'Milestone reporting is where the industry is heading'

In an environment where working smarter to cut costs is the universal mantra, increasingly sophisticated information technology is making the difference. “The demands of the international supply chain are forcing importers, manufacturers and retailers to take a closer look at managing the supply chain better by optimising the cost of their raw materials and imported goods. Internationally the trend is to look more and more at how the ocean freight side of things can become more predictable,” says Unitrans MD Paul Stephen. “One of the big frustrations we face is the lack of real-time milestone management,” says Stephen. “At the end of the day an importer in South Africa doesn’t really want to know when a container was transhipped in Singapore. He wants to use that information to try to predict when he’s going to get it.” While historical tracking is available on shipping lines’ websites that will tell you where the container was last loaded and discharged – it’s not predicting when its going to arrive. “We as the freight forwarding industry need to put that information together and tell the customer when he will get his container.” And that’s what Unitrans is working towards. The company will shortly be implementing a new status report system based on milestone reporting. “We will effectively identify what milestones are important to the customer and at the time of taking a booking we will set up the milestones and track against those.” In Stephen’s view, freight forwarding needs to become an information business. “We need to help the SA importer and exporter to manage his supply chain better. There’s not enough recognition of how much money is tied up in inventory that’s on the water.” For Stephen, information technology has been an integral element of his background in the industry. He was involved in the initiation and start-up of the global electronic platform for the shipping industry, Inttra, and played a key role in helping to bring about the change from a telephonic and fax-driven interface to an electronic one. Which is why he’s all too aware of industry resistance to change. “Freight forwarding is a very traditional industry. The relationships built up between shipping lines and their customers are almost personal and there was a lot of resistance to moving away from that very close personal contact with the launch of Inttra.” The same, he says, is true of the freight forwarding industry – and even more so in South Africa where relationships are key in an industry which has become increasingly commoditised. But costs savings are the bottom line – and if sophisticated electronic milestone reporting can reduce the shipper’s safety stock holding and supply chain costs from source to delivery through tighter control of that supply chain, that’s where the industry needs to be heading. CAPTION Paul Stephen … ‘Freight forwarding needs to become an information business.’