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FIATA REVIEWMagazine of the International Federation of Freight ForwardersAs so ci a tions No. 110, December 2015

Morocco – A move forward with the National Logistics Strategy

Talent Connect – Adding Strategic Value to FIATA Members

Maximising Collaborative Efforts to Stop Illegal Wildlife Trade

SWISSWORLDCARGO.COM

I am Peace of Mind

Mambio RavezziSenior Manager, Head of Cargo Italy

Of course, Swiss WorldCargo is a hallmark for quality, precision and a dedicated global team. But all you really need to know is this: the moment you hand over your cargo to us, you can stop worrying. This is the true meaning of: We care for your cargo.

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FIATA REVIEW NO. 110, DECEMBER 2015 3

Contents

FIATA Secretariat

Schaffhauserstrasse 104, PO Box 364

CH-8152 Glattbrugg/Switzerland

Phone +41 (0)43 211 65 00, Fax +41 (0)43 211 65 65

[email protected], www.fiata.com

Photo 123rf

Editorial 5 From the President’s Desk

News 6 7th UIC-FIATA Market Place Seminar in Antwerp, Belgium

8 Perspectives on the FIATA World Congress in Taipei/Chinese Taipei

10 Talent Connect – Adding Strategic Value to FIATA Members

11 Make your voice heard: Announcing the 2015/2016 Logistics Performance Index (LPI) Survey

14 Demurrage fees and Bills of Lading

16 Minimising Business Risk, Maximising Collaborative Efforts to Stop Illegal Wildlife Trade

18 Significance of WTO Trade Facilita- tion Agreement underestimated

Country Report12 Morocco – A move forward with the National Logistics Strategy

Here & There20 Happy Birthday!

Personally21 Meet Stephen Parker

Orbituary22 Ron Willis 1931–2015 “Father” of the BIFA Standard Trading Conditions

Agenda23 Forthcoming Events

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WWW.FIATA2016.ORG

FIATA 2016

WORLD

CONGRESS

Registration

Now Open

End of Early Registration:

29th June 2016

Irish International Freight Association

Congress OrganiserHosted byIn Association with

CONVENTION CENTRE DUBLIN

IRELAND

3rd – 8th October 2016

“WHERE NETWORKING COMES NATURALLY”


From the President’s desk

5

Dear Colleagues and Friends

Vocational training has always been the priority of FIATA. In the era of information techno-logy, FIATA launched FIATA

Logistics Academy to further facilitate education and training of our industry through modern tools. By now, led by Chairman Mr. Issa Baluch, FLA has gath-ered a bunch of experienced mentors and launched courses in cooperation with CIFFA and edX. For more information about FLA courses, please log into FLA website www.fiatalearning.com.

FIATA and UIC jointly hosted another Market Seminar in Antwerp, discussing significant railway-related titles such as conjunction between sea and rail, termi-nal operations. This is one of the main functions of FIATA, setting up platforms together with peer organisations for the industry to update information and share views.

Also, we have interviews with some par-ticipants of 2015 FIATA World Congress, sharing their impression on this annual conference. And please do not miss the articles from Mr Robert Keen, Mr James Compton and Mr Christian Doepgen with their insight to key issues of our industry, as well as the interview with Mr Stephen Parker, FIATA Vice President.

We express our condolence to Mr Ron Willis’s family. Ron was a tenacious fighter on behalf of the freight forwarding indus-try, and FIATA Members owe him a debt of gratitude for his work on their behalf.

Last but not least, you are welcome to participate in 2015/2016 Logistics Perfor-mance Index Survey, as this is the chance to express your opinions on countries’ logistics performance and help to identify challenges and improvement measures.

I hope you enjoy this edition of FIATA Review.

Yours sincerely,Zhao Huxiang

Knowledge

Diversity

Culture

Hospitality

Talent

Innovation

WWW.FIATA2016.ORG

FIATA 2016

WORLD

CONGRESS

Registration

Now Open


29th June 2016




IRELAND



6

News

7th UIC-FIATA Market Place Seminar in Antwerp, BelgiumFIATA together with the International Union

of Railways (UIC) successfully held the

7th edition of the Market Place Seminar

in Antwerp on 24 and 25 September 2015.

The conference was entitled “RAIL CROSS-

ROADS” and it was co-hosted and sponsored

by the Port of Antwerp, VEB (Antwerp Freight

Forwarders Association and CEB (Belgian

Freight Forwarders Association. The event

was supported by CLECAT and IBS.

This Marketplace seminar is a joint initia-tive of UIC and FIATA and from the point of view of FIATA, it is one of the most successful events. It is an excellent oppor-tunity to bring all the important players in the rail transport chain together.

This was opened by Mr Ivan Petrov, Chair-man FIATA Working Group Rail and newly elected Senior Vice President of FIATA. He was delighted to welcome around 80 participants from various coun-tries representing railway undertakings, terminal operators, rail service providers, freight forwarders and customers.

Dr Francesco Parisi, Immediate Past Presi-dent of FIATA said that it is the major cooperative event between FIATA and UIC. The constructive developments over the past year were significant, but there is still potential for more projects in the future. The freight forwarding industry is totally neutral in respect of the choice of the transport modality. Freight forwarders do select the mode of transport in terms of the logistics requests and individually for voyages, customers and commodities in order to provide the best solution. The involvement of two or more mo-dalities of transport requires interchange possibilities with dedicated infrastruc-tures. Freight forwarders are urging the

combination of the different modalities. They clearly presented to the party their requests and explained to the railways the market requirements to be competitive and successful. Also the European Com-mission has understood that major drivers for shifting to rail transport are maritime traffics. A great part of which is travelling by sea is suitable for rail transport.

He referred to the nine rail freight cor-ridors defined by EU regulation 913/2010 and mentioned that indeed, almost all corridors begin and end in seaports. He felt that maritime traffic can generate the critical mass that continental traffic is often lacking. An efficient interchange

between sea and rail in the ports is chal-lenging the railways.

