BIFA to BBC: Don?t forget us forwarders

BIFA to BBC: DonÆt forget us forwarders

Related News •   BBC turns shipper to promote The Box

   The British International Freight Association hopes a new BBC project giving the wider public an insight into container shipping will also showcase the work of freight forwarders.
   The BBC (www.bbc.co.uk/thebox) has teamed up with the Container Shipping Information Service (www.shipsandboxes.com) on a project called The Box that is tracking the progress of a 40-foot container on a 12-month voyage from the Port of Southampton in the U.K. to China and back.
   Peter Quantrill, BIFA director general, said he welcomes the effort to educate the general public, but hopes the initiative will demonstrate the full complexity of the modern supply chain including the work done by forwarders to help fill the containers.
   'Broadcasting producers like to focus on the physical elements of any story. I can see why modern container shipping, with its massive ships, double-stack trains, 24-hour operations and sky scraping gantry cranes will appeal to broadcasters and viewers. But they should not ignore the less photogenic services that BIFA members provide behind the scenes to companies involved in international trade,' he said.
   'The decisions taken by our members directly affect container shipping and activity. They work as facilitators for their clients to get their commodities from factory to customer. At its most basic, without forwarders many of the containers would have nothing in them to move!'
   Quantrill also wants to see The Box show how containerization has altered the nature of consumerism and dynamics of shipping.
   'The focus on one individual container, which after all might be lost if it is swept overboard at any time in its year-long odyssey, might lead to the bigger picture being missed. Can one container really demonstrate how retailers and distributors use the supply chain to keep inventory? Does it say anything about how many products have been turned into commodities where the pressure is always on to stock shelves in a timely manner to prevent rivals' products being chosen?
   'Nonetheless, I applaud The Box and wish it well. The producers have emphasized the box will have to earn its keep throughout the year-long project by moving revenue-earning cargo. That is exactly where BIFA members come in.'