Magazine of the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations

No. 119 | October 2017

Kuala LumpurFiata World Congress 2017

YIFFYMeet the four finalists at FWC 2017

MALAYSIAFuture gateway to Southeast Asia

HANDOVERTalking to the former and new Director General

We care for your cargo.swissworldcargo.com

How we makeart exhibitionsmore successful.This year, wedelivered a world-famous paintingcustom packagedin airtight conditionsfrom Shanghaito Zurich and thenonwards to a museumin Bern, where itsexhibition createda sensation, drawingmore visitors thanever. This is just oneof the many successstories we sharewith our customers.

SWI-000694-00_Master_Anzeige_Museum_210x297_v2.indd 1 07.09.16 14:37

No. 119 | October 2017 FIATA REVIEW 3

CONTENTS

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EXCLUSIVEEditorial5 From the President’s Desk

The YIFFY Award finalists6 Which of the four

candidates will make it in Kuala Lumpur?

Country Report10 Malaysia –

its strategic geographical location gives it an important role to play

The pilot in Canada12 The IATA-FIATA Air Cargo Program – the implementation phase is a reality in Canada

Close & Personal14 Handover –

In conversation with Hans Günther Kersten and Marco Sorgetti

Here & There18 Happy Birthday Welcome, new members Agenda19 Forthcoming Events Masthead

FIATA SecretariatSchaffhauserstrasse 104CH-8152 Glattbrugg/SwitzerlandPhone +41 (0)43 211 65 00, Fax +41 (0)43 211 65 65info@fiata.com, www.fiata.com

Cover Petronas Towers, also known as Menara Petronas.

Photo: iStock / Rat0007

We care for your cargo.swissworldcargo.com

How we makeart exhibitionsmore successful.This year, wedelivered a world-famous paintingcustom packagedin airtight conditionsfrom Shanghaito Zurich and thenonwards to a museumin Bern, where itsexhibition createda sensation, drawingmore visitors thanever. This is just oneof the many successstories we sharewith our customers.

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No. 119 | October 2017 FIATA REVIEW 5

FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK

FIATA’s public presence has grown even stronger in these two years. FIATA’s voice can always be heard and let me say even louder today. FIATA firmly calls for free trade, supports the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and the WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement; we encourage freight forwarders to evolve and adapt to the changing patterns of trade, e.g. the powerful surge of eCommerce.

Many other efforts have been made to adjust our internal management and improve services, with the ultimate goal of better serving our members. For in-stance, the Congress Committee is work-ing to improve delegates’ experience at the World Congress. Ambitious programmes are being studied by ABIT. The Secretari-at, which has managed to adequately serve our members despite limited resources, is expected to be assisted by a new ERP system, as endorsed by the Presidency, to make work easier and faster.

On this short page I cannot be much more specific, but please do come to the FIATA World Congress (5th–7th October), in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the wonderful hosting coun-try, a glimpse of which is featured in this Review: all will be looking forward to this truly Asian experience.

Let me again thank all my colleagues in the Presidency, Extended Board, all FIATA bodies and the Secretariat for their great work, and wish the next Presidency and new Director General all the best in the years to come.

Huxiang ZhaoFIATA President

Time truly flies. This is my last edito-rial as FIATA President: I am get-

ting to the end of my tenure as FIATA’s President and I am bewildered to see how fast this all went. I cannot avoid looking back at what has been done in these two years during which I have proudly served this honourable organisation as your President.

This is not the first time that I men-tion that training and education are among the top priorities of FIATA; much of our work has been focused on train-ing. In this Review, FIATA is proud to announce the four regional winners of 2017 YIFFYA, more than twenty years on from the inception of the initia-tive. The FIATA Logistics Academy was launched to introduce on-line training courses and to make FIATA courses more easily accessible outside of the classroom. The first on-line course “Introduction to Global Logistics Theory and Practice” is now planned to be published. Similarly, an integration plan to combine training and education resources of FIATA has also been planned and should come to fruition in 2018.

On 15th August, Canada became the first country to pilot the IFACP programme. FIATA and IATA signed the agreement for the IATA-FIATA Air Cargo Program (IFACP) last year, and now it has moved to implementation. If everything goes well, the programme will be rolled out on a global scale. Detailed reports are available in this Review.

Dear Colleagues and Friends

6 FIATA REVIEW No. 119 | October 2017

NEWS – YIFFY AWARD

YOUNG INTERNATIONAL FREIGHT FORWARDER OF THE YEAR

Meet the YIFFY Award Regional Winners

The entries this year were, as in previous years, of a high standard and drew from a wide range of dis­

sertation topics. The work of the entrants de monstrated the complexity of processes carried out within the global supply chain and the logistics skills required to serve it. Among the diverse subjects covered this year are the shipping of a mega earthmover from Japan to Canada, the challenges of transporting tea from China to Germany or tobacco from Harare to Khartoum. You can meet the regional finalists at the FIATA World Conference in Kuala Lumpur. There, they will pre­sent their dissertations to the panel of judges and the Inter national Award winner will be announced at the Opening Ceremony. Don’t miss the finals!

