#INTHEAIREVERYWHERE
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#INTHEAIREVERYWHERE |
| Vol. 21 No. 35 | Friday
September 23,
2022 |
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Busan Says It All |
In BUSAN logistics reconvened with responsible business choices and style. “It always takes a group of people working together with a common purpose in an atmosphere of trust and collaboration to get extraordinary things done”, this is a quote from James M. Kouzes, which works particularly well in this occasion.  Ole
Andreas Hagen, (right) Business and Policy Director at NHO, the
Confederation of Norwegian Enterprises, and FIATA Vice President, says it
all in his LinkedIn post: “FIATA Congress Busan 22 - finally, after
3 years, the opportunity to meet colleagues from all around the world -
thank you all for a great host, discussions, exhibition and #congress.”
Indeed, a quick overview, but if you have to say it in less than 50 words,
that’s it! So, let me start from the beginning. On 12th of September 2022 Ivan Petrov, President of FIATA, opened the Congress with a message of hope and achievement. His words resonated in the wonderful setup of the Congress venue in Busan, where hundreds of delegates flocked from all over the world, eager to meet again after the long hiatus caused by the pandemic. Mr. Petrov mentioned the Reset Programme launched in 2019 entering a new chapter with big progress in digitalisation, training and development, membership growth, marketing and events. Media report showed an excellent outcome: considerably increased FIATA’s global visibility, and recognition amongst international organisations, NGOs and UN structures at governmental level. Ivan unveiled the new FIATA mission statement: “FIATA is the largest Federation and voice of global logistics serving its entire eco-system. It is fostering the knowledge of its members to ensure a sustainable and resilient supply chain.” The statement comes from a novel vision of logistics without borders for a digital and sustainable world, which values: excellence, integrity, trust, inclusion and responsibility. This is a rather strong statement made in a sector that has not been accustomed to such strong assumption of responsibility in its past history. I still remember when, at the beginning of the security measures development after 9/11, we were trying to explain to the EU Commission that the freight forwarding sector was far from the concept of opportunistic intermediaries that they had in mind. The last twenty years or more were not spent in vain if the President of FIATA can make now such a strong and clear statement, which in 2002 was so difficult to extract. Ivan Petrov then continued by giving account of the recent achievements in his tenure, in digitisation, maritime, legal, training and other areas of FIATA’s extensive activities. At the beginning, President Petrov stated that “the Koreans welcomed the global logistics community to an outstanding celebration of freight forwarding and to discuss the way forward in our logistics world together: digitalisation, the next generation, the maritime crisis, global trade legislation and documents would all be explored together.” During the complex Congress progression, FIATA also approved a significant resolution seeking “reforms that provide regulatory clarity on antitrust laws governing the shipping industry. Regulators globally need to monitor the extent of data sharing and coordinated activity in alliances and consortia and ensure they are confined to port-to-port activities, so that competition arrangements for vertically integrated carriers do not pervade sectors where they are not intended to apply.” Our readers have been made aware of the issues in two separate articles which featured Jens Roemer’s interviews. Jens in one of FIATA’s three Senior Vice Presidents and is also the Chairperson of the WG Sea, an important assembly of members within the Multimodal Transport Institute. From FIATA’s Official Press Release, we get information that the Congress that has just been closing its doors will lead FIATA’s pace back to Asia soon: “In a final big announcement of this year’s FIATA World Congress, FIATA is excited to officially inform members that FIATA member Vietnamese Logistics Association, has won the bid to host the 2025 FIATA World Congress in Hanoi. FIATA looks forward to working alongside the hosting association to deliver the 2025 World Congress with success, and in the meantime looks forward to welcoming the global logistics family to Brussels at the 2023 World Congress.” In the imminence of the Busan Congress FIATA reached 10,000 followers on LinkedIn and that is a symptom that the association is not only alive and kicking, but it is indeed growing interest. FIATA also gives us detailed information about the FBL digitisation project that seems to be now landing on more stable grounds with just introduced new agreements: “the Arab Bank, together with FIATA, CargoX and edoxOnline have launched a Proof of Concept, which will test the transfer of an eFBL between two customers of the bank, using different eBL platforms, with the Bank as intermediary, providing a secure environment to transfer the document together with the title of the goods. The eFBL, represented as an NFT (non-fungible token) will be transferred from the eWallet of the seller to the eWallet of the buyer, triggering the payment automatically.” There are eight pioneering FIATA association members starting this new, exciting chapter in the modernisation of logistics. As usual the Congress is a long train running, it takes years to prepare and it runs faster and faster as you approach the selected date for the opening. The event becomes then a big fire that burns high in the sky in less than a week, fills the hearts of the participants with hope and oftentimes enough information to test everyone’s learning ability: a big colourful container of hopes, desires, ambitions, personalities, styles and achievements. It is the must-be place for every woman and man involved in the industry. Obviously there is also a commercial business relationship interest in participating, and perhaps individually this is the most interesting part, but collectively the shows and the institutional deliberations are the parts that draw most members from all corners of the world. There are pre and post meetings too, keeping delegates busy, in particular when they are involved in the hierarchy, such as the Extended Board or the Presidency. When delegates are active in the FIATA Learning Programmes, their calendar is always among the busiest . . .