Mr Johan Proost, President of the AFFA, Antwerp Freight Forwarding Association declared that “thinking multimodal will be inevitable in the coming years and rail is one of the most important modus in the changing market. A well organised connection between the modes – sea/rail in particular – will make the difference as to whether a supply chain stays or leaves a port. To organise this and be ready for the future, a vision is imperative in all layers of the flow. Terminal operators, train and barge operators, truckers, shipping lines and freight forwarders; all of them will

Friendly reception in the historical and impressive City Hall of Antwerp


have to create a mutual vision for the next 10–15 years on how the supply chain should develop. Indeed, the organisation of the seminar has a real vision: from every echelon and every part of the supply chain they invited the experts and therefore this can only be a success for Antwerp and for everyone involved in international multi-modal transport and logistics.”

Conjunction between sea and rail Mr Koen Cuypers Senior Advisor Rail policy Port of Antwerp explained that the port of Antwerp consists of 26 rail sidings in total; each terminal has a rail connec-tion and eight terminals are equipped for Intermodal Transports. The marshalling

Yard in Antwerp North has a shunting capacity of 4000 wagons a day and they handle approximately 250 trains a day.

Mr Michel Geubelle, Infrabel, Manager Corridor Management reported that cus-tomers expect intermodality and interop-erability, including smooth cross-border connections and good flexible hinterland services in a friendly environment this is free of congestions. Investing in infra-structure can improve the service concept.

Terminal operations – Moving ForwardMr Edwin Moehling, Managing Director Rail & Sea, reported that operating factory

sidings is an efficient way to reduce costs and increase service level dramatically. Modern tools will steer and optimize all processes. They also offer single wagon solutions on their block trains.

Mr Filip Merckx, Commercial Manager PSA, explained that the modal split of arriving cargo will be as follows: 9% will be dispatch by vessel, 34% by barge, 54% by truck and only 3% by rail. This mode of transportation has a huge potential to improve their figures.

Railway connections – green light for hinterland trafficMr Andreas Pietsch, SNCF Captrain Netherlands reported that the Nether-lands are a comparatively small, but highly populated country. The motorway system is already at its capacity limit and integrated passenger transport systems are in place. The infrastructure consequences are that it is highly used for passenger trains during the day. At night time, it is used for maintenance, resulting in a very limited capacity for freight trains.

Effects of digitalization on LogisticMr Marc Huybrechts, Central Booking Platform c/o VEA Antwerp, reported that VEA will establish a Central Booking Platform towards an Intermodal Booking Platform for both inland waterways and rail. This is an important asset for facili-tating the flow of goods, the accessibility of our port and the mobility as a whole. There are various advantages when using this platform: continuously stimulating intermodal transport, differentiation by bundling volumes and direct feedback with market information.

7th UIC-FIATA Market Place Seminar in Antwerp, Belgium

8

Perspectives on the FIATA World Congress in Taipei/Chinese TaipeiFIATA tried to capture some personal

impressions on the recently held World

Congress in Taipei. The following interviews

are provided for your consideration and

will give you yet another perspective on the

successful Taipei Congress.

Zein BaluchZein flew from his hometown Dubai with his wife and 2-year-old son. Zein is a freight forwarder by profession and attended the congress as an active participant.‘I came to Taipei because I see a bright future for FIATA and I want to be part of the excitement,’ says Zein. ‘The “Future of FIATA” exercise at the HQ meeting in Zurich was crucial for our organization. I believe our industry is changing rapidly and it will take the wisdom of our FIATA veterans coupled with engagement from our young professional members to ensure our association not only provides value for today, but also for years to come.’ Zein described this year’s Young Professionals Day as outstanding, and is excited for Dublin’s editon. Zein was eager to partake in a discussion on how to make FIATA’s events more accessible to the young: ‘One of my personal highlights this year was having the opportunity to give a 5-minute presentation on edX during the ABVT Forum.’ Zein is passionate about innova-tion and would like to kindle more enthu-siasm within the organisation.

Tej Contractor34-year-old Tej Contractor travelled from Mumbai, India. Tej has an MBA in Busi-ness Management from S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, and is a fourth generation customs broker and freight forwarder. ‘I used to be a pro-fessional tennis and basketball player,’ says Tej, ‘but logistics is now where my passion lies.’ ‘Having been involved with FIATA for the last 12 years I have regularly attended its meetings and events and have been fortu-nate to contribute to FIATA's Advisory Body Vocational Training (ABVT) and the Multimodal Transport Institute. What I really enjoyed most about this year’s congress,’ Tej says, ‘was the location of the venue and the hotel: everything was just a walk away.’ Tej has his own highlight at congress: his report on 14 months of work with the ICC Incoterms 2010 Transport Working Group, a job for which MTI ex-pressed appreciation. ‘FIATA is the largest organisation representing freight forward-ers globally. I think that we need to add more commercial interest to the FIATA World Congress, to make it the best place to meet, learn, connect and do business.’

Yu-Ching Hsu29-year-old Yu-Ching Hsu is from Ka-ohsiung in Taiwan. Yu-Ching leads a simple life with a bit of a challenge, enjoys jogging, watching movies and participat-ing in toastmasters in her free time; she thinks of herself more as a professional in logistics and supply chain management than strictly a freight forwarder, and she specialises in contract logistics.Yu-Ching registered for the congress under the instruction of her superior, but admits that the FIATA bug may have bitten. She now hopes to be crowned regional winner and dreams of being a candidate for next

year’s Young International Freight For-warder of the Year Award, presenting her thesis before the competition committee in Dublin, Ireland.