Sponsored by FIATA and

TT Club, the Young Inter­

national Freight Forwarder

of the Year Award is now in

its nineteenth year. With this

award both organisations take

important steps toward identi­

fying, recognising and encour­

aging young talent throughout

the freight forwarding commu­

nity around the world.

My name is Wan Nian. I was born in 1985 in a village in Hubei Pro­

vince, located in the centre of China.From 2003 to 2006 I studied at

Wuhan Marine Institute, with a major in Commercial English. My studies in­cluded International Trade, International Freight Forwarding, Customs Clearance, International Business Correspondence, Foreign Trade Documentation, Supply Chain Design and Management, Logis­tics and Transport Systems. All of them including policy, theory and practice.

After I graduated from university I worked at a freight forwarding company from 2006 to 2008, with job assignments including warehouse handling, customs, and import operations.

In 2008 I joined Topwinner Trans­portation, where I have continued to

work until today. In my current role I work in import and export operations, customs service and marketing, for both sea and air shipments.

E­COMMERCE A DRIVERI specialise in air and ocean import and export, as well as in transport ope rations, multimodal transport handling solutions for time and temperature­sensitive cargo, and over­sized shipments. Also, I have experience in rail transportation.

Due to the growth in e­commerce, our business has grown. Because of this, I have developed an e­commerce logistic project at Topwinner that involves cus­toms clearance and transportation forms for both export and imports to China for e­commerce. I am proud to say that due to many years of hard work and good

Wan Nian, China

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performance, I have been promoted to Manager of Topwinner’s Shenzhen office.

For my dissertation, I have chosen two cases which I operated in my past role:

REGION ASIA-PACIFIC WINNER OF THE YIFFYA

Mr Wan Nian

No. 119 | October 2017 FIATA REVIEW 7

YIFFY AWARD – NEWS

Bradley Davis has been working in the freight forwarding industry for

5 years, following his studies of electri­cal and computer engineering and com­pletion of the CIFFA Advanced Certifi­cate in Freight Forwarding. During his time with Panalpina Inc., working as a Strategic Business Development Man­ager, he developed and implemented supply chain strategies for multina­tional clients in the consumer retail and high­tech markets. Bradley has recently joined the team at Kuehne + Nagel as the National Trade Lane Specialist and is now responsible for the central re­gion’s development of the Transpacific ocean freight product.

Canadian forwarders face many unique challenges when it comes to the transportation of freight. These chal­lenges can range from building a distri­bution network that must supply goods cost­effectively throughout the world’s second largest country, all the way to creating a one­of­a­kind supply chain

to sustain resource production in the remote wilderness.

It is Canada’s geographical size, in conjunction with the location of busi­nesses that has the largest effect on how we as forwarders decide how freight is moved. Businesses operating in bigger cities such as Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver have access to a multitude of shipping methods for both import and export points for air and ocean cargo. On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are businesses in remote areas of the Northwest Territories which must ship the bulk of their yearly intake on tempo­rary ice roads. The ice roads are only open for 2­3 months during the year.

THE SCOPE OF CANADAThe following dissertation will cover the import and export of cargo to two very different geographical areas in Canada:– Scenario one will cover the challenges

of the time­sensitive, ex­works move of a mega earthmover Kamatsu HD785­7

from Ibaraki, Japan to the Diavik Mine site, which is located on a manmade island in the Northwest Territories.

– Scenario two will cover an ex­works move of 20  used electric trollies from Edmonton, Alberta to Samara, Russia, as requested by the Edmonton local muni cipality’s customer.

Bradley Davis, Canada

HAZARDOUS GOODSCase A — Export cargo, dangerous car­go Li­ion battery, loaded from China to India. Door­to­door service, delivery by multi modal transportation.

Firstly, according to Hazardous goods requirements, I confirmed full de­tails before we loaded this shipment:1. Confirm commodity belongs to Class 9

and carrier can accept this shipment.2. Confirm mode of transportation, by

sea and rail from China to India, and delivery to door by truck.

3. Confirm battery label on package.4. Confirm goods package is seaworthy.5. Confirm all documents are issued,

e.g. MSDS, Lithium Battery UN38.3 test report, Transportation Test Re­port, Certificate for Safe Transport of Goods.

Secondly, we booked space with car­rier and stuffed the container, com­pleted the export customs declaration and arranged the container on board. Finally, we prepared the relevant docu­ments for the Indian agent to perform Import Customs clearance and deliver the container to door.

