FIATA First  Field  Meeting Region Europe

INTERNATIONAL FREIGHT FORWARDER’S DAY 2008

 Development of transport connections during the whole history was one of the main tools to combine the nations, to develop economies, for cross-fertilization of cultures and, finally, it influences peaceful and harmonized forming of the region. Today Ukraine, occupying one of the first places in Europe in transit potential is of particular interest of global transport society. Development and introduction of efficient transport policy has recommended our country as reliable partner. Fast development of trans­port infrastructure, creation of national network of transport corridors that comply with international standards, integration into transport systems of Europe and Asia, Baltic and Black sea regions plays the leading role in projects implementation connected with freight forwarding activity. Odes­sa region is the important geopolitical center of Ukraine. Many different issues influence it. First of all, located on the crossroads of main transport routes that link Europe and Asia, the region has advantageous geographi­cal and geopolitical place – it is very important for trade and economic connections development. Odessa Railways has great importance too. It is the leader among transport service providers in Southwestern region; it crosses the territories of six Ukrainian regions and provides transport and economic connections with more than 70 states. Here Odessa inter­national airport is located. It links Ukraine with many European, Mediter­ranean and Asian airports. It is necessary to mention developed fishery complex, mainly unlimited transit possibilities, industrial potential, multi­product agriculture, favorable investment climate, tourist, and recreational infrastructure. The distinctive feature of Odessa region is its multinational conditions. Representatives of 133 nationalities live in the city. Due to it, you can feel in the South of Ukraine special, historically formed mental­ity – tolerance to all nationalities, kindness, developed entrepreneur skills, possibility to react on market changes promptly. Odessa region continues to be open for foreign investors. Most of them feel at home here. That’s why International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FІATA) together with Association of International Freight Forwarders of Ukraine (AIFFU) and Association of transport and freight forwarding organizations of Ukraine („Ukrvneshtrans”) on the initiative and under general support of «PLASKE» JSC, have chosen Odessa to be the host city for First Field Meeting Europe Region and International Freight Forwarder’s Day 2008. International Freight Forwarder’s Day 2008 during 6 years has proved itself as important event in facilitation of the development of communications in the Black Sea Region, integration of infrastructure into the system of international transport corridors.

 The evidence of increased interest to the International Freight For­warder’s Day was the traditional participation of state authorities, rep­resentatives of national freight forwarding associations and international organizations, such as Federation of Freight Forwarding Associations (FIATA), Association of International freight Forwarders Of Ukraine (AIFFU), Association of transport and freight forwarding organizations of Ukraine (UKRVNESHTRANS) European Association for freight forwarding, trans­port, logistics and customs services (CLECAT), Organization for railroads cooperation (OSJD), Trade and Commerce Chamber (TCC), European Business Association( EBA), etc. When transport process was under de­velopment, thousands of organizations could assess the role and place of freight forwarding in goods transfer. Freight forwarders became “archi­tects” of transport process. It can be proved: 80% of cargo in global trade is delivered with the help of freight forwarding associations.
 
The International Freight Forwarder’s Day 2008 and the First Field Meet­ing of European region is the experience exchange, discussion of practical items, perspectives of cooperation increase between partners from CIS states, Europe, Asia, with the participation of cargo freight forwarders, customs brokers, air and ship agents, owners of warehouses and termi­nals, consigners and consignees, carriers, ports, national freight forward­ing associations, as well as representatives of state administrative bodies, educational institutions, and vocational training institutions.
More than 100 delegates from 20 states (Azerbaidzhan, Belarus, Bel­gium, Bulgaria, Germany, Georgia, Spain, Poland, Russia, Romania, Sin­gapore, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Canada, China, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Switzerland, Estonia) took part in FIATA Regional Meeting preparation.
The agenda was very busy. The delegates discussed future prospects of international corridors networks improvement and introduction of more considered transport policy aimed at elimination of financial and adminis­trative bottlenecks at national level in the framework of international freight traffic.
 
