| Two weeks ago saw the passing of CMA CGM’s Jacques Saade- a man who believed passionately in the transport of merchandise through containerization and built a company which now ranks third in the containerline sector. It was my pleasure to meet him about 10 years ago in Geneva where I was addressing a meeting of The Box Club. I watched how flexible his thinking was to well-reasoned arguments: unbeknownst to me, he was adamant against my position on the image of shipping. By the end of our discussion he was asking me how I could do more. Given the changes and advancements demonstrated by the company in recent months, this flexibility continues in the next generation. While I was at Posidonia, some of the lions of our industry argued that shipping didn’t need to change as it was the most efficient mode of transportation. While I agree with their assessment, shipping cannot be complacent in that position but must continually strive to improve our efficiency. This means looking at EVERY aspect of our industry, from the commercial arrangements on carrying cargo, to the operational efficiency of fleet engines, to routing, manning, cargo operations and more. We aren’t talking about change for change’s sake, but for the betterment of our industry because it is a) the right thing to do, b) will improve our overall fleet management, and c) if we don’t manage the process it will be imposed upon us by entities that don’t know our industry as well as we do. We risk losing control of our industry and ceding it to others who espouse efficiency as their credo. The changing of the guard is bittersweet, but we have the opportunity to take the best of what has been, and embrace the benefits of what is coming. This is what you will find at SHIPPINGInsight 2018. Be a part of industry’s future! “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”
― Albert Einstein Keep optimizing, Carleen |