FROZEN BEEFCase B — Import cargo, frozen beef load­ed from Australia to China. CY­to­door service, delivery by multimodal transpor­tation in refrigerated container.

Firstly, we confirmed the transpor­tation requirements for to frozen cargo.1. Confirm mode of transport by sea

and truck.2. Confirm special requirements for fro­

zen goods, e.g. temperature: –18oC,

non­stop power supply on full trans­portation, and transit time.

Secondly, we arranged booking details with carrier and checked if export cus­toms declaration and shipping docu­ments have been provided by our agent after loading. Finally, after the goods are cleared and arrive in China, we arranged import commodities inspection and quarantine and delivered the goods once customs released the container.

For the above two cases, as an inter national freight forwarder, be­sides providing transport services, we also need to provide additional exper­tise in preparing and processing cus­toms documentation and performing activities pertaining to international shipments.

REGION AMERICAS WINNER OF THE YIFFYA

Mr Bradley Davis

8 FIATA REVIEW No. 119 | October 2017

NEWS – YIFFY AWARD

Tinashe Chiwanza is the General Manager at Jesslay Investments t/a

Clearances Recoveries and Facilitation. He was born on 4 March 1984 in rural town of Guruve, Zimbabwe.

He received his first Diploma in Business Management and Administra­tion with the British College of Profes­sional Management, before eventually becoming a Retail Supervisor at SPAR Mbare Supermarket in Harare in 2005. After the second year of his career as a su­pervisor he received another Diploma in Sales Management and Marketing with the British College of Professional Man­agement, was promoted to Branch Man­ager and transferred to SPAR Highfields in Harare in 2006.

Tinashe left SPAR in 2008 and joined an organisation called Anointed Supermarkets as a Service Department Manager for the company’s ten country­wide branches. In the same year he left Anointed Supermarkets due to the de­teriorating economic conditions and joined CKD Clearing and Forward­ing Services as a Trainee Clearing Clerk at Chirundu One­Stop Border Post (OSBP). He gained vast experience and was given the role to administer export, import and transit clearances.

A MAJOR COMPETITORTinashe met Mr Rory Comins (his Man­aging Director at Jesslay Investments t/a CRF) in 2009, the year the company was formed, and moved to Jesslay Investments as the office tracker and operations man­ager. The company was small, however through his contributions it grew from a facilitating company to a clearing, faci­litating and recovering company. Contin­uous prayers, wisdom, diligence and loy­alty led the organisation to becoming one of the major competitors in the customs clearance and freight forwarding industry in Zimbabwe.

In 2011, Tinashe was able to take a Customs Valuation course, which

was offered by the SFAAZ National Secretariat. He further attained a lo­cal community honour, voted into the Chirundu secretariat committee as the Vice Chairperson for the year 2013–2014, and later the Branch Chairman in the year 2015–2016. Currently he is the Vice Chairman for the Chirundu Branch, which has given him respect from the community and the business partner Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA).

lead to high transaction costs and re­duced international competitiveness. His dissertation therefore addressed the com­plexities encountered during import and export processing. His export pro duct was containerised flue­cured Cut Rag To­bacco (CRT) from Harare, Zimbabwe, to Khartoum, Sudan, and the import product was containerised shipping of bi­tumen from Tehran, Iran, to Zimbabwe. The bitumen was for the purpose of ser­ving the bulk of Zimbabwe’s roads, which were in very poor condition, due to the 2016 season’s heavy rainfalls. Both com­modities were supposed to be deli vered at the agreed time in good condition.

A DIFFERENT APPROACHThe journey to winning was not as easy as he expected. He was supposed to come up with a different approach to the dis­sertation, different from the previous participant, who also emerged a winner for RAME. After consultations with su­pervisors and the previous winner, Lor­raine, who also was a supervisor, Tinashe managed to come up with a dissertation which showed the complexities in a land­locked country by ‘injecting life into Zimbabwe’s logistics chain’.

There are also remedies which were taken to speed up processes so as to avoid delays which are costly to clients. The jour­ney was not easy but it was worth it. The researching of the information, the consul­tations – all of the supervisors were based in Harare, while he was 350 km away in Chirundu – did not facilitate matters. Ti­nashe had to rely on telecommunication and travelling and furthermore, he had to go to Beira Port in Mozambique (passing through Forbes Border Post) to check on the processes of port clearances. This was expensive, time­consuming and cumber­some, but it enabled him to come up with a well­documented dissertation which won the accolade.

Winning the award taught Tinashe a lot about the complex nature of the freight

Tinashe Chiwanza, Zimbabwe

PASSING WITH DISTINCTIONIn 2016, the Chirundu Branch Com­mittee facilitated agents to be trained by the National Secretariat in Chirundu. Tinashe enrolled for the Customs Legis­lation Procedures Certificate, where he participated and passed with distinction. Tinashe was chosen by the National Secre tariat to represent Zimbabwe as the second person in the year running to participate in the Young International Freight Forwarder of the Year (YIFFY) competition.

