The focus of a range of meetings with the cargo community was to introduce the Institute of Clearing and Freight Forwarding (ICFF) to the industry and to share the importance of professionalising our employees, as well as addressing the legislative imperatives (BBBEE & EE and Customs) of this industry as previously discussed.
Suffice to say it’s been very positive, and industry is embracing the concept of professionalisation and improving proficiencies amongst their employees and associated supply chains.
I have challenged all companies to at least start off with submitting ten employees for competency and proficiency assessments toward professional designation.
Watch this space as we will be announcing those industry partners in due course.
An important milestone for us is the relationship we have developed with the South African Revenue Service (Sars) over the last few months, and their support of the professionalisation of customs operators on all sides of the value chain.
We are currently working on a Memorandum of Co-operation with Sars to formalise this relationship with them, and one of the aspects being discussed is the inclusion of a professional designation as a criterion for customs licensing and Authorised Economic Operator accreditation.
This would be in line with global standards. This will ensure the improvement of efficiencies across international trade and minimise risk to business.
Through various roadshows we have had a good turnout of industry representatives, as well as the banks, training providers and various other associations.
There appears to be a lot of interest from the banks to collaborate with the ICFF on improving their value proposition to their logistics clients, something to look out for.
We have been approached with partnership proposals from universities, one being the University of Stellenbosch, and the IMM Graduate School of business. This will expand our reach across the country as well as our network as far as the winelands.
Our next Roadshow takes us to Durban, where we will be touching base with forwarding and clearing companies, as well as ships agents and operators. We look forward to having good conversations with them all and hope to create awareness within this region too.
I will continue meeting all companies in due course, and trust that we will receive as much support as we have been. We were established by industry for industry, and we cannot achieve what we set out to do without our industry’s support.
