cook Freight in Birmingham. Mr Fisher – who, we must say, looks remarkably sprightly for his 79 years - joined the company on


17 February, 1964. Their oldest and longest-


international


serving employee has decided his 50th anniversary is as good a time as any to hang up his driving gloves. Still, there are other members of the family to carry on the tradition into the 21st Century – Don’s two sons are artic drivers at the company. In an age when people


change their jobs as frequently as their socks – possibly more frequently in some cases – this is surely an example to us all.


These days, the contents of your kitchen says a lot about the type of person your are: urban ultra cool cat, devoted homemaker, daring culinary experimentalist or, in my case, filthy slob that never washes anything up until the moment it’s actually needed. So when we first release


read the press from Kerry


Logistics saying that they were “to work with UK-based designer kitchenware specialist Joseph


Joseph” my mind started racing. Was it some sort of crossover of expertise, somehow melding the expertise of the logistics world with the design of kitchen implements? Reading on, the reality was a bit


more prosaic. The British-based designer is actually recruiting Kerry to provide ocean and air services from China to the UK and the US. Still, with over 200 products being sold in over 100


countries, Kerry will probably have enough to do without agonising over the design of soup ladles or brushed aluminium finishes.


Not gone away


Bill Gates once said: “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten.” This is certainly true for 3D Printing, says says John Sewell, principal of supply chain consultancy, Crimson & Co. Business leaders, particularly


those in freight and logistics have been unable to escape this buzzword of the moment over the past 12 months. But, Mr


Sewell argues, the technology will probably have little impact in the immediate future, which might lead some people to believe that the issue has gone away. Rather like the Internet in its early days, or lasers in the 1970s, 3D printing – or additive manufacturing as it is also known – has so far excited mostly teenagers in their back bedrooms, but it’s likely to emerge in more mature and business-friendly form in a few years’ time.


Sewell warns; “The widespread use of 3D printing is something which is still quite distant as a concept, yet now is the time for supply chain leaders to assess how the model is likely to affect them.” One of the first areas to benefit


from more widespread use of 3D printing will be sectors which require frequent spares and repairs. Costs will very likely be dramatically reduced through the 3D printing option.


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