Sameer Patel36-year-old Sameer Patel lives near Mum-bai, with his wife and two young children. He travelled to Taipei via Hong Kong, this being his third FIATA Congress in a row. Sameer has been a freight forwarder by profession for more than a decade: ‘Inspired by the global perspective of local actions,’ as he puts it.‘Although FIATA represents the interests of logistics professionals worldwide, the organisation has very little presence in India,’ Sameer said. His first encounter with FIATA was back in 2013 at the Regional Meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He realised that although the event only had regional participation the discussions provided invaluable insights into Inco-terms and regulatory aspects shaping the trade. Sameer would like to see improve-ments to the one-on-one scheduler, which in his opinion lacks ease of access and a user-friendly interface. He also noted that FIATA had a lot of ground to cover on the social media front. ‘There are over 2 bil-lion active daily users on social media – it does matter!’ he exclaimed.‘The Taipei Night was surely the most memorable event at the Congress,’ Sameer


Perspectives on the FIATA World Congress in Taipei/Chinese Taipeirecalls, ‘with excellent cuisine coupled with peppy music and crowds that made the evening quite a glamorous affair.’ Sameer plans to attend next year’s congress in Dublin and looks forward to seeing the congress hosted on his own home turf in 2018.

Samantha SimSamantha Sim, from the garden city-state of Singapore, is a freight forwarder by profession and attended the congress as an ‘Active Young Professional’; she prefers forging new business relations with FIATA’s pool of young international delegates, catching up with friends, whilst connecting with professionals and keeping up to date with the latest developments in the industry: all reasons why Samantha decided to attend this year’s congress in Taipei. Samantha enjoyed most the Taipei Night, where guests were able to try di-verse local cuisine and cultural heritage. Not entirely absorbed by the numerous night markets and the overall warm hos-pitality Samantha visited Chinese Taipei’s

first “offshore” free-trade zone, as another point for her professional development.‘My personal highlight however was stand-ing 91 floors above Taipei held steady by the world’s largest spherical tuned mass damper at Taipei 101. The spectacular

view literally took my breath away!’ she exclaimed. Samantha hopes to use next year’s congress in Dublin to establish business relationships with forwarders in Ireland and the UK. Samantha would like to see the Young Professionals Programme grow from strength to strength, whilst she also sights the one-to-one networking sessions as highly useful.

Ruth SnowdenRuth Snowden of Toronto, Canada, had a whopping 26-hour journey to reach Taipei. She and her husband broke the long travel time with a stopover in Hong Kong, where their only daughter lives. Ruth is an avid fan of her city and enjoys its lifestyle and lake.‘I was a freight forwarder for about 27 years, until I saw the light and switched to managing the Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association (CIFFA) in 2008. Age is but a number,’ she main-tains and gives this reasons for coming to Taipei: “The chance to network with other association managers; we can share so much and get so many ideas when we get together every year. Each time I bring back a novel idea from another association, somewhere else in the world.’ Ruth has attended seven FIATA World Congresses over the years and this time she was very happy to attend the Congress with her

husband who relished the accompanying persons’ programme.Ruth added that it is becoming increas-ingly difficult to attend all the sessions at congress, and that, as the programme fills up, it may become necessary to run sessions concurrently. She also added that it might be worthwhile considering work-shops for managers of associations. ‘As far as I’m concerned, you can never provide too much training to association manage-ment attendees,’ she concluded.

Nicolien Van RooyenNicolien van Rooyen, the youngest of three siblings, grew up in a small town in rural South Africa. She and her hus-band now live in Johannesburg, where she works for the financial department of an IT company. Nicolien attests to being an avid tennis player, especially at weekends. Nicolien travelled 17 hours to reach Taipei and it was the first time she attended a FIATA World Congress. She found the positivity and motivation of the participants and speakers infectious, and reported that the programme expanded her knowledge about world trade and transport. Nicolien enjoyed the social events very much, and relished in the op-portunity to learn more about the culture and cuisine of Chinese Taipei.

FIATA REVIEW NO. 110, DECEMBER 201510

News

The 2015 FIATA World Congress saw the

launch by the FIATA Logistics Academy of

Talent Connect, a product of great strategic

value to FIATA members.

The challenge faced by many businesses is the transformation from traditional freight forwarding structures to those that are fully aligned with, and can consistently deliver, the end to end solutions custom-ers want. Lack of appropriate skills has been identified as the biggest constraint to achieving this objective. The injection of fresh young talent is needed which has the flexibility of attitude which is capable of embracing new policies, procedures, processes and systems and of making them work in a rapidly changing environment.

It is true that whilst there are many tal-ented young people in the market who possess post school qualifications in the Supply Chain Management field, they are generally considered unemployable because of a lack of relevant experience.

This is where internships and Talent Con-nect come in.

Internships provide real world experience to those with a related degree or other post school qualification in this field and need the relevant practical skills required to enter into the 3rd and 4th party lo-gistics provider industry. Internships are relatively short term in nature, lasting no longer than a year.

From the employer’s point of view, intern-ships represent an ideal opportunity to access young talent without having to commit to permanent employment re-lationships. Internships can be regarded as extended employment interviews in which the on the job performance of a

number of interns can be evaluated, with permanent employment being offered to those individuals who are found to be best suited to the requirements and culture of the particular organisation.

To enable young people to make their availability as interns known and to give FIATA members access to this pool of talent, FIATA Logistics Academy’s Talent Connect facility is the answer. By logging on to the website www.fiatalearning.com and following the instructions, prospec-tive interns can post their CVs and advise their availability. Individual FIATA mem-bers and FIATA Association Members can then access available interns through the website. Members of FIATA can get access to this platform by contacting the FIATA Secretariat and requesting access. The e-mail contact is: [email protected]

Charles Dey, FLA Mentor

Talent Connect – Adding Strategic Value to FIATA Members

FIATA REVIEWNext Edition March 2016

Advertising Deadline: 20 January 2016

Reach the freight forwarders’ management executives

News


The World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI) benchmarks logistics per-formance in around 160 countries. The next edition will be published in the spring of 2016. The index is based on a worldwide survey of international freight forwarding professionals.

