Steve Parker’s Column
Happy New Year
BIFAlink is the official magazine of the British International Freight Association Redfern House, Browells Lane, Feltham TW13 7EP Tel: 020 8844 2266 (A company limited by guarantee. Registered in England: 00391973. VAT Registration: 216476363) Director General Steve Parker s.parker@bifa.org Member Policy & Compliance Director Robert Windsor r.windsor@bifa.org Member Support Director Spencer Stevenson s.stevenson@bifa.org Member Services Director Carl Hobbis c.hobbis@bifa.org Member Engagement Director Denise Hill d.hill@bifa.org International Relations Advisor Robert Keen r.keen@bifa.org Policy & Compliance Frontier Policy Manager Pawel Jarza p.jarza@bifa.org Policy & Compliance Advisor – Customs Igor Popovics i.popovics@bifa.org Policy & Compliance Adviser – Sustainable Logistics Mike Jones m.jones@bifa.org Policy & Compliance Advisor – Air David Stroud d.stroud@bifa.org Editorial Co-ordinator Sharon Hammond s.hammond@bifa.org Membership Supervisor Sarah Milton s.milton@bifa.org Published by Park Lane Publishing peter@parklanepublishingltd.com Contributors Steve Parker, Robert Windsor, David Stroud, Spencer Stevenson, Carl Hobbis, Web site: www.bifa.org E-mail: bifa@bifa.org Sharon Hammond, Igor Popovics, Robert Keen, Denise Hill, Mike Jones, Pawel Jarza, Natalie Pitts Note to media: If you wish to use items in this magazine that are older than one month, please contact the editorial co- ordinator to ensure that the item in question still reflects the current circumstances. Please be advised that BIFA DOES NOT OFFER LEGAL ADVICE. BIFA is not a law firm and the authors of this publication are not legally qualified and do not have any legal training. The guidance and assistance set out herein are based on BIFA’s own experience with the issues concerned and should not be in any circumstances regarded or relied upon as legal advice. It is strongly recommended that anyone considering further action based on the information contained in this publication should seek the advice of a qualified professional.
First of all, let me take this opportunity to wish all our Members a happy and great new year. What brings 2025? As we enter 2025, and in an effort to understand what this year might do for our industry, I have been reading the forecasts being provided by many publications. Most are positive and suggest 2025 will be buoyant with increased growth and even strong investment in both hard assets and software (you notice I didn’t say AI). This positivity is almost always followed by cautionary notes about the various situations around the globe. As I wrote this column, shippers were
being warned of a potentially chaotic start to 2025 for container shipping. Increased tariffs from the Trump 2.0 administration, a possible US East Coast ports strike, and alliance restructuring, all pose the threat of turbulence. All that notwithstanding, the forecasts look good and we can prepare for a strong 2025. What is BIFA doing? As we move into the new year, BIFA will continue to support you as best as we can and ensure that everything that we do is easy for you to access and brings benefits. Hence, we will continue with and enhance BIFAlink TV making it our best daily source of information. Since its launch we have learnt a lot on how to do this and will continue to improve the channel as the year progresses. We are transitioning the most popular elements of our training to bitesize eLearning modules. This was more difficult than we thought it would be at the outset, but these courses will come online during January, followed by our new and improved CDS/Compliance courses by the end of Q1. Remember these modules are all included in your membership fee, meaning there is no cost as you and your colleagues undertake them. We will update Members with details of their release and instructions for registration through BIFAlink TV. All the usual policy group and regional meetings, which saw increased attendance in 2024, have been planned (dates available at https://bifa.org/events/). They are a great way to share information and discuss both national and local issues and I encourage you to come along to your local meeting. As well as our longstanding awards ceremony, we are planning a national conference for 14 and 15 May 2025 – see page 12 for more information. Added to all this our Young Forwarder Network (YFN) continues to grow, although the number of individuals starting the on the International Freight Forwarding Specialist Apprenticeship fell in 2024, and we will be working to push greater take up in 2025 – see page 6 to find out how to become involved in the re-formed apprenticeship trailblazer group. What do we ask our Members to do? Keep close to BIFAlink TV and either join or encourage your team members to join our various meetings; this will help keep you up to date with the possible impact of regulatory and industry changes. In freight forwarding and logistics, it is often the case that issues only come when something unplanned pops up. In container shipping, we know the forthcoming alliance reshuffle is coming. Carriers and freight services have already planned and catered to that. Shippers should expect some disruption while the new alliances bed down, but barring any exceptions, eventually we are hopeful that the new networks deliver the improved service levels that carriers are promising.
All the very best for 2025.
Director General
January 2025 | 3
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