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Young freight forwarders honoured at FIATA World Congress


For over 20 years both FIATA and TT Club, the specialist insurer for the freight and logistics industry, have championed the development of young professionals in freight forwarding. Now in its 21st year, the Young International Freight Forwarder of the Year (YIFFY) Award has been supported by both organisations in order to promote this mission. The winner of this year’s award, announced in


October at the FIATA World Congress in Cape Town, was Evgeniya Khokhlova, who represents the Russian association (FAR) and is a specialist in project logistics for SVH-Freight. Each year, four regional finalists are selected


from multiple entrants located across the world. They are invited to attend the FIATA World Congress, providing each finalist with invaluable learning and networking opportunities. The candidates are required to submit a 6,000


word dissertation outlining the pertinent details of an import and export shipment from their native country. The four finalists then present their dissertations in person to a panel of judges at the Congress where the overall winner is selected. The other three regional finalists were:


• Africa/ Middle East – Enos Chapara, Zimbabwe (SFAAZ),


• Americas – Rachael van Harmelen, Canada (CIFFA),


• Asia Pacific – Phillip Burgess, New Zealand (CBAFF).


FIATA YIFFY Award Winner 2019 (l to r) YIFFY Award Winner Evgeniya Khokhlova, FIATA President Babar Badat, Thomas Sim, Chairman of FIATA’s Advisory Body Vocational Training and TT Club’s Michael Yarwood, Chairman of the Award Steering Committee


Commenting on the outstanding quality of the


work presented to the judges this year, Michael Yarwood of the TT Club said: “I would like to congratulate all four finalists for their polished presentations and especially, of course, our winner. “The current global trade environment is


particularly challenging and the forwarder’s role in adapting to the regulatory, political and economic pressures on themselves and their customers is consequently more crucial than


ever. In these circumstances the training and professional advancement of our young professionals must be paramount.” The UK is represented in the European region


by the winner of the BIFA Young Freight Forwarder of the Year award. In January 2020, BIFA will announce its


nomination for the TT Club-sponsored 2020 YIFFY Award, which will be presented at next year’s FIATA Congress in Busan, South Korea, (19-24 October).


Container shipping lines ‘face $11bn fuel bill’


DREWRY Shipping Consultants estimates container shipping lines will face an $11 billion fuel bill next year on account of the switch to low sulphur marine fuel in order to meet the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) new rule that caps sulphur content at 0.5% from January 1. As a result, carriers will likely


pass on the extra fuel costs to shippers. If they fail to foot the bill, the carriers are expected to cut service levels. The degree of compensation that


carriers receive from shippers will dictate the level of service


6


disruption during 2020, according to Simon Heaney, Drewry’s senior manager of container research. “Our working assumption is that


carriers will have more success in recovering that cost than previously, to the point that there will be no major disruption to supply. Most shippers accept that they will have to pay more but they rightly expect any increase to be justified with a credible and trusted mechanism – in other words, the ball is very much in the carriers’ court,” said Mr Heaney. If the ocean liners do fall short in recovering IMO 2020 fuel costs


from customers by a significant margin, “there will be much less focus by carriers on service quality and more on cost cutting”, Mr Heaney continued. “In that scenario, carriers will try


to protect cashflows by restricting capacity as best they can, through a combination of measures including further slow-steaming, more blank sailings and off-hiring of chartered vessels.” There could also be a push by lines to equip ships with scrubbers to avoid the premium pricing on low sulphur fuel. Vessel demolition rates could speed up, too.


“If events follow this path, the


supply-demand balance will look very different from our current forecast,” said Mr Heaney. “The worst-case scenario, when


most shipping lines cannot operate close to breakeven and some potentially face bankruptcy, would actually be a far quicker route to rebalancing the market than the current plodding track. “It would take a very brave carrier


to want such a turn of events, but for those that could be sure of coming through the other side, after some initial pain the rewards would be far greater.”


December 2019


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