 FIATA
states that “this year’s Congress also marked the announcement
of the 2022 Young Logistics Professional Award Regional winners, with an
award ceremony taking place at the Closing Ceremony. On the final night
of the Congress, Friday 16th of September, the global Young Logistics Award
[was] announced.” FIATA and the TTClub revealed that Karina Perez
Perez of Canada (Region Americas), pictured left was awarded the
title of Young Logistics Professional (YLP) for 2022. Tribute was paid to all the finalists’ exceptional skills. Region Asia Pacific saw Avishkar Srivastava from India (FFFAI) prevail, Region Africa and Middle East’s winner was Ruvimbo Gukwe from Zimbabwe (SFAAZ), whilst Region Europe’s winner was Maximilian Drüschler from Germany (DSLV). Mike Yarwood, first Managing Director Loss Prevention, TT Club Mutual Insurance, declared on LinkedIn: “It has been a fantastic week so far at the FIATA International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations world congress in Busan. It was a great pleasure to moderate sessions during the Young Logistics Programme. Fascinating to hear from the future leaders of the industry, particularly their passion towards topics of sustainability and the journey to net zero emissions . . . Antonella Straulino, an old friend of ours at FlyingTypers, as well as the long-standing Fedespedi delegate to FIATA, is also a member of the association’s committee that evaluates the candidates’ performance and declares the winners. Here are some of her impressions, as gathered just after the event closed its curtains. “I’ve been one of the judges and steering committee members of the former YIFFYA award, now YLP, for several years and I must confess it’s a thrilling and highly rewarding experience. I feel privileged in having to fulfil this task. I was really glad to have the opportunity to personally congratulate the four regional winners on their achievements: it’s not an easy task and they all performed very well indeed. It is always difficult to make a choice, but at the end of the day as a group we need to make a choice to select one: so hard to do it with such bright talents, who all deserve a prize.” 
Antonella further elaborated on the FIATA
next-gen: “We need to attract people to our industry, especially the
young generation: this award is indeed a challenge, but at the same time
an incredible opportunity. The most recurrent word I’ve heard, expressed
by all the participants in these years is “thank you”. This
is heart-opening: writing the dissertation is a testing journey, which however
begets knowledge and consciousness first of all, and eventually professional
satisfaction, not to mention the opportunity to learn from the experienced
delegates, who are abundant in FIATA Congresses.” If you wish to actually understand a bit more about the expertise the YLP finalists acquire by entering the completion in order to become the winner of the year, perhaps you can use some of your time to watch their presentations, which are all available on line and will show how confident and accomplished these young professionals are. Yes, the FIATA Congress is a big effort in every sense of the word, for everyone. As I was on this job once, I remember the time of Congress eventually comes as the final climax of all the work done in a year. It is a daunting task, but it is wonderful when things work out well. For example, I remember that in 2014 we were running against the clock as Istanbul came in to help, in substitution of Berlin. In the end all went well and the success was very clear, thanks to the incredible work put together by Turgut Erkeskin, one of FIATA’s Senior Vice Presidents, and his team of young, motivated assistants. The stress made us work like crazy, but made us become friends forever. This is the spirit of FIATA and I have no doubt it was the same this time in Korea, with KIFFA having to show their full talent and stamina after the pandemic. Not being directly involved in FIATA anymore, I can only imagine the amount of professionalism and preparation that has been put in place in Busan. So, in conclusion, I am thankful to all those involved in this fascinating industry, which is able to continue changing and thriving despite the roadblocks that we find on our way every day. The essence of the freight forwarding job is being the body and soul of the problem-solver. This particular nature comes to its acme at the FIATA World Congress every year and those who have the opportunity to participate will always return home with more value than they have brought into it. See you in Brussels 2023, folks! Marco L. Sorgetti |
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 Vol. 21 No. 32 Ocean Carriers Fly Their Airships Letter From Hong Kong Highlights Progress Chuckles for August 24, 2022 History Alive In Pictures John Ryan Super Summer 2022 |
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Publisher-Geoffrey Arend
• Managing Editor-Flossie Arend • Editor Emeritus-Richard
Malkin Film Editor-Ralph Arend • Special Assignments-Sabiha Arend, Emily Arend |
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