Logistics industry must step up to meet e-commerce needs — Exporter Magazine

Glyn Hughes.

The logistics industry needs to get far more savvy with technology to meet and capitalise on the needs of the international e-commerce industry, the Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Federation (CBAFF) has heard. 

Speakers at the 20th annual conference, being held in Queenstown, warned that, without the industry domestically and globally working together to develop suitable solutions, companies like Amazon and Alibaba will develop their own. 

Glyn Hughes, Global Head of Cargo for the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said that passenger industry technology had dramatically outstripped air cargo technology, which is still largely paper-based.

“Our industry needs to work more collaboratively and come up with collective solutions. If not, other players will come in with disruptive technology and disruptive solutions.”

Richard White, CEO of WiseTech Global, developer of cloud-based software solutions for the international and domestic logistics industry, said many freight forwarders are still using ‘coloured folder’ based processes, and 75 per cent of the top 100 global freight forwarders are operating core systems relying on decades old legacy technology. 

“More has to be done with the technology you drive your companies with,” said Mr White. “We need to assist freight forwarders to access the best most integrated core platforms that enable the execution, virtualisation and visualisation of all stages of logistics – and we need common platforms and understanding.”