Survey paints dismal picture of service levels in the industry

Service levels in the freight industry appear to be far from satisfactory – and the dearth of skilled staff seems to be at the root of the problem. That much is clear from responses to a recent service level survey conducted by FTW Online and motivated by a reader who told FTW of his concerns about deteriorating service levels. He was keen to establish whether it was an industry-wide trend – and the answer seems to be a resounding ‘yes’, with 53.8% of respondents saying that service has deteriorated over the past three years. The majority of the sample were freight service providers, but importers and exporters were equally disenchanted – complaining of an escalation of costs in many sectors without the concomitant levels of service. Overall knowledge and problemsolving appear to be the weakest links in the chain. The airfreight industry came out best – scoring 6.21 out 10 in terms of service, followed by consolidators at 5.84, while SA’s ports scored a dismal 3.94 followed by shipping lines at 5.37. Here are some of the comments, which encapsulate the general attitude. ‘Overall I find shipping lines far more unhelpful than helpful. Depots are also incredibly unhelpful and cause a lot of additional (unnecessary) storage costs. I had a recent case where the depot took two days to unpack a container at the customs officer’s instructions. The exam was done late on a Friday so the cargo ended up having nearly an extra week’s storage and the depot will not accept ac‘countability’. It seems that the majority of newcomers to the shipping industry are graduates/holders of diplomas but the overall kn‘owledge is weak’. Apart from the port, the container depots are the second poorest service providers in the industry in terms of vehicle turnaround times. A recent FTW article highlighted delays at the port, but the depots have just as much of an impact on truck pro‘ductivity’. Pricing does not justify service levels, and the value added to the supply chain does not remotely correspond to the ser‘vice rendered’. The overall quality of staff seems to lack training and has no foresight into the results of their actions.'