EUROPEAN SHIPPERS TO DEVELOP SERVICE STANDARDS

EUROPEAN SHIPPERS TO DEVELOP SERVICE STANDARDS    Organizations representing European shippers are starting work on the development of service measurements for ocean transport that could also be adopted in the rail and road transport modes.
   Speaking at the European Shippers’ Council conference on Thursday (Oct. 26), Mick Jackson, head of logistics at the U.K.-based Freight Transport Association, said that his and other organizations representing European shippers and transport providers will define and measure “service performance indicators.”
   This follows a model of key performance indicators developed by the British Shippers Council and the European Air Shippers’ Council for air cargo.
   The aim of the service performance indicators is to define, in cooperation with transport providers, a certain number of steps in the supply chain, and then measure how services perform at each step of the chain.
   Jackson said that transport providers have traditionally used key performance indicators as a management tool to measure asset performance.
   “They are not what a supply chain manager is looking for,” he said. “He is looking for service measurements.”
   Kerstin Sterner, adviser to the European Commission, told delegates at the conference in Rotterdam that she backed the project, as it would include a common metholodology and enable shippers to make better decisions when selecting transport modes in Europe. She said that EC funding may be available to help the project.