A conference to end conferences

27 June 2008

Oslo, October 16th, 2008, the European Shippers’ Council, representing the interests of some 100,000 shippers in Europe, is holding its annual Shipper Forum. At midnight on the same day, the Far Eastern Freight Conference will close its offices for the very last time. On the 18th October, all liner shipping conferences covering trades to and from the EU will cease to operate.

“When the liner shipping conferences have gone and the dust settles…that’s when we expect to see changes” says ESC’s Secretary General, Nicolette van der Jagt. “This year’s ESC Shipper Forum will provide a platform for shipping lines to explain just what ‘normal business’ will look like from the 18th October. There is an interesting and crucial debate starting as to the future shape and role of consortia and alliances: should they become bigger in scope, more inclusive, or be restricted? Which approach would foster most benefits for shippers, and what would be the impact on competition in the liner trades? We are looking at best practices and innovations, cooperation and operational collaboration to create a competitive and sustainable environment in which liner services flourish, and shippers get the services and customer satisfaction they want and need. We shall wait and see if that vision is shared by the liner shipping community and if so how it will manifest itself.

“We believe the short-sea shipping sector holds a number of clues as to what is in store for the future and how the deep-sea liner industry should operate in the months and years ahead. There is innovation, sophistication, lots of competition, and much more visibility in the processes and procedures surrounding short-sea shipping in Europe. Our conference will explore this.

”Visibility in the supply chain is central to ESC policy formulation: with visibility comes a better understanding of the processes that work and those that don’t; where the costs and waste can be removed and where it cannot. The conference will explore this also.

There will be an opportunity also for ESC to explain how to implement best practices and KPIs that mean documentation and invoices are more accurate: ESC and representatives from the liner shipping industry and freight forwarding sector have spent more than a year developing this, and it is now considered appropriate for others to assess the initiative as to whether it can address the problem in a realistic and practical way.

Nicolette van der Jagt concluded, “We don’t hold conferences just for the sake of it. We have an obligation to our members, to shippers all over Europe, to give them something that improves their lot. This conference will close the long chapter on protectionism in liner shipping and open a new one full of opportunity for shippers and, we think, also the liner shipping industry. The pages are blank at the moment, but ready to be written.”

For further information contact: Nicolette van der Jagt, Secretary General of the ESC - Brussels 00 322 230 2113