European port congestion now at five-to-six days, and getting worse
European port congestion continues to worsen, with workforce constraints “exceeding forecasts” in Bremerhaven, and stakeholders ...
© Daniil Peshkov |
Digital disruptors are whittling away at the skills base of traditional forwarders, without providing a suitable alternative.
This is the view of Tuscor Lloyd’s general manager Neel Ratti, who was speaking on a panel at Multimodal 2018 last week.
“We are definitely de-skilling the market ? but ...
Comment on this article
Miles Varghese
May 11, 2018 at 3:12 pmTyping used to be a skill. Now it’s a standard. And not done on typewriters anymore even though that also can get the job done. It’s lack of efficiency and modern personal computers that killed the typewriter.
Technology is a democratizing force in general – lowering costs and allowing more access.
When was the last time someone used a travel agent? I’m 31, and I’ve never done so in my entire life. I have used Priceline, Travelocity, and the other OTA’s though. And of course there will be fringe cases – there will always be fringe cases where they’re valid, and that’s what the industry faces now.
Either specialize or get disrupted is a mentality all forwarders should adopt. Differentiate or die. And if you’re a corporate, innovate or die. Startups only “start up” once they uncover a gap in the market between what the incumbent providers have been doing and what the new market wants. It’s on traditional forwarders to understand their market and their customers, and if they don’t, they will lose their business.
It’s certainly not a “lack of respect” or the “venture capitalists” themselves smell the massive opportunity and investing in these organizations. That’s false blame.
Mr. Schreiber’s points are the most valid in this article in my opinion.
(Please Note: This is personal opinion. I am biased towards tech in that I work for young maritime innovation company focused on modernizing port terminal operations.)