News / Five keys to 'successful freight forwarding in an uncertain world'

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There are five courses of action freight forwarders can take to “navigate an uncertain world”, according to Stéphane Graber, director general of FIATA, which he cited as the “key to ensure success”. 

At last week’s World Cargo Summit in Bruges, Mr Graber told delegates: “The only thing we know for sure today is that uncertainty is the new normal. 

“What makes the success of the freight forwarder is their adaptability, but today more than ever, it’s necessary to be prepared,” he said, “I would say there are five levels where freight forwarders need to work. 

“The first is the development of global networks, looking for alternative routes and new corridors.”  

FIATA is discussing with its members how to improve existing corridors and how to develop new ones. And also mitigating against one lane going offline, Mr Graber explained, added “optionality for clients”. 

Second, he stressed, freight forwarders needed to place more emphasis on public-private collaboration.  

“Last year we saw the [US] TSA coming with new security requirements without consulting the industry. That created a lot of turmoil for a few days. After discussion, the agency started to go backwards and correct their understanding,” Mr Graber explained.  

“I think this kind of thing can arise today, but we need to avoid this by involving ourselves in public-private discussion before these measures are taken. So, talk to the TSA, talk to the different security partners, and have them understand the industry in order to avoid such disruption. We don’t need that on top of everything else.” 

The third is “redundancy”, he said: storing inventory; using multiple suppliers; or maintaining low-capacity utilisation.  

“I know ‘redundancy’ is probably not the trendiest word to use, because it’s a little bit against sustainability, but to absorb geopolitical shocks or environmental shocks, we need to have redundancy in logistics supply chains,” said Mr Graber.  

The fourth aspect is digitisation. According to Mr Graber, a freight forwarder “needs to start to adopt AI or blockchain technology” to increase the traceability and visibility of cargo for customers.  

“Also start to bring predictive AI and data analysis to monitor new capacity, to foresee potential bottlenecks, and adapt the logistical systems to absorb these shocks,” he added.  

Finally, to complement technology, “the last point is definitely ‘the people’”.  

“We are a people industry, freight forwarding is a very tough job, and we need to evolve the profile of the people in this industry,” he explained.

As the role of a freight forwarder “becomes more technical”, Mr Graber said, “using AI or digitalisation is a challenge for most”, and there needs to be more emphasis on up-skilling.  

“To bring this combination of vocational approach, and also a higher technical profile, is a great chance because it helps to attract new talent to the industry – but it’s also a huge challenge for the industry,” he concluded.