14


Issue 4 2020 - Freight Business Journal


///10TH ANNIVERSARY


Freight Business Journal was born at a time of crisis for the industry – the Ash Cloud. Now, though, the world logistics and supply chain scene is in a state of even greater upheaval. In the intervening ten years, freight operators have had to deal with terrorist attacks, shipping line mergers and bankruptcies and, of course, Brexit. But there is plenty of good news too. New ports, new services and operators and the never-ending march of technology have wrought their own revolution on a business that is forever in flux.


authorities information consignments


before aircraft in the on they


were loaded onto ships or


country


of departure, rather than gathering it on arrival. ICS has remained the bedrock of EU cargo security ever since.


Gateway game-changer


Vince Cable – then Business Secretary in the coalition government-


described


Back in May 2010, when the FBJ team brought out its first ever issue, the Ash Cloud seemed then to be a pretty existential crisis for the industry. Aircraft were grounded across a wide swathe of Europe for fear that tiny particles spewed into the air by an Icelandic volcano could make them fall out of the sky. Travellers and shippers were having to hurriedly switch to modes of transport like ships and trains not commonly considered since the middle of the previous century. The Ash Cloud rather all


overshadowed other


matters in that first issue, but interesting features


included


interviews with RH Freight - whose boss Ian Baxter is now owner of Baxter Freight, after


selling out to Kuehne & Nagel - and French logistics giant Norbert Dentressangle, now part of XPO Logistics. Things quietened down for


a while, but airfreight security matters were to come to the fore towards the end of 2010 when explosives were found in shipments at East Midlands Airport, en route from Yemen to the US. BIFA experts were quick to point out, though, that robust arrangements for screening of air cargo to, from or


transiting the UK were


already in place and that so- called “100% screening” as called for by some, was neither practical nor desirable. It was at this time that


the EU-wide Import Control System (ICS) was brought into operation, giving the


DP


World’s new London Gateway port as “a game changer” when he visited the site, around three years ahead of the opening of the first phase in 2013. Meanwhile, the Dover


People’s Port Trust launched a scheme to buy the UK’s leading ferry port, backed up by no less a person than Dame Vera Lynn. For a time, Bluebirds really did


seem to be in ascendant over the White Cliffs. On into 2011, and it was the


turn of Japan to suffer the effects of a natural disaster, in this case the earthquake and tsunami that struck the country on 11 March. As well as widespread loss of life, the


event had a big effect on the global supply chain. Over in Libya, the events


surrounding the departure of Colonel Gadhafi had a much more localised effect on ports, airports and road freight services, with many services suspended for several months. State ferry company


SeaFrance was declared bankrupt by a French commercial court in late 2011 but in the same month the ro ro port of Calais announced big plans for expansion – still in the process of being realised at the time of writing. Eurotunnel was to mount an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to buy SeaFrance’s vessels and operations, the


running MyFerryLink under banner


for a while before throwing in the towel in 2015 in the face of opposition by the UK competition authorities. A month later, SeaFrance’s


demise prompted DFDS and the then LD Lines to enter the


Dover-Calais market;


the former operator is still operating on the route. There were stirrings in the


deepsea container market. The Grand Alliance and the New World Alliance announced plans to merge into a new grouping, the G6 in April 2012. Meanwhile, MSC said it would merge its operations with CMA CGM – respectively, then the second- and third-largest lines – but said it would discontinue its vessel sharing agreement with


15 >>


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32