The World Bank wants to hear from FIATA’s members as part of the LPI 2015/6 survey.FIATA and the World Bank have a long-standing collaboration dating back to the first LPI edition in 2007. In 2014, the two organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding to deepen their coopera-tion. FIATA is the World Bank’s most important partner in the LPI survey and it is thanks to the participation of FIATA’s members that the LPI can be published every two years.

The more freight forwarding professionals take part in the survey, the more comprehensive the report will be. All responses are kept confidential and anonymous.

Since its first edition in 2007, the LPI report “Connecting to Compete: Trade Lo-gistics in the Global Economy” has drawn worldwide attention on the importance of the logistics industry and the contribution of good logistics performance to compe-tiveness and economic growth. The LPI is widely used by policymakers and interna-tional organizations in designing reforms, investments and international agreements to improve supply chains and facilitate transportation and trade all over the globe.

Key to the relevance of the LPI is that the LPI is the voice of logistics professionals. The LPI and its components are based on information provided by actual profession-als worldwide who share their experience in moving goods and organizing interna-tional supply chains for their customers. This is a unique opportunity to “vote” and ultimately influence the environment that you, as professionals, operate in, whether at the national or international level.

Background on the LPI:Covering the entire supply chain, the LPI is based on a survey where logistics operators rate the logistics performance of countries across several dimensions. The International LPI is based on the assess-ment of foreign operators located in the country’s major trading partners in sev-eral areas, for instance the efficiency of the clearance process, quality of infrastructure, and timeliness of shipments. The report also includes the Domestic LPI in which

logistics professionals’ assess their own country of operation. The LPI ranking and scores are solely based on results from the International section of the survey.

Find more information, including coun-try scorecards, datasets and all “Connect-ing to Compete” reports, at lpi.worldbank.orgIf you are a member of the freight for-warding community, please look out for the invitation email with the link to the online survey, e.g. in the FIATA eFlash newsletter. If you have not received the survey link by November 15, please email us at [email protected]. Completing the survey should only take around 15 minutes. The survey will be open through late December 2015. The survey does not seek any confidential company-specific in-formation, and responses are anonymous.

Questions on the LPI? Send us an email at [email protected]

Please participate in this year’s survey – It is very important to us to have your views!

Make your voice heard: Announcing the 2015/2016 Logistics Performance Index (LPI) Survey

12

Country Report

SINCE THE EARLY 2000, MOROCCO has initiated a voluntary policy of major projects with structuring infrastructure projects for the service of various secto-rial strategies: Green Morocco plan for agriculture (16.3 Billion US$), National Pact for Industrial Emergence (5.5 Billion US$), Halieutis for the fisheries sector (1.3 Billion US$), Rawaj plan for domes-tic trade (1Billion US$), energy strategy (13.3 Billion US$).

In the same context, Logistic strategy has also benefited from significant public and private investments. Between the period of 2000–2010, this created about 12 Billion US$.

Infrastructure transport and logisticsThese investments have helped provide Morocco with a dense motorway network of 1800 km and a rail network of 2109 km serving 80% of the urban population that transports 40 MT of cargo per year.

The maritime transport sector plays an im-portant role in the national economy; 98% of Moroccan foreign trade goes through the ports with a volume of 92 MT. The kingdom has 3500 km of coastline on the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea and the port infrastructure consists of 13 ports open to foreign trade.

One of the main ports is Tangier-Med: built in 2007, situated at only 15 km from Europe and specializes in trans-shipment. Up to now this port handled 3 M TEUs and with its extension in 2017, the total capacity will grow by 8 M TEUs.

Morocco has 17 airports connected to the international traffic. Casablanca airport is the main African hub.

Reforms of Logistics sector

Morocco has initiated sectorial reforms through liberalization of Road Transport (2003), Air Transport (open sky 2005), Maritime Transport (open sea 2006) and

the Port reform (2007). This is to support: the policy of liberal economy, its advanced statues with the European Union and the free trade agreement with more than 55 countries.

The Moroccan Logistics Strategy A study conducted by The World Bank (2006) showed that the logistic cost in de-veloped and emerging countries is around 11%–15% of GDP, whereas the perfor-mance of the Moroccan transport sector means that their logistic cost is around 20% of GDP.

In 2010, Morocco implemented the Na-tional Strategy for Logistic competitive-ness, signed Under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI be-tween the Government and professionals sector. It aims to:

• Increase the attractiveness of foreign investments in Morocco

• Improve the quality and the price/quality ratio of logistics services all along the chain – from the producer or


One of the main ports is Tangier-Med: built in 2007


Morocco – Facts & FiguresOfficial name Kingdom of Morocco

Capital Rabat

Form of government Monarchy

Area 710,850 km2

Coastline 3500 km (Atlantic ocean & Mediterranean sea)

Population 33,848,242 (2014)

Ethnic groups Arabs, Amazigh, Sahraoui

Languages Arabic, Amazigh, French

Administrative divisions 12 regions

Major trading partners Europe 60%, Asia 30%, Africa 7%


importer to the end customer• Enhance the operational and commer-

cial performance of companies (delivery speed, responsiveness, flexibility and delivery capacity)

• Increase the availability of international shipping services at competitive prices

• Accelerate GDP growth (+ 3–5 per-centage points of GDP)

• Reduce logistical costs of Morocco from its current 20% to 15%

The implementation of the National Strategy Logistics for five years has en-abled Morocco since then to improve its ranking in terms of logistics. It has jumped from 90th to 50th place in terms of the logistics competitiveness index of the World Bank, gained a 16th World ranking in terms of maritime connectivity UNCTAD and was ranked 30th for border trade by Doing Business.

Presentation of the “AFFM”:Founded in 1998, the AFFM is the only national representative association of

Freight Forwarders in Morocco. The as-sociation is particularly active in defend-ing the interests of Freight Forwarders by introducing the profession of freight forwarder in the national regulations.