The FIATA REU Chairman, Mr. Jean-Claude Delen (Belgium), opened the Conference. In his opening remarks he pointed out that the place for First Filed Meeting in Ukraine that gathered freight forwarding organiza­tions, business institutions that are more or less involved in sea, air or rail traffic, was chosen not by chance. Odessa region located on the cross­roads of main transport routes that link Europe and Asia, has beneficial geographical and geopolitical place – it is very important for trade and economic connections development. There is the possibility to exchange views and experience, discuss the problems of industry and activity of freight forwarders, carriers, customs brokers. It will increase cooperation between companies-partners from CIS states, Europe and Asia.
The next speaker was Mrs. Olga Sadovskaya – Head of Department of Economic, Investment Policy and Foreign Trade of Odessa City Coun­cil. She pointed out that according to statistics Odessa is the first in the number of freight forwarders and freight forwarding organizations operat­ing. It is caused by favorable geographical position, specifics of transport infrastructure. Transport sector in the system of city budget can be defined as the forming as transport services make up 92 %. But Mrs. Sadovskaya also mentioned that notwithstanding the general positive dynamics of transport industry, the region hasn’t reached the wished level. The trend of decreasing of cargo turnover at sea and air transport, the road transport is actively develops (we speak about subjects of transport process – resi­dents of Odessa region – editor’s remark). Road transport develops most actively in passenger traffic. It occupies 70% of transport services market. According to city authorities, such redistribution of transport services as regards to region peculiarities is unnatural. Mrs. Sadovskaya hopes that this meeting and discussion of the problems will contribute to solving and overcoming of these problems as well as to efficient policy forming.
 
Head of Odessa Railways, Mr. Ilya Levitskiy, took the floor. He pointed out that modern transport process puts increased requirements to freight forwarder as architect of transport process. Due to Odessa Railways loca­tion, there are great possibilities for freight forwarding sector develop­ment. Among the main problems that impede this process is poor planning and inflexible approach of all parties involved in transport process. These problems impede efficient transport work.
The delegate also dwelled on development of container transport in Odessa Railways. Today 9 container trains are put into operation (in 2007 there were 99 trains, during 1 quarter of 2008 – there are 71 trains)
In these conditions, the key to solve these problems is interactivity and cooperation between railways and freight forwarders.
 
The reports of Mr. Heiner Rogge, that represented German Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics, “Freight forwarder and the rail”, and Mrs. Katrin Rae – rep­resentative of Estonian Association of Freight Forwarders, “Container traffic of Estonian Railways”, sounded quite the same. They said that today the main aim is strengthening of links connections between freight forwarders and other participants as well as development of connections between associations as they face the same problems.
The next speaker was Director General of “Ukrvnesh­trans” Mr. Evgeniy Novikov. In his report “Develop­ment of international connections of “Ukrvneshtrans” in the field of freight forwarding activity” he highlighted that the scope of problems discussed by the participants of FIATA Regional Meeting became wider. Mr. Novikov pointed out that one of the main positions of the association is enlarge­ment and support of international relations. It contributes to cooperation in freight forwarding technologies, creation of sustainable global logistics bridge between Europe and Asia and to increase in quality of vocational training and freight forwarding image of Ukraine in general.
 
Specifics of the image is its existence independently from what is done for it. Whether you do something for it or not – it will develop. But the question is of what kind it will be.
In his report Mr. Novikov attracted participants’ attention to the efforts taken by FIATA to increase vocational training level. At the meeting of ABVT under the chairmanship of Mr. Tomas Sim the presentation of vocational training program of “UKRVNESHTRANS/AIFFU was made. It was prepared in compliance with FIATA Minimum standards. The program was successfully validated. Certificate of re-validation was awarded. It gives the right to issue FIATA diplomas during 4 years. Cooperation with CLECAT continues. Association reached new level of cooperation with OSJD in 2007.
 
For every participant of transport process it is obvious that apart from delays at border and customs controls, poor infrastructure impedes the movement of transport. To overcome this restriction it is necessary to create transport and logistics centers that function on the base of advanced technologies. In 2007 at TACIS TRACECA final meeting the Agreement on further cooperation with Dutch Institute NEA Transport Research and German company of managing consultants Wagener&Herbst Agreement on cooperation between Association of Russian freight forwarders and “Ukrvneshtrans” was signed.
 