Zimbabwe is a landlocked agro­based developing country. The multi modal transportation of export and import goods through territories of neighbour­ing countries results in complexities that

REGION AFRICA / MIDDLE EAST WINNER OF THE YIFFYA

Mr Tinashe Chiwanza

No. 119 | October 2017 FIATA REVIEW 9

YIFFY AWARD – NEWS

The European candidate this year is Nina Brose, a young forwarder

born and raised in Lübeck, a city in northern Germany.

In 2016, Nina won the “Young German Freight Forwarder and Logis­tics Award”, which the national asso­ciation stages each year. This victory allowed her to represent Germany at YIFFYA 2017, and has allowed her to participate in the 2017 FIATA World Congress in Kuala Lumpur.

Nina started practicing karate in her spare time at the age of 9, for which she developed a great enthusiasm. To­day she does not only practice karate for herself, but has been responsible for young karate aficionados as a trainer and youth speaker since 2012. Nina finished high school that same year and went to Australia for her first work experience abroad. After returning home, Nina helped out with elementary jobs at her family’s business (a small transport com­pany with own trucks in Lübeck), and developed an interest for the transport industry. A few months later, in August 2013, she started her apprenticeship as a freight forwarder at Bruhn Spedition GmbH in Lübeck. The successful com­pletion of her apprenticeship offered her the opportunity to participate in the national challenge. Her vocational school teacher, Ms Vanessa Pieper, rec­ommended Nina after receipt of the an­nouncement, which is what got the ball rolling. The representative of the Euro­pean region decided to start studying

in October 2017, after she won the national challenge. The choice of field of study is not hard to guess: International Logistics Management.

We are happy that both Nina Brose and Vanessa Pieper are able to be here in Kuala Lumpur this week, and are looking forward to the decision of the judges. In any case, Nina Brose can be satisfied and proud of her achievement, just as the other regional winners can be.

TEA TIME OPTIMISATIONAs the title – “Why not reconsider?” – sug­gests, the dissertation of the region Europe winner examines the oppor tunity to take advantage of changing running systems and optimising the supply chain, using the example of the tea trade. The author of the dissertation, Nina Brose from Ger­many, chose the import and export of tea as her central theme, as she preferred to lay

the focus on the logistical process itself, and not on the product. She did this by presenting an unusual project on which she worked, together with a wholesaler called Kirchner Fischer & Co. KG, based in Elmshorn, Germany.

The dissertation is divided into two parts: import and export. The first part deals with importing raw materials from China to Germany in large quantities. In this section it is described how a company usually carries out the orders (by using an overseas vessel), and the way it could be improved by using another mode of trans­port and changing the transport equip­ment. The focus is laid on the possi bility of transporting the goods on the new silk route that connects Eastern Asia with Europe through intermodal services. The advantages of rail transport are portrayed, especially concerning the environment and the transit time. The result was that rail transport is not a suitable alternative for the case being analysed, but might be applied in other situations.

The second part of the dissertation describes the export of consolidated goods from Germany to Malaysia by airfreight. The special requirements concerning car­go security and the scheduling of customs handling are shown, as well as ways of en­suring payment and insuring the goods.

All in all, the dissertation points out the needs for future optimisation, and the influence of decisions and modification of the quality of the products, and encourages people and companies to look for alterna­tive ways of forwarding their cargo.

Nina Brose, Germany

forwarding industry. It requires hard work and dedication, furthermore, Tinashe did not want to let Zimbabwe down as they won the RAME award the previous year. Making it the second year running was his top priority. Tinashe is based in the town of Chirundu, where there are many challenges

to learning. He shall mobilise more practi­sing agents to enrol for Diplomas in Cus­toms Legislation Procedures (CLP) and Freight Forwarding Practice (FFP).

He teamed up with his committee in 2016, and an education committee which spearheaded the successful enrolment of

Chirundu agents in CLP diploma and certificate studies, where he also parti­cipated as a student. He decided not to enrol for the CLP Diploma programme dedica ting his time for the YIFFY compe­tition, and will pursue his studies in CLP and FFP Diploma.

REGION EUROPE WINNER OF THE YIFFYA

Ms Nina Brose

10 FIATA REVIEW No. 119 | October 2017

The Malay Peninsula – striving to become a logistics gateway to Southeast Asia.

MALAYSIA'S STRATEGIC LOCATION FAVOURS THE COUNTRY

“A competitive edge in facilitating world trade”

According to a mid-2017 World Bank report, Malaysia’s economic outlook

is seen as favourable, with growth ex-panding in the first quarter of 2017. The country has recorded average economic growth of more than 7% per year for 25 years or more.

