www.bifa.org


Robert Keen’s Column


BIFAlink


BIFAlink is the official magazine of the British International Freight Association Redfern House, Browells Lane, Feltham TW13 7EP Tel: 020 8844 2266 Web site: www.bifa.org E-mail: bifa@bifa.org (A company limited by guarantee. Registered in England: 391973. VAT Registration: 216476363)


Director General Robert Keen r.keen@bifa.org Executive Director Robert Windsor r.windsor@bifa.org Executive Director Spencer Stevenson s.stevenson@bifa.org Policy & Compliance Advisor Mike Jones m.jones@bifa.org Policy & Compliance Advisor Pawel Jarza p.jarza@bifa.org Policy & Compliance Advisor David Stroud d.stroud@bifa.org Training Development Manager Carl Hobbis c.hobbis@bifa.org Editorial Co-ordinator Sharon Hammond s.hammond@bifa.org


Published by Park Lane Publishing peter@parklanepublishingltd.com Contributors Robert Keen, Robert Windsor, Mike Jones, Pawel Jarza, David Stroud, Spencer Stevenson, Carl Hobbis, Sharon Hammond


Regional Consultants to BIFA Scotland and the Borders Len Hobbs: bifa.scot@gmail.com Northern Ireland Carson McMullan: carsonconluce@aol.com Midlands and the North Paul Young: youngyes@aol.com London West and the South West Mike Jones: m.jones@bifa.org Anglia, London East and the South East Paul Newman: paul@pnauk.com


Note to media: If you wish to use items in this magazine that are older than 1 month, please contact the editor to ensure that the item in question still reflects the current circumstances.


Please be advised that BIFA DOES NOT OFFER LEGAL ADVICE. BIFA is not a law firm and the authors of this publication are not legally qualified and do not have any legal training. The guidance and assistance set out herein are based on BIFA’s own experience with the issues concerned and should not be in any circumstances regarded or relied upon as legal advice. It is strongly recommended that anyone considering further action based on the information contained in this publication should seek the advice of a qualified professional.


Hard border preparations are under way


As I was on holiday at the time this column is normally written, I had prepared some general comments on how your Association has performed during the past year but recent announcements from Government have prompted me to make additional comments. The recent speech by the Prime Minister at Greenwich and announcements in the media by the former Chancellor and also the Foreign Secretary have made it clear that full preparations are being made for a hard border with the EU. Of course, this will be seen by some as a tough negotiating ploy, although the EU negotiator seems to be taking a similarly inflexible stance. Whilst you all read papers and watch TV news and can draw your own conclusions, we believe that full border declarations are now inevitable. Certainly, the message


delivered to the sector trade bodies by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster recently was extremely robust. My colleague, Robert Windsor, has written an article on page 8 which sets the current position in context and I recommend that you read it. In last month’s magazine, I noted that the attendance at the BIFA Awards was an all-time high. We have also


hit impressive numbers across the range of our activities. At the end of 2019 the number of freight forwarders that were BIFA Members was the highest we have ever


recorded. The number has steadily increased over the past few years but the growth in 2019 was phenomenal. In the first quarter our numbers usually drop following the renewal process in January as we find out about closures, or mergers and acquisitions. Nevertheless, January started with a lot of new member applications so our sector seems optimistic. Of course, the continued growth has enabled us to hold subscriptions with only one rise since 2004, and that was in 2007 by the inflation rate for that year. We were also able to buy the copyright to the training courses that were being delivered on our behalf. Turning to training, again a record. At the end of 2019 we had held more courses and trained more delegates


than ever before. Our training role has been transformed from an arranger of courses delivered by outside suppliers to a training provider in our own right with our own trainers and our own BTEC approved material. Our growth has been driven by the International Freight Forwarding Apprenticeship. Our Young Forwarder Network (YFN) is thriving and in the February edition of BIFAlink we gave an overview


on the aims of the YFN and the story so far. The initiative is close to my heart and we really need employers to connect with the YFN and help us build for the future. This is just the first stage in providing an industry forum for your staff that has been designed with their help. We do not want to impose our views on the attendees but ask them to help us tailor the groups to reflect their aspirations and gain the maximum value from the events. Currently it is mainly the apprentices who are the members, but as the groups develop our mutual challenge is to create and set-up the follow-on forums for the ‘not so young’ forwarders of tomorrow. In a recent edition I indicated that we would publish an Incoterms ® ‘infographic’. However, I ran into


problems compiling it so I have had to postpone it; my apologies. Lastly, a short reminder that BIFA supports United for Wildlife, which is a programme run by The Royal


Foundation working to combat the illegal trade in wildlife products around the world by bringing together conservation organisations, law enforcement, governments and global corporations. The Transport Taskforce was formed in 2014 to engage the transport sector in identifying and developing relevant and targeted solutions to wildlife trafficking, including increasing awareness, reporting and enforcement. Then, in 2018, the financial sector was brought together to form the Financial Taskforce, which is committed to sharing resources and intelligence in a bid to disrupt the illegal income generated by trafficking. The Taskforces have supported over 70 law investigations, contributed to 18 trafficker arrests and played a key role in disrupting a major international ivory, rhino horn and heroin syndicate in East Africa. Our support is low level as much of the trade does not transit the UK, but all BIFA Members can assist by


encouraging staff to look out for suspicious invoice descriptions or other issues that make one think a shipment might not be legitimate. We will publish more information in a future edition of BIFAlink.


Robert Keen Director General


March 2020


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