AEL’s Cook retires ... changes track

Retirement for Bentley Cook lasted all of two weeks. No sooner had he notified his friends and colleagues in the industry of his early retirement after twenty years in the logistics department at explosives giant AEL, than the offers came flooding in. “Less than a month after leaving AEL, I’ve now moved into broking and have several lucrative contracts in the offing,” he told FTW last week. And in an industry with a skills dearth that has been widely documented, it’s not surprising. Part of a minority core that has lived through the industry’s dramatic change – from the early days of containerisation to globalisation and automation – Cook has amassed a wealth of practical know-how from the joint perspectives of shipper and service provider. “I always had a passion for the sea, but my original career choice was optometry,” he told FTW. This he gave up after two years – and landed a job at Ellerman. “I walked into an employment agency where their job specification thoroughly matched my profile – Ellerman was looking for a trainee with no experience and no professional training. I was the perfect candidate! “For the first three months, all I did was quote schedules – which ensured that my geography was soon up to scratch. I could rattle off the ports backwards after three months on the job.” And it was during his Ellerman days that he was first introduced to containerisation. “In 1976 we received six containers which were sent to the Unicorn depot that had just opened. They caused a minor sensation and sat around for two weeks because no-one knew what to do with them – until they were eventually booked and shipped.” Three and a half years later, armed with “the best grounding you could get”, Cook moved to Nedlloyd where he spent 13 years, ultimately as line manager for Arrow Lines, Mercury Lines and Safocean. These were exciting times as containerisation gained momentum, and when Nedlloyd chose to switch its focus to containers only, it was time to move on – and the next stop was AEL. During his 20-year involvement as freight manager and export operations manager, he’s amassed a wealth of knowledge – something sadly lacking in the industry today, particularly in the hazardous cargo field. “People are unaware of the importance of segregation of hazardous cargo, the packaging required – and misdeclaration is another huge problem.” Education and training are close to his heart – and another area in which Cook is keen to play his role in the future. In the meantime he’s also available as an independent freight manager and consultant for companies facing difficult shipping challenges. It seems that retirement will have to be put on hold for now ...