The country's gross domestic pro-duct (GDP) growth rate is predicted to rise to 4.9% for 2017, with private con-sumption remaining the main factor pro-moting growth, and the implementation of new projects (World Bank: Commis-sion on Growth and Development).

Malaysia has developed from an economy dependent on the production of raw natural resource materials, such as tin and rubber, into a leading exporter to-day of a diverse range of goods, including

Malaysia’s strategic geographical location gives it an important role to play, especially in the light

of China’s mega-infrastructure project, the Belt and Road initiative. With the potential to re-shape

global trade the country’s overland links to Singapore, sea connections via the important Straits of

Malacca waterway, and the planned Pan-Asian railway network will give it a highly competitive edge

in facilitating world trade.

COUNTRY REPORT

electrical appliances, electro nic compo-nents, palm oil and natural gas.

Its well-diversified economy puts it in good stead to weather a variety of

current potential risks, such as exter-nal threats of trade protectionism and the impact of global commodity price fluctuations.

No. 119 | October 2017 FIATA REVIEW 11

OPPORTUNITIES FROM CHINA’S BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVEHailed as China’s “New Silk Road”, the 21st century version of the historical tra-ding routes that linked the East and the West, this initiative is projected to bring prolific opportunities and development for Malaysia’s ports, railways and air-ports. One of the projects resulting from it includes the recently-launched East Coast Rail Link, which is expected to drive connectivity and economic growth for the country and act as a “land-bridge enabling the cost and time-efficient trans-portation of goods between Africa, the Middle East and Asia.” (Source: South China Morning Post.)

With the rise of e-commerce acti-vities, air cargo has also become an im-portant growth sector for Malaysia – the KLIA Aeropolis project is expected to turn KLIA into a cargo hub. An agree-ment to form an alliance between six Malaysian and ten Chinese ports will serve to enhance trade between the ports. The global connectivity and export po-tential for products and technologies afforded by this initiative will provide vast opportunities in industries such as logistics, finance and education.

STRONG GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR LOGISTICSRecognising the significant knock-on bene-fits from a dynamic logistics industry, the Malaysian government has put in place a comprehensive five-year Masterplan for logistics and trade facilitation, in support of the country’s National Transformation Agenda towards a fully- developed and high-income nation by 2020.

Malaysia aspires to be the “Preferred Logistics Gateway to South East Asia” by then, and has embarked on several ground-breaking initiatives under its Eleventh Malaysia Plan. These include the development of key ports, rail links, e-commerce logistics, 24-hour customs facilitation at borders and a regional logis tics hub in Sabah, East Malaysia. Its Ministry of Transport is spearheading efforts to improve the country’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI) ranking, in line

investment in infrastructure, the com-mitment of the Malaysian government towards uplifting the transportation and storage services sector is set to create more opportunities for logistics providers and freight forwarders.

Byline Communications

with the industry's importance as one of the core pillars of the country’s economic performance. Malaysia currently ranks second among the ASEAN countries. (Source: World Bank LPI, 2014.)

With the continued growth of its export-driven economy and considerable

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MALAYSIA – FACTS & FIGURES

Official name: Federation of Malaysia

Capital: Kuala Lumpur

Form of government: Federal constitutional monarchy

Area: 329,847 sqkm

Coastline: 4,675 km (Peninsular Malaysia: 2,068 km, East Malaysia: 2,607 km)

Population: 30,949,962 (July 2016)

Ethnic groups: 50.1% Malays, 22.6% Chinese, 11.8% indigenous Bumiputra groups other than Malays, 6.7% Indian, other groups account for 0.7%. Non-citizens account for 8.2% of Malaysia’s resident population.

Languages: Official: Malay, known as Bahasa Malaysia. Other: English, Chinese, Tamil

Major trading partners: Singapore, China, United States of America, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Australia, Vietnam, South Korea, Germany, Netherlands, Taiwan, Philippines.

COUNTRY REPORT

Kuala Lumpur – the country’s economic, cultural and administrative heart.

12 FIATA REVIEW No. 119 | October 2017

NEWS INDUSTRIAL

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IFACP TO REPLACE EXISTING CARGO AGENCY PROGRAM

Canadian pilot project shows the way

Despite the successful global operation of the IATA Cargo Agency Program

over many decades, the role of IATA Cargo Agents (freight forwarders) has changed. Previously Cargo Agents were ‘selling-agents’ for and on behalf of air-lines. Whereas today, the vast majority of forwarders are ‘purchasing-customers’ of those airlines and their business relation-ship is often as buyer and seller.

