The freight industry will need to reinvent itself to survive in an era of disruption and growing protectionism. Speaking in Cape Town recently Badar Badat, president of the International Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations (Fiata), said the industry was facing challenges that it had never faced before. “And all of them mean the reduction of trade,” he said. “Freight forwarders operate on the front line of trade. These disruptions and challenges mean our businesses are under siege. As freight companies and as Fiata we have to give these issues due consideration.” He said after much discussion a decision had been taken to reset the organisation to ensure it remained viable in the future. The same was necessary for companies, he said. “Disruptions are creating new areas of engagement and new players are entering the market. Technology has changed the way we do business; even education has become technology-based.” Badat said many of the systems companies were becoming redundant as new technology being introduced. “Every industry has to gear up for the changes – as does freight forwarding. Fiata is considered the world’s largest freight organisation, representing some 40 000 companies. Badat said that incoming Fiata president Basil Pietersen from South Africa would be charged with the change management of the organisation. “As an industry we need to be up to speed on how to handle the challenges and the changes coming our way. Fiata sees itself playing a far greater advocacy role in the future.” Badat said he believed the biggest non-tariff barrier to growth of global trade was the lack of logistics connectivity in many parts of the world. “As an organisation we need to be advocating and playing a role in holding governments accountable for investing in infrastructure.” Fiata, he said, was aiming to play a bigger role in connecting governments and the private sector to eradicate the silos in which so many regions of the world currently operated.