Logistics expert highlights economic development potential — Exporter Magazine

Global issues of energy and food security provide massive opportunities for New Zealand, leading supply chain and logistics expert Dr Hermione Parsons has told the Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Federation (CBAFF) conference.

Dr Parsons, Director of the Institute for Supply Chain and Logistics at Victoria University in Melbourne, told delegates in Tauranga that demand, particularly from China, was extremely positive for New Zealand’s economic development potential. 

“That is now your glorious future – when food is such an issue, and it is such an issue in China,” said Dr Parsons. “China has huge energy and food security needs and that is where New Zealand comes in big time.”

Dr Parsons said that the supply chain is: “The DNA underpinning all business across the world,”and iscrucial to realising this potential. 

However, in order to do so, the logistics and shipping industries will need to work far more collaboratively, address inefficiencies and become more innovative.  She says that it is time “to think the unthinkable”, including using new shipping routes.  

Routes through the Arctic, which is becoming more accessible as polar ice caps melt, might provide new opportunities, offering reduced journey times and fuel costs.

The conference is being held at the Trinity Wharf Hotel. For further details see cbaffconference.org.nz