As
the FIATA Annual World Congress turned on the juice
in Dublin, Ireland, on Wednesday, conferees experienced
a high octane mix of Ireland hospitality and culture
that opened this critical, week long event of high level
forwarder meetings and sessions in grand style.
 Opens
FIATA Dublin
On Wednesday,
October 5 FIATA President Zhao Huxiang told conferees:
“As we meet for
our 54th Annual World Congress, we face a world challenged
by infrastructure, finance, security, e-freight, and
3D printing, among other issues.
“However, I believe
we are quite resilient and have been on a remarkable
upward journey that has brought about a landmark agreement
with IATA, which will have great impact ahead.
“FIATA is a success
because networking comes to us naturally,” Mr.
Zhao said.
Tom
Terrific
Thomas
Thornton, President IIFA, put it on the line and didn’t
mince his words:
“There is no substitute
for hard work.
“Our Ireland membership
includes unsung heroes, because they move global trade.
“For example, one
out of five hamburgers consumed in McDonald’s
worldwide sources from Ireland.
“Our export market
in Ireland makes us good traders.
“To you, delegates,
remember life is for living, loving, and laughing,”
Thomas Thornton said.
 Customs
Solutions
World
Customs Organization Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya
was straight up, telling delegates:
“Great to walk
into a room of Irish dancers to step off into this conference
wide awake and ready to go.
“A very important
facet of economic competiveness is trade facilitation
and ease of customs border to border.
“Progressive engagement
with stakeholders is vital in this process.
“Although e-commerce
is a game changer, delivery of goods is still physical.
“The closer we
work together toward best practices and harmonization
in every aspect of the supply chain, the more success
we will see all around.
“We must have trust
between customs and industry as we work together for
a better world.”
Speechifying
Extraordinaire
John Bruton, Former Taoiseach/Prime Minister of Ireland
& EU Ambassador to United States was engaging, telling
the packed house at FIATA:
“Training is important,
but we must imbue the next generation with ethical muscle—in
other words [the knowledge] to do what is right.
“We must adapt
to the world of today.
“There is a serious
gap between needs and what is being done about those
needs
“It’s a failure
of imagination.”
“FIATA’s
role is to create conditions for a benign and socially
acceptable world.
”
 Creating
The Right Blend
Ruth
Waring, Managing Director of Labyrinth Consultants,
is an expert representing the trucking industry in the
UK.
“Anytime you make
a sales call or anywhere else you appear, set your mind
to achieve an objective goal.
“Whenever you network
with one person, remember you are networking with all
of that person’s contacts.
“Be specific about
what you are looking for,” Ruth Waring said.
YIFFY
Awards Youth
TT Club
provides insurance to logistics worldwide.
Michael Yarwood from
the TT Club presented the annual Young International
Freight Forwarder of the Year Award (YIFFY Award).
“This is 18th year
of the YIFFY Award at FIATA.
“The YIFFY is given
to those candidates that submit a paper on multi-modal
transportation of goods, including dealing with all
aspects of what it takes to get the goods delivered.
“This year submissions
ranged from moving bales of cotton to a 40-foot, fire-breathing
robot dragon.
From left to right—Lorraine
Rutendo Zhou, Evgeny Kapustin, Shanon Gould and
Kostiantyn Hapli. |
“There are four
regional winners and one of them is picked to be the
overall winner. The Yiffy award winner gets two weeks
of practical and academic training, one week of academic
training in London and one week of practical training
based in one of the TT Club's regional centres (London,
Hong Kong or New Jersey).
“This year's regional
winners were Lorraine Zhou from Zimbabwe, Evgeny Kapustin
from Canada, Shanon Gould from Australia and Kostiantyn
Hapil from Ukraine
“The Young International
Freight Forwarder of The Year was Shanon Gould.
 Smart
Talk
VP Sales
of AirBridgeCargo Robert Van de Weg shared some thoughts
about “working smart” in air cargo, not
to mention handling current global economic challenges.
“Struggle drives
change and ultimately it is survival of the fittest.
“The world cannot
do without freighters, a fact seen in that 50 percent
of cargo moves by freighters.
“Air cargo should
have a professional, long-term vision as a B to B industry.
“In all cases,
the best universal advice moving ahead is know your
customer,” declared Mr. Van de Weg.
 The
Takeaway
FIATA
Logistic Academy Chairman Issa Baluch said the Wednesday
sessions were spot on, “especially our discussions
today concerning e-commerce.”
“The hard truth
is that air cargo is at the tip of the iceberg, developing
and integrating e-commerce into the mainstream, but
at this point e-commerce is charging into everyone’s
future.
“Are we prepared
for a world without borders?
“Everything is
on the table and in front of air cargo, including our
procedures top to bottom, and including bottlenecks
in customs clearance,” Issa said.
Geoffrey
|
Vol.
15 No. 74
Vol.
15 No. 75
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