In the next presentation in the “Long Live Logistics” session, there was a fi erce attack on the pretensions of logistics companies by Sarosh Nagarvala, treasurer of the International Federation of FreightForwarder Associations (FIATA).
He started by taking the word logistics right back to its defi nition. “It originates from a French word meaning the organisation of movement, equipmentand supplies for troops,” he said.
“Another meaning is the management and fl ow of material through a manufacturing process, and the Council of Logistics defi nes it as “the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the effi cient, effective fl ow and storage of goods, services, and related information from point of origin to point of consumption for the purpose of conforming to customer requirements.”
This, he suggested, was in fact a description of what the freight forwarder did and had always done. “We were there before there were airlines and shipping companies when for the fi rst time goods were brought by one person and needed moving. We were there then, and we will continue to be there a long time after some of the links in the chain haveceased to be,” he told delegates.
Forwarders had always been creative and evolved, he said and now some were evolving into logistics providers. “But to my mind, a logistics provider is just a high tech forwarder,” Nagarvala said. “The description of logistics provider prepares the customer to have to pay a higherprice to meet his requirements.”
As for 3PLs – third party logistics providers – he dismissed these as“companies who subcontract to otherlogistics providers and do little or nothingthemselves”.
He added: “They all claim to subscribe to this unbelievable hype about providing logistics, but it is just the new word that has come into our industry – it is marketable. Logistics providers are no different from forwarders – they provide the same services – but logisticsproviders also provide hype as well.”
He went on to paint a picture of a logistics business that is constantly changing and throwing up new forms of competition. “Change is the only constant. The overwhelming mirage of competition is on every quarter, waiting to prey on the weakest link in a logisticsproviders service,” he said.
“Today the term shooting a moving target has never been truer. The secret is to have a gun loaded with innovation, resources and have the courage to pull the trigger. It is up to all of us to evolve – if not we will not survive.”