AFFM has played an important role in the promotion and development of the Transport and Logistics sector in Morocco. Today, it has become a key player in the sector and a partner recognized by public

and private organizations at a national and international level.The association also supports the upgrade of operators, namely through the imple-mentation of a professional liability insur-ance of Freight Forwarders in Morocco (2012), the implementation of FIATA bill of lading in Morocco (2015) and the crea-tion of AFFM Academy for the training of its members with the assistance of FIATA in 2016.

Up to now Tangier-Med handled 3 M TEUs

14

News

Demurrage fees and Bills of Lading

A recent case has put the thorny issue of con-

tainer demurrage fees under the spotlight.

In MSC Mediterranean Shipping v Cottonex

Anstalt, the English Court was asked to con-

sider whether MSC could claim demurrage

fees, over a period of three and a half years,

after a receiver failed to collect cargo.

The case concerned a cargo of cotton that had been shipped under five bills of lading in 35 containers to Chittagong, Bangladesh. As a result of a legal dispute between the shippers and the receivers, the containers had remained in storage. That legal dispute was played out in the Courts in Bangladesh. The receivers tried to prevent payment for the goods being made to the shipper, on the basis that there was something wrong with the bills of lading, which they alleged were poten-tially fraudulent.

During the 3 ½ years, the shippers had made attempts to persuade the local cus-toms authorities to release the cargo inside the containers for unpacking, but the requests had been refused. It had therefore not been possible to stop the demurrage accruing on the containers. The amount of

demurrage that had actually accrued was 10 times the value of the cargo and was in excess of USD 1.0 million by the time the issue got before the English Court.

The terms of the bill of lading required the shipper to return the 35 containers within 14 days after discharge to a destina-tion/place nominated by MSC. If this did not happen – then MSC were entitled to claim demurrage. MSC took the view that they were entitled to the demurrage on an indefinite basis for as long as the shippers were in breach of that bill of lading term.

Matters came to a head when MSC started legal proceedings under the bill of lading in England against the shipper for the demurrage that had accrued. That claim was brought under clause 14.8 of the bill which stated that “demurrage was payable by the merchant” which was defined as the shipper or consignee claiming the goods under the bill of lading.

The shipper was understandably keen to avoid paying all of the demurrage and pre-sented a number of arguments before the Court to avoid liability for the entire bill.

The central plank to its defence was that the demurrage had in fact stopped run-ning at some stage during the 3 ½ years. It was also alleged that MSC could have mitigated their loss by taking steps to have recovered the containers themselves or, brought replacement containers in order to lessen the loss.

As far as the bill of lading demurrage clause was concerned, the Court decided that clause 14.8 was a “liquidated dam-ages clause.” In practical terms this meant that MSC were not legally obliged to take steps to mitigate/lessen its loss.

The Court was however sympathetic to the shipper’s argument that in the months after the discharge of the containers in Bangladesh, that they were in breach of the bill of lading contract, because they were unwilling or physically unable to redeliver the containers. That breach was a fundamental one and went to the heart of the contract. At the point in time when the fundamental breach took place, MSC had no legitimate reason to carry on with the contract and to keep claiming demurrage.


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Demurrage fees and Bills of LadingThe Court therefore decided that within several months of the discharge of the containers – when it became clear that the shippers could not redeliver the contain-ers to MSC, that the demurrage was no longer payable.

BIFA is grateful to Linda Jacques of solici-tors Lester Aldridge for contributing the above analysis of the case and to Kay Pys-den for the following summary comments. This case is important as it provides wide assistance on how the Commercial Court may be expected to deal with demurrage claims not just limiting itself to dealing with the particular facts of the case in hand. Whilst comments outside of a judg-

ment of Judges are not binding they are designed to assist parties in dealing with cases that may not be directly covered by the judgment.

This case does provide such assistance in a very clear and detailed manner. The purpose of this summary is to point out that an affected forwarder can claim with confidence that there should be no set-tlement of any shipping line claims for demurrage for anything over three months whether they are liable or their customers are liable if they are handling the claim for their customer. That said, these claims are complex as one first has to ascertain who is liable for the demurrage and therefore

if the claim made is viable against any party and second one has to decide what is legally permissible as a sum.

Each case is different although demurrage claims in bills of lading are usually fairly similar and differences can apply depend-ing on the law and jurisdiction provided for in the terms of the bills. Therefore if settlement is not possible on the basis of a three month demurrage claim allow-ance, obtaining legal advice on these two points of who is liable and for how much is advisable.

Robert Keen, Executive Director British International Freight Association (BIFA)

16

News

Minimising Business Risk, Maximising Collaborative Efforts to Stop Illegal Wildlife Trade

Freight forwarders play a unique role in

guaranteeing the performance of secure

supply chains over the world.

Challenges are immense, even just to meet with customer demands for speed, efficiency and the all-important bottom line. Throw in the irregularities of global economic fluctuations, a random port un-ion dispute, the threat of terrorism and the occasional natural disaster to slow the throughput, and the quest to deliver qual-ity services on time becomes that little bit more frustrating.

How about the possibility of facilitating movement of illegal wildlife products? Not likely one of the usual suspects on the company risk register but have you ever thought how your team could be do-ing more to eliminate the chance of such contraband being moved inadvertently?

Put simply, the trafficking of wild animals and plants is worth billions of US dollars annually, and counts as one of the top five sectors of illegal commerce worldwide. It sits in nefarious company alongside the illicit movement of drugs, counterfeit goods, and humans.

Alongside the illicit economy fuelled by this activity, the cost to wildlife popula-tions is similarly escalating. Estimates of up to 30,000 African Elephants are currently being poached for their tusks each year to supply demand for ivory, which is carved into ornaments. In both 2013 and 2014, the annual body count has topped 1000 rhinoceros individuals in South Africa alone, their horns hacked off and trafficked to Asia for uses that include purported tonic benefits and even as a hangover cure.