IFACP will provide a framework of industry standards that are relevant, in

line with best practices and safety regu-lations and fit for purpose. Standards to cover the endorsement of freight for-warders will be administered as a joint program on behalf of and to the benefit of the Participants in order to ensure that appropriate and relevant standards with respect to cargo operations are developed and maintained. A common body of both associations is now preparing the ground for the full implementation via a pilot project in

Canada – a country well chosen for this purpose.

WHAT IS IFACP?IFACP replaces the existing Cargo Agen-cy Program, and will be jointly managed by forwarders and airlines as equal part-ners in the decision-making process. The new Program will be rolled out on a glob-al scale, following the Canadian pilot.

A new IATA-FIATA Governance Board (IFGB) has been established to run the Program, which provides a frame-work of industry standards that are rel-evant and in line with best practices and safety regulations.

The new IFACP Freight Forwarder Agreement will govern the relationship between freight forwarders and air carri-ers participating in the Program.

Previously, cargo agents were “sell-ing agents” for, and on behalf of, airlines, whereas today the clear majority of for-warders are “purchasing customers” from those airlines, and their business relation-ship is often as buyer and seller.

Keshav Tanna, incoming Chairman of FIATA’s Air Freight Institute said:

“FIATA is pleased that the imple-mentation phase is now a reality, a true testament to the hard work and sustained efforts of both Forwarders and Carriers over the past few years.

“We are optimistic that IFACP will foster innovation to deal with the com-mercial challenges facing the air cargo industry.”

Juan Antonio Rodriguez, IATA Di-rector FDS Operations said:

“Simplifying the governance struc-ture reduces the administrative require-ment to manage the Program.”

In order to meet the evolving needs of the air cargo industry and

better reflect changing relationships and the transformed role of

the freight forwarder, IATA and FIATA decided to jointly develop a

new program – the IATA-FIATA Air Cargo Program (IFACP), which

replaces the current IATA Cargo Agency Program.

In Canada, the IFACP pilot project anticipates full implementation.

No. 119 | October 2017 FIATA REVIEW 13

NEWS INDUSTRIAL

“Given that more than 80 per cent of transactions are performed by freight for-warders acting as principals, the proposed IFACP better clarifies and validates the business through a buyer-seller relation-ship. IFACP properly addresses the prin-cipal-to-principal relationship between freight forwarders and airlines, helping to clarify liability issues, as well as support-ing members to work towards key indus-try goals such as e-freight adoption,” he concluded.

WHAT DOES IFACP MEAN FOR CURRENT MEMBERS OF THE CARGO AGENCY PROGRAM?Existing Cargo Agency Program mem-bers will join IFACP with no further as-sessment and, for those already enrolled, will continue their existing enrolment in Cargo Account Settlement Systems (CASS), which remains unchanged, under the jurisdiction of the Cargo

IFACP PILOTCanada is the first territory to pilot the new Program.

Ruth Snowden, Executive Director of the Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association (CIFFA) said:

“Our relatively small, well-connected airline and forwarder community makes Canada a natural for the IFACP pilot country. We are pleased that Canada is the first to engage in this new, collabora-tive program, which better reflects the re-ality of today’s current principal to prin-cipal relationship between airlines and forwarders.”

For more information related to the new IFACP please visit the FIATA web-site: http://fiata.com/initiatives/air- cargo/ iata-fiata-air-cargo-program.html

http://fiata.com/initiatives/air-cargo/

iata-fiata-air-cargo-program.html

Agency Conference. During the roll out, current participants of the IATA Cargo Agency/Intermediary Program will be given training about the new Program and afterwards will be provided with a new agreement.

After signing and returning the IFACP Forwarder Agreement to IFACP Program Secretariat (IATA) they will automatically join IFACP and continue their existing enrolment in CASS

IATA Airline members will auto-matically transfer to the new Pro-gram on the date which IATA declares IFACP effective in any given region or country.

WHAT DOES IFACP MEAN FOR NEW APPLICANTS?New applicants will need to submit a form and meet the defined financial and operational criteria as established in the IFACP Handbook adopted by the IFGB.

“We are optimistic that IFACP will foster innovation to deal with the commercial challenges facing the air cargo industry.”

14 FIATA REVIEW No. 119 | October 2017

CLOSE & PERSONAL

PASSING THE BATON ON TO HANS GÜNTHER KERSTEN

New Director General after three-month "apprenticeship"

You’ve both earned our congratu­lations – the newcomer as well as the old hand! What’s the mood like at headquarters?Hans Günther Kersten (HGK): Of course I’m grateful and happy to be tak-ing on this new task. It’s rather a special feeling to be part of a team mandated by the strong worldwide membership base of our association, and to work on the indus-try’s rele vant parameters that will expand the business opportunities for our sector and secure its position in future. I am con-fident I will be able to further build on Marco’s excellent achievements. We have a great team and I would describe the mood at Headquarters as curious and optimistic. Despite a heavy workload most of our co-workers seem to share my view that a good dose of humour has never done any harm.Mario Sorgetti (MS): After six years in the post it’s a good feeling to hand the baton over to a successor with plenty of inter national experience. I’m leaving the association with mixed feelings. I have a tear or two in my eye

on account of my long and intense commit-ment to our industry, which I have proudly served for over forty years. I’m also pleased, on the other hand, as I’m leaving the house in order – and after 14 years of working for FIATA and Clecat, I’ll now have more space for my personal interests, which I have kept on the backburner so far.

