British Shippers' Council

Background

British Shippers' Council is a strategic policy making arm of FTA. Its members comprise industry representatives from a cross section of businesses who require international freight transport, logistics, distribution and shipping services.

Freight Transport Association (FTA) is a leading UK trade association and serves industry as users of transport and distribution services by all modes. FTA's 11,500 member companies represent all sectors of UK industry and consign 70% of UK visible exports, 90% of all freight moved by rail and also operate nearly half of the UK fleet of commercial vehicles.

Our strength

At the heart of FTA is its unrivalled knowledge of transport and distribution, shared between 430 staff operating out of six UK offices and Brussels. This knowledge resource is delivered through local, national and European representation together with a comprehensive range of commercial services.

Our objectives

FTA's membership is a broad church of mostly freight service providers (primarily road freight) and users of freight services (ie shippers).

British Shippers' Council has traditionally focused most of its attention and activities on the maritime and air freight services and on trade facilitation through customs and documentation. Policies are made which aim to provide the right conditions in which industry is able to take advantage of a wide range of competitive and efficient services. Such services would enable them to enhance rather than hinder their global supply chains and promote the competitiveness of their products in overseas markets.

FTA's Rail Freight Council is a forum of both users and operators and UK track infrastructure owners - all of whom are FTA members. This Council is FTA's principal strategic policy making body for matters to do with rail freight, both domestic and European.

Together with FTA's Road Freight Council, largely comprising freight vehicle operators, FTA seeks to promote developments in the freight industry which benefit industry and make its supply chains more efficient.

Our partnership with ESC

ESC is seen as the unifying organ and mouthpiece for shipper interests across Europe, and as such FTA can feed through the views of shippers from its British Shippers' Council and Rail Freight Council to a European and often global audience.

This is vital if FTA members are to see the changes they want to see. FTA, with the help and support of ESC is striving for:

• Greater market liberalisation - both in the international air freight and deep sea liner shipping industries to improve service standards and get the services demanded by their ever evolving supply chain configurations.
• More trade facilitation initiatives - which strengthen and simplify official procedures and encourage rather than hamper international trade.
• Fewer supply chain bottlenecks at ports and airports - through the development, promotion and implementation of performance monitoring based on service levels and standards needed by shippers.