Some of this illegal wildlife trade takes place in and around the location where the animal or plant has been harvested. But the majority of wildlife products are moved from source to market along some kind of transport chain – whether by foot, bicycle, truck, ship or plane. These cargoes great and small can be in the form of live specimens (for example birds or reptiles), raw or dried body parts and pieces, carvings or other ornaments, or partly processed ingredients for the food and medicinal trades.

High value wildlife items such as elephant ivory and rhino horn are increasingly moved by trans-national organized crime syndicates. These operations rely on a combination of cargo concealment, false declarations, fake documentation and eva-sion of inspections and revenues. Items are often consolidated with other totally un-related commodities in a single shipment.

In an operational environment of globally inter-connected supply chains, legitimate transportation and logistics businesses – such as passenger and cargo airlines, shipping companies, express couriers and freight forwarders – can be vulnerable to exploitation by illegal wildlife traffickers.

At the end of July 2015, a global effort to raise political will at the highest level to deal with illegal wildlife trade culminated with recognition by the United Nations General Assembly. A specific UNGA reso-lution on ‘Tackling the Illicit Trafficking in Wildlife’ was passed, which advocated action along the entire trade chain to con-quer this menace. This included priorities to support good governance and the rule of law, implement anti-money launder-ing measures and to prevent and counter corruption. To support these high-level

government commitments, there is obvi-ously a need for practical interventions from government agencies and the private sector, as well as engagement with civil society groups.

Freight-forwarders have a key function in ensuring the integrity of the transport industry as a whole, including monitoring the interface between ‘shell companies’ used by potential traffickers as shippers/consignees and the national Customs authorities.

There were several elements suggested in the outputs from a ground-breaking work-shop earlier in 2015, when TRAFFIC and the World Customs Organization (WCO) brought together key industry players – including a representative from FIATA – from the transportation and logistics sec-tor (see www.traffic.org/home/2015/2/11/combating-the-weakest-links-targeting-solutions-in-the-trans.html).

For example, FIATA’s potential role as an information clearing house to members and engagement with other industry as-sociations could be a very effective con-tribution for raising awareness. Similarly, working with partners to develop modules for illegal wildlife trade into existing trainings for industry associations and members, or providing tailored trainings for employees, right down to the level of warehouse staff.

TRAFFIC looks forward to the chance to bring its specialised knowledge on wildlife trade together with FIATA and its members to prevent transport of illegal wildlife cargoes.

James Compton, Senior Director – Asia/Pacific, TRAFFIC


Minimising Business Risk, Maximising Collaborative Efforts to Stop Illegal Wildlife Trade

18

News

Significance of WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement underestimatedCreating awarenessThe introduction of the World Trade Organi-

sation’s Trade Facilitation Agreement is set

to trigger a global change in the tasks that

need to be completed before it is imple-

mented, however these appear to be gener-

ally underestimated. FIATA invited a group of

international experts to a WTO public forum,

held in Geneva at the beginning of October,

to discuss the challenges for forwarders

inherent in the new deal.

Admittedly, the matter is complex. The group of experts invited by the Interna-tional Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) to the panel said as much when they met in Geneva on 1 October, during the WTO’s 20th public forum. The meeting – aptly titled «trade works» – was a good platform to present the point of view of a representative group of professionals in Trade Facilitation in-volved in the TFA, amongst them many forwarders. The panel was moderated by Christian Doepgen, editor-in-chief of the International Transport Journal (ITJ).

As a representative of the international business world Donia Hammami, in charge of taxation, customs and trade facilitation policy at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), pointed out that after the last match is the time to pre-pare for the next one. Despite the fact that a framework agreement has successfully been put in place and 18 countries have al-ready ratified the agreement, the complex national fine-tuning is just beginning.

The scepticism shown by some elements of private enterprise as well as various parliamentarians has to be balanced by creating suitable structures for dialogue at the national level. The ICC declared its intention to enhance cooperation with the

World Economic Forum (WEF), in order to get politicians more firmly on board.

This is where Mohammad Saeed, a senior advisor on trade facilitation and policy for business with the International Trade Centre (ITC), kicked in by saying that the significance of the national committees, which have been tasked with the practical implementation of the new agreement in individual states, might have been underestimated.

«In 2014 the emerging economies accounted for more than 50% of inter-national exports.» Unctad’s Jan Hoffmann

In the final analysis these national bodies have to formulate concrete proposals and see through the implementation of the agreement as partners, and provide feed-back from practical experience gathered. According to Saeed “the TFA is too impor-tant for governments to work in isolation.”

Nora Neufeld, from the trade facilitation section in the WTO’s market access divi-sion, underlined that detailed plans for the implementation of the framework agree-ment in individual countries have been tabled. States’ individual requirements, amongst other things, have been recorded in the WTO’s database. “We’re in a phased process” was Neufeld’s terse analysis.

Milena Budimirovic, responsible for co-managing the TFA Working Group of the World Customs Organization (WCO), agreed with Ms Neufeld’s reasoning. The number of requests for support on the multilateral treaty having risen signifi-cantly in the WCO daily symbolises the ongoing intense discussion.

“On top of this a series of instruments and tools is ready to ease implementation for member states.” She pointed out the WCO’s 45 enabling instruments and tools, including the Mercator programme, as a guideline for the introduction of the TFA. Noting that all instruments and tools are publicly accessible, Ms Budimirovic addi-tionally emphasised the fact that regional economic agreements as well as previously established authorised economic operators (AEO) offer a good basis for the future cross border procedures.

TFA instead of FIATA?Jan Hoffmann, leading the trade facili-tation section of the UN’s Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), begged to differ. He first established that there are two important trends that sub-stantially influence the environment of today’s facilitation measures. On the one hand the emerging economies, formerly often net importers, accounted for more


Significance of WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement underestimatedthan half of inter national exports for the first time in 2014. On the other hand, between 1980 and 2013 expenditure on transport in the logistics sector rose from 47.5% to 62.3% of the total outlays, whilst in the same period storage infra-structure costs declined from 48.8% to 33.9% of the total.

