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 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, 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.


Learning the benefits of life on Zoom


No doubt you have read many articles quoting the words “we are living in strange times” or “is this the new normal?” – and of course nobody knows how long we will be living under the current restrictions to daily life. Certainly, at BIFA we do not foresee holding physical regional or policy group meetings in 2020 and the outlook for 2021 does not seem encouraging. A sign for the future is the number of people joining our Zoom video conferencing updates to policy and regional BIFA groups. In the past it was common for there to be ‘no shows’ at meetings as, once in the office, people found it difficult to tear themselves away from the daily workload. Moving to Zoom has increased our attendance by a huge amount.


Our classroom training has been cancelled for the rest of the year, but we are of course open for business


and offer a range of training courses delivered via Zoom. You can still obtain grants from the government for some of our training and the online Customs Declaration course is available 24/7. Check the training pages at bifa.org


It seems highly unlikely that there will be large gatherings for a while yet, which will impact on the BIFA


Awards ceremony. However, you can still enter for a BIFA Award and we will bring you news soon of alternative plans to celebrate the finalists and announce the winners. We anticipate some innovative case studies of BIFA Members providing excellent service during lockdown, or within the continuing restrictions that we are all experiencing. Again, go to bifa.org and click on the Awards button to tell us your story.


We had an interesting discussion at a Legal and Insurance Policy Group meeting just before lockdown. The


discussion ensued from one of the insurance brokers highlighting a case where a delivering driver was asked to perform unloading tasks and things went wrong. Unfortunately, it is only when such incidents occur that the chain of responsibility is examined, and the driver may have breached standing procedures and inadvertently incurred liability by trying to be helpful. On page 17 we are repeating an article on this subject, first published in 2017, as it is still relevant.


I mentioned earlier that Zoom may be a sign of the future for BIFA and this also applies to our Young


Forwarder Network (YFN). Our original venues were sports bars or restaurants and the goal was for apprentices and younger forwarders to mix and develop business friendships in a casual environment. Professional development was a strong constituent with speakers designed to appeal to a younger audience. With COVID-19, some of the social interaction and networking aspects have been thwarted. Now instead of regional gatherings we have one large YFN with good numbers connecting. The YFN was designed so that the agenda was driven by the participants and if you turn to page 6 you can read the views of the Chair, Kyle Lawrence.


Readers will no doubt remember the massive devastation at Tianjin in 2015 when hazardous chemicals


exploded. Now five years later (almost to the day) the port of Beirut has suffered a similar catastrophe. Our friends at the TT Club have recently reminded us that there has been a spate of ro-ro/car carrier fires in recent months, leading to fresh calls for improvements, scrutiny and control in relation to dangerous goods. Container ship fires are always in mind. It is quite obvious that the safe handling of dangerous goods is a priority for all of our Members. We will continue to publish advice and articles such as the item on lithium batteries on page 6 of this issue.


Robert Keen Director General


September 2020


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