To what extent were you pre viously already in contact with FIATA, Hans Günther?HGK: In the framework of my function as Freight Director in the UIC, the Un-ion Internationale des Chemins de fer, there were natu rally many contacts in everyday business, as Fiata and UIC have a long-standing cooperation. I was also invited as a speaker at the Fiata World Congress in Dublin in 2016. In a meeting of the Multimodal Trans-port Institute (MTI) I informed on the subject of “Developments and per-spectives of railway business in Europe and Asia”.MS: The collaboration between FIATA and UIC has a long tradition. We for-warders can learn plenty from the rail-way, as I experienced it in practice as a forwarder.A joint working group meets annually. On the 13th  and 14th  of September FIATA and UIC’s market place semi-nar took place in Duisburg –

another innovation launched by the col-laboration with the railway.

Was working for UIC good prepa­ration for FIATA?HGK: I certainly think so! Four and a half years in an organisation that also has a glo bal membership and mission wid-ens your horizon for inter national mat-ters. Before being seconded to UIC by Deutsche Bahn, I had been working in international relations in various func-tions at Deutsche Bahn for many years, so the international aspect of my work at FIATA is quite familiar. What is new at FIATA, however, is that we cover here the full range of transportation modes from Aviation to Maritime, from Road to Rail-ways. I am still amazed that it is possible to manage such complexity with a staff of 10 persons, some of which are not even working full time.

How can the transition from the predecessor to the successor be

managed so that current business is not interrupted? We found

out from FIATA’s new Director General Hans Günther Kersten and

from Marco Sorgetti, who retired on 1 September after six years

in the position.

“A good dose of humour has never done any harm.”

No. 119 | October 2017 FIATA REVIEW 15

CLOSE & PERSONAL

No. 119

MS: Looking at our old and new staff I see that today we depict a representative mix of our members, we have a younger, diverse and proactive secretariat with lan-guages and competences, where no gender barrier exists.

How did you plan the transition phase in detail?MS: I was pleased that my recommenda-tion for a transition period lasting several months was approved by FIATA’s Presi-dency and the Extended Board. When I started in the job I’d already collaborated with FIATA for 20 years. Hans Günther can build on those months now – a very constructive investment, in my opinion, which I am sure Hans Guenther will put to handsome results.HGK: Having your predecessor by your side – literally, with his desk in the same office! – for an entire quarter is a rare privilege. I wouldn’t have wanted to fore-go this "apprenticeship". It is a great op-portunity. It enourmously facilitates be-coming familiar with the issues at hand and therefore is a good investment into the future of FIATA.

Apropos of the issues: What do you think of FIATA and IATA’s joint IFACP initiative?HGK: The matter is very complex – by definition! Negotiations have to be con-ducted at a global level in the field, in order to adjust cooperation between for-warders and airlines to today’s business realities. Under this aspect, the initiative taken by the two worldwide bodies is al-ready a big step in the right direction.MS: We’re particularly pleased with the work of the joint project team, which not only negotiated the conditions of the pilot project cooperation agreement with Canada, but also directly work on the implementation. So things are really moving forward now.

One of the major question of the fu­ture concerns digitalisation, which is unsettling many in the industry.

HKG: The original fear was that digi-talisation omight make freight for-

warders superfluous in future, as digital freight transport booking platforms might take their role. But an excessive focus on the risks shouldn’t cloud our vision of the opportunities that are also involved in this process. Digitali-sation might also enable freight

forwarders to offer their

customers new additional services or facili-tate existing ones, e. g. warehousing.MS: Making use of modern technolo-gies is neutral, per se, for every market parti cipant, not a looming threat; there are very interisting opportunities that technology affords. Our expertise will al-ways be a part of every innovation in the market. I still remember those who were sceptical about containers in the begin-ning of the 1970´s...Didn’t we forwarders significantly change the overall market conditions of the industry earlier, when we entered the logistics chain? Freight forwarding is an ever evolving industry.

How significant is e­commerce for forwarders, in your opinion?HGK: E-commerce can become one of the pillars of our industry – if we make the best of the present opportunity. The changes are ground-breaking and must not be underestimated at all. For freight

“E-commerce can become one of the pillars of our industry.”

HANS GÜNTHER KERSTEN Hans Günther Kersten studied business admin-

istration and law at the University of Cologne.