The TFA represents a completely new legal framework for trade, Mr Hoffmann said, and the necessary public financing of many a project is underway. The highly multifaceted private sector, in contrast, is struggling to “speak with a unified voice.” This was seen as the reason why the implementation of the agreement rep-resents a milestone. “The more we achieve here, the less we need FIATA” concluded Mr Hoffmann’s playful innuendo.

The riposte of Francesco Parisi, FIATA’s Immediate Past President, was not long in coming. “Greater trade volumes will

benefit everyone, be they from private or public” he deduced, adding that the TFA was just one of many important subjects, after all, that FIATA addresses at the global level on behalf of its members.

«Instead of a bigger slice of the cake, we want a bigger cake.» Francesco Parisi of the ICC

Neufeld underlined that, in the context of the TFA, everyone has to face some uncomfortable truths. “We have to face it − the agreement will create losers too, and we have to be ready for resistance. Individual interests and a lack of willing-ness to embrace change could represent hurdles.

In light of the development of increas-ingly complex supply chains FIATA direc-tor general Marco Sorgetti predicted the greater future importance of forwarders

“at the end of the day, the more trad-ing companies outsource their logistics processes, the less they can overlook the know-how of their service providers, freight forwarders upfront”. He also af-firmed that an important aspect, such as the role of Information Technology, had been accorded too low a priority in the TFA, calling for attention in the implementation phase. The required har-monisation has not by any means reached the level that future process integra-tion will call for from all of the parties involved.

Resistance and horizonsBasically, however, the panel was opti-mistic that the signatures of 107 member states required for the TFA to enter into force will easily be collected in the me-dium term. Donia Hammami countered the doubting souls by citing Mr Parisi’s statement made in his opening remarks. “Instead of a bigger slice of the cake, we want a bigger cake”. In the end this would benefit all parties involved in the process. Mr Saeed also saw forwarders as winners from the TFA, as their expertise, e.g. in complex customs matters, would be in even greater demand.

The moderator’s heretical question of whether world trade’s final goals would be reached through the TFA triggered some meaningful smiles. Every new barrier to trade dismantled would be valuable, Mr Parisi added, seconded by Mr Saeed in stipulating his view of the long-term aims with these clear words: “After the TFA has been introduced it will need to be followed by an agreement on international supply chains.”

Christian Doepgen, Editor-in-chief International Transport Journal ITJ

Milena Budimirovic (WCO), Mohammad Saeed (ITC), Francesco Parisi (FIATA Immediate

Past President) and Christian Doepgen (ITJ, from the right) discussed the TFA in Geneva


Here & There

Mr Huxiang Zhao (China),

60 on 19 November 2015.

Mr Zhao was a Vice Presi-

dent from 2007–2013,

he was a Senior President

from 2013–2015, and he

became FIATA President

in 2015.

Mr Manfred Boes

(Germany), 75 on 28

November 2015. Mr Boes

was Vice President from

1997–2003, he was Senior

Vice President from 2001–

2005, was FIATA President

from 2005–2007, was

Immediate Past President

from 2007–2009, and has

been an Honorary Board

Member since 2009.

Mr Hans M. Hentzen

(Netherlands), 85 on

28 November 2015. Mr

Hentzen was a Vice Presi-

dent form 1991–1999, and

has been an Honorary

Members since 1999.

Mr Gustav Poschalko

(Austria), 75 on

24 November 2015.

Mr Poschalko has been

a longstanding FIATA

Delegate since 1994,

he was Chairman WG Rail

from 2002–2005, and has

been an Honorary

Member since 2005.

Mr Luo Kaifu (China),

75 on 5 December 2015.

Mr Kaifu was Vice Presi-

dent from 1998–2007,

and has been an Honorary

Member since 2007.

FIATA congratulates five well known delegates on their birthday. We wish them many more years of good health and happiness.

Happy Birthday!

Season’s Greetingsfrom the entire FIATA team

We wish you a successful and happy New Year!


Personally

Meet Stephen Parker Vice President FIATA

Mr Parker has completed 42 years in our

industry; this is a long time and he is

pleased to say he has enjoyed most of it.

Today he finds himself looking after Customs

and Brokerage for DHL in the EMEA region;

they allow him to work with BIFA supporting

the forwarding community, lobbying with

many of the regulatory authorities.

Mr Parker finds that one of the privileges

of looking after the Customs Policy Group

for BIFA is that he has a seat on the Customs

Institute at CLECAT and therefore has first-

hand opportunity to meet and work directly

with the EU Commission.

On a personal note; he is married and

has three sons and one of them has joined

our business and now completes Customs

declarations in the UK.

If you had not joined the transportation business, which profession would you have chosen (and why)?One of my loves is music and I enjoy play-ing the cornet (like a trumpet) in a local brass band.

I would have loved to have been a profes-sional musician, however, as anyone who has heard me play will tell you, I am not good enough.

So what fascinates you about the freight forwarding industry?The freight forwarding industry is unique; there simply isn’t anything else like it in the world! Every day is so different.

And what was the motivation to accept your post with FIATA?I believe in community, we are stronger together and FIATA is the pinnacle of that on a global basis. Of course it is great to meet many of you and get to understand a little about the various cultures across the globe. I believe FIATA can make a dif-ference and I want to support the organisa-tion wherever I can.

How do you view the state of the indus-try today?In my view our industry is in a good place, good for our customers, good for employ-ees and good for us as the companies that work within it; however, life does not stand still and neither must we, technol-ogy moves along at a pace and so must we.

What changes would you like to see ?I want to see more youngsters view this as a career rather than just a job they fall into, we constantly need new thinking and ideas and they bring with them a greater use of technology.

