President’s Report Sir Peter Bottomley, MP
Once again, as the President of BIFA, it gives me great pleasure to introduce the trade association’s Annual Report for 2022, which showcases some of the work done by BIFA to help members deal with the issues that affected the sector during the year and needed to be addressed. And what a tumultuous year it was, in which Britain’s freight forwarding and logistics industry continued to face uncertainties, but proceeded calmly, delivering the goods. In my introduction for the 2021 annual report, I made mention of all the new rules and policies that were scheduled to come into place over the course of 2022 concerning trade between the EU and Great Britain, and the ongoing impact that COVID-19 was likely to have on global supply chains. The pages of this report contain plenty of evidence on how those issues continued to influence the work of BIFA and its members during the year. Things did seem to start calming down a little towards the end of 2022, although there was still some uncertainty about the effect on cross border movements of the more stringent rules covering customs processes and declarations, and the move from CHIEF to CDS. 2022 saw a lot of preparations being made for important topics that will influence members’ business activities going forwards. Some of this was regulatory like CDS Exports, ICS2 and NCTS5, and some was ongoing as with the continuing scrutiny of the Northern Ireland trading arrangements. In 2022, BIFA remained committed to supporting the Government in shaping practical solutions to the issues that lie ahead but did not underestimate the scale of the challenges that we still faced from both EU Exit and macroeconomic issues on a global scale such as recession, increased interest rates, rampant inflation and the awful situation in Ukraine. All of which had and will continue to have a significant impact on the work BIFA members do to manage much of Britain’s visible international trade and the supply chains that underpin it.
One of the biggest changes in 2022 saw Robert Keen ending his eight-year stint as our Director General and announcing his intention to hand over the baton to Steve Parker from the beginning of 2023. Robert’s leadership has been outstanding since he was appointed Director General in 2014. He has been at the helm of the trade association during a very turbulent period for its members, in light of the constant changes to trading conditions caused by Brexit; the COVID-19 pandemic and government policy. He leaves behind a tremendous legacy of achievement and has provided the leadership that has enabled the trade association to support its members in their efforts to secure their development in the global economy against a background of ever-changing challenges, customer demands and new legislation. BIFA ended 2022 in excellent shape with significant momentum and a clear strategy that has the trade association well positioned to fulfil its role of providing effective representation and support for the UK and international freight services industry. Much of that is down to the leadership provided by Robert, and as BIFA President, I would like to thank him for that, as well as all of the Secretariat, Policy Groups and Regional Groups for the work that they did in 2022, much of which is covered in this Annual Report, which is once again an informative and useful read.
In 2022, BIFA remained committed to supporting the Government in shaping practical solutions to the issues that lie ahead but did not underestimate the scale of the challenges that we still faced from both EU Exit and macroeconomic issues on a global scale such as recession, increased interest rates, rampant inflation and the awful situation in Ukraine.
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BIFA Annual Report & Accounts 2022 | bifa.org
bifa.org | BIFA Annual Report & Accounts 2022
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