After a few years as a lawyer in an interna-

tional law firm in Cologne, he joined Deutsche

Bahn in Frankfurt as

in-house legal counsel

in June 1999. In 2002,

he became Senior

Manager at Deutsche

Bahn’s headquarters in

Berlin where he held a

number of senior posi-

tions until June 2012, when he was seconded

by Deutsche Bahn to the International Rail-

way Association UIC in Paris as Director, first

of UIC´s Rail System Department, then of its

Freight Department. On June 1st, 2017 he be-

came the Deputy Director General of FIATA. He

succeeded Marco Sorgetti as Director General

of FIATA on September 1st, 2017.

Handover completed: After three months as Deputy Director General Hans Günther Kersten has succeeded Marco Sorgetti as FIATA’s Director General.

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16 FIATA REVIEW No. 119 | October 2017

CLOSE & PERSONAL

forwarders there is the risk that big e-commerce companies might integrate transport into their value chain. But that is basically the classic “make or buy” deci-sion which can also result in “buy”, thus creating new business opportunities for freight forwarders.MS: In this field FIATA was already able to make a contribution to the European legislative process in Brussels, amongst other things, such as UNCTAD´s and WCO´s in particular. We hold negotia-tions right now to ensure that our indus-try can hold its own in the sector. In my opinion the overall business environment is developing in this field.

Where are further cornerstones currently being set in international legislative processes?HGK: The international harmonisation of transport law is currently one of the more important subject on the global agenda. The challenge is to simplify, modernise and/or harmonise export and import pro-cesses in order to reduce trade costs. A great step in this sense is the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) which has

entered entering into force in February 2017 and now has to be implemented.MS: The United Nations has taken up the cause and in October 2016 at UN-ECE in Geneva, inter alia FIATA was able to present its position on this subject very clearly. We also engage in a signifi-cantly more intense exchange of opinions with the World Customs Organization today than we used to in the past. Natu-rally the cooperation between forwarders and customs authorities is complex and has several levels of interaction, as it is a global cooperation that eventually needs to reflect at national or regional level. I have been extremely pleased by the level of dialogues we have reached in this area, thanks to the firm guidance of the Cus-toms Affairs Institue.

Hans Günther, you’ve gathered specialised rail know­how in the course of your career. Can you ima­gine closer coordination between the various modes of transport?HGK: Intermodal transport services are absolutely essential today, not only for ecological reasons, but also because of the efficiency. An example is the Combined Transport road-rail. However, Intermo-dality, also requires certain infrastructural framework conditions as well as stand-ardisation across the transport modes, e. g. as regards containers.

May I ask you, Marco – how was the selection procedure for the new Director General carried out?

MS: We were pleased that the advert met with a great degree of interest and were able to put together a shortlist of eight excellent candidates. Naturally we can’t reveal any details, except to say that we asked the interviewees to make a pre-sentation one day before the job interview and Hans Günther chose to present his own contribution to the organisation and this was particularly skilful. In the short time we gave him he provided a convinc-ing representation of the asso ciation and its requirements – and I’m very pleased that he can now put his valuable thoughts into practice. Interview by Christian Doepgen.

“My "apprentice- ship" in FIATA was a great opportunity.”

MARCO SORGETTIMarco Sorgetti was born in Torino, Italy,

where he studied engineering and languages.

Owning his own freight forwarding Business

since 1978, he was

elected to head the

Turin Association of

the industry (APSACI)

in 1994 and held posi-

tions in FEDESPEDI and

CONFETRA. An expert

at the Turin Cham-

bers, Marco was also

elected in its Council in 1999. Having sold his

business in 2000, Marco then worked for

Mr Prioglio, then President of FEDESPEDI.

In 2003 Marco became General Director of

CLECAT, and eventually started in January

2012 to work as FIATA’s Director General.

18 FIATA REVIEW No. 119 | October 2017

HERE & THERE

Happy Birthday!FIATA congratulates three well-known delegates on their birthdays. We wish them many more years of good health and happiness.

Mr Abdelmalek Dahmani (Tunisia) cele­brated his 75th Birthday on 20th August 2017. Mr Dahmani is a former Delegate of FIATA and was FIATA President from 1997 to 1999. He has been an Honorary Board Member since 2001.

Ms Kay Pysden (United Kingdom) cele­brated a special birthday on 14th Septem­ber 2017. Ms Pysden became a FIATA Delegate in 1996 and she was Chairperson ABLM from 2004 to 2007. She has been an Honorary Member since 2007.

Mr Basil Pietersen (South Africa) cele­brated his 70th birthday on 26th August 2017. Mr Pietersen has been a long­standing FIATA Delegate since 2009, and he became the Chairman RAME in 2013. Since 2015 he has been a Senior Vice Presi­dent of FIATA.

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