Looking at the future, what advice would you give a young person joining the industry today?When I look back at where I started, at 16 as a clerk in “cargo”, we moved into Freight Forwarding and now Logistics. The industry has changed so much, we now have the opportunity to travel the world, meet new people, all this impacts you and influences the way you think and behave, if you are up for that challenge then “go for it”.

Generally speaking, what, in your opinion, has been mankind's best in-vention (and why)?For me this is easy the “Big Mac”, there’s a global brand you can rely on!

Which famous person would you like to have met (and why)?I would like to have met Louis Armstrong, as I enjoy his music, he may have been able to teach me to play the correct notes.

Do you have any unfulfilled wishes (professional or personal)?Personally the only item on my bucket list is to fly in a Seaplane, it seems amazing to me that you can take off and land on water. Professionally I just want to come to a point of retirement and be both happy and healthy (some money would be nice too!).

What plans do you have for the future or for your retirement?I have thought a bit about my retirement, (but not just yet), I expect some grand-children around to keep me busy in my old age.


Orbituary

Ron Willis 1931–2015“Father” of the BIFA Standard Trading Conditions

We were sad to hear the news

last month that Ron Willis passed

away on Tuesday 6th October, a

few days after his 84th birthday.

Ron was a tenacious fighter on

behalf of the freight forwarding

industry, and BIFA Members

owe him a debt of gratitude for

his work on their behalf.

Like many people in our in-dustry, Ron had a varied path until he became a freight forwarder. After winning a scholarship to the Coopers’ School, he left at fourteen to become an electrical apprentice. He later worked in a suit factory, operating the Hoffmann press. He returned to the factory after his National Service with the RAF before entering the world of insurance.

Ron was in the insurance business for many years and became knowledgeable about marine insurance and related transport activity. This was how he became involved in freight forwarding; after the CMR Convention had been incorporated into UK law via the Carriage of Goods by Road Act, he was negotiating cover with underwriters for Seabourne. The owner, Clive Bourne, (later Sir Clive) was so impressed by Ron’s knowledge that he offered him a job! Ron thrived as a forwarder in the 1960s; Seabourne became Sea-bourne Express after the introduction of an innovative express van service to Paris. Ron eventually set up RW Freight over forty years ago; the company has been run by his two sons since his retirement.

With his insurance background, Ron had a comprehensive understanding of contracts and the importance of trading condi-tions. BIFA was originally 'The Institute of Freight Forwarders’ (IFF), and the industry was run by individuals who had taken Institute examinations. Ron was the Institute “go to” man for all things legal and insurance, and steered the Institute when a watershed event occurred in the early 1980s.

At that time the forwarder was the agent of the airline or the agent of the shipping line. If goods were damaged in tran-

sit, it was a grey area as to who was liable. The British Shippers Council (BSC) made a complaint to the Of-fice of Fair Trading, saying that the forwarder should take responsibility when damage occurred whilst the goods were in their care. Following immense work by Ron, the 1984 Institute of Freight Forwarder Trading Conditions were published, which enabled the BSC com-plaint against forwarders to be withdrawn.

The 1984 IFF Conditions introduced the roles of the forwarder as ‘Agent’ or ‘Principal’, and became the bedrock of subsequent trading conditions issued by BIFA. In fact the 1984 IFF Condi-tions became the nemesis of the Institute; BIFA was created in 1988 for trading companies and then issued the 1989 BIFA STC. The Institute continued until 2003, but its role was diminished by the emergence of BIFA.

Ron was BIFA National Chairman from 1991 to 1993 and was instrumental at the end of the decade, and in the early years of this century in setting up the modern governance of BIFA.

He was Chairman of the Legal Committee of FIATA (the inter-national Federation of Freight Forwarding Associations), and was made an Honorary Member 'in recognition of outstanding services’ in 2002.

This wide experience meant that he was also consulted as an Expert Witness in cases concerning Trading Conditions and liability. In the case of Schenkers v Overland Shoes (1998), his opinion regarding the reasonableness of the Conditions was accepted by the judge. His opinion was also used in Granville Oil & Chemicals v Davis Turner (2003).

At the BIFA Awards in January 2004 Ron was honoured with a lifetime achievement award in the form of a plaque on which was engraved the 1989 BIFA Standard Trading Conditions. Ron and his wife Kathy were guests of honour at the event and he received

Ron Willis (centre) with the Trade Association Forum Representation Award


Agenda

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the presentation from the Association’s President the Rt. Hon Earl of Caithness. In 2005 the Insurance Mediation Directive was introduced into UK law.

This started Ron on a four year crusade to reverse the legislation in respect of freight forwarding. If the introduction of modern trading conditions was Ron’s crowning glory, the efforts with the

Treasury to amend this poor legislation ran a close second. In the Trade Association Forum awards our case study on Ron’s lobbying led BIFA to the Final of the Representation Award.

Ron continued to Chair the BIFA Legal and Insurance Policy Group until 2010, and in retirement was always ready to take a telephone call on any subject to assist BIFA Members.

I crossed swords with Ron on many occasions both as an Insurance Broker and also as a colleague on the Legal and Policy Group. Ron was a dedicated Freight Forwarder and latterly a champion of the BIFA members as a whole. He knew his own mind and will be sadly missed and fondly remembered.

Peter Lole AIFFPeter Lole and Company

Ron gave me a good deal of help and advice in my time as DG and I know he will be missed by many in the indus-try he so passionately believed in. He was a man I much admired for his integrity and certainty of what was right.

Colin BeaumontBIFA Director General

1998–2007

Like many within our industry I share that enormous respect for Ron and his invaluable contribution. I have known him since the early 80s when he chaired the legal com-mittee reviewing our STCs for the 84 edition. He was a remarkable man who has contributed so much with his knowledge and wisdom to benefit others.

Geoff Hogg – UGL

Ron was an immense force in our industry sector and his in-put into BIFA and Forwarding generally was outstanding and influential. He was a great mentor to me for which I will always be grateful.

Clive BroadleyBIFA Vice President

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