The discussions on close relations with Kazakhstan As­sociation of Freight Forwarders resulted in Agreement on cooperation. On the base of the experience of two asso­ciations, the parties agreed on cooperation and coordina­tion of actions in transport and freight forwarding sector. In includes exchange of information on legislative provi­sions in transport sector, applied tariff rates, rules and new technologies, coordinated actions to solve the problems of freight forwarding, development and conduction of mutual events for freight forwarder’s image, exchange of experi­ence, combining of efforts and possibilities of associations in implementation of common strategy in vocational training on the base of FIATA minimum standards, contribution in im­provement of control systems in freight forwarding market.
 
Finally, Mr. Novikov expressed the hope that the achieved agreements both with western and eastern partners will be the reliable platform for our associations’ members for set­ting close mutual relationships.
Director of Association of Russian Freight Forwarders Mr. Uriy Sitkov highly evaluated the meetings hosted by FIATA. He pointed out the necessity to meet more often. Giving the characteristics to the market of freight forwarding services of Russian Federation, he mentioned that according to the experts, this market is fast developing and this trend will retain in future. Assessing the current position in the mar­ket, he highlighted that today 20% of market is occupied by international freight forwarding organizations and in future it is forecasted that theirs share will reach 50% and with WTO entry the share will increase 1.5 minimum. Although Russian freight forwarders handle the whole national goods turnover, it is necessary to think about the future as regards to forecasts.
One more important direction of Association is partici­pation in development and forming of legislative base in freight forwarding industry. Although today freight forward­ing FIATA documents are not acknowledged by RF govern­ment, association makes a lot in this direction. The growing importance has certification of freight forwarding services quality. It contributes to increase of competitiveness of as­sociation members, their importance in the market. It is connected with the fact that association as the managing body on certification should know the enterprise, its posi­tion in the market. Council of Association made a decision that after certificate control is finished, its results should be considered at the meeting of the Council at the presence of the head of the enterprise certified. After this meeting the Council will recommend on the certificate.
As for improvement of freight forwarders’ professional level, considering the specifics of the country (distances) the organization lays stress on the distance learning.
Mr. Sitkov thanked FIATA management for their kind as­sistance. He stressed the necessity of partnership between associations in Eastern Europe, first of all, in CIS.
Elena Ilyina, Director General, Byelorussian Association of International Freight Forwarders, spoke on the specifics of freight forwarding industry in Belarus. Freight forwarding is rather young industry in Belarus. All in all there are 1,5 thousand freight forwarders officially registered, the as­sociation includes 130 members. The successful licensing system for freight forwarding activity restricts the activity of so called “black” freight forwarders. In spite of sea outlets, absence the association actively cooperates with container lines and thus provides maritime traffic.
 
Among the existing problems E. Ilyina especially noted that at present moment in Belarus there are no transport & logistic centers. But Byelorussian Transport Ministry has already developed the concept of their development, which is on approval now.
 
Zurab Shangelia, the representative of Georgian Freight Forwarders Association, informed about the development of freight forwarding industry in Georgia. Among the main aspects of Association activity he specified: participation in preparation and assessment of draft regulatory acts in transport, freight forwarding, tax and customs legislation; freight forwarders advanced training, and here the associa­tion lays stress on the Ministry and Institutions of Higher Education; development of logistic centers; coordination of work between TRACECA states.
 
Elchin Gulamov informed that Azerbaidzhan Freight Forwarders Association lays stress on the improvement of Azerbaidzhan transport network. Today main and global problem is territorial integrity.
The role of cooperation between freight forwarders as­sociations and carriers in promotion of regional trade was noted in the report of Rashid Ibragimov, Deputy Chairman of Uzbekistan Association of International Freight Forward­ers. He stressed that regional cooperation facilitates mutual experience exchange, learning, assessment and compari­son of the results, setting cross-border contacts, mutual support between business associations and creation of high image of the region in general.
In order to solve the arising problems, related to cargo traffic, on 19.10.2007 during the meeting in Tashkent the decision was made about the creation of „Union of National Freight Forwarders and Carriers Associations „ (UNFFC) with the Excusive Board in Tashkent. Transport associations from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan signed the Agreement on the development of re­gional union. The interest for participation in the Union was shown also by freight forwarders associations from China and Turkmenistan.
 
UNFFC is the organization which regulates the current activity of national associations. Each national association is absolutely independent in its activity. The main princi­ple of the Union is non-intervention into the internal af­fairs of the participants, equality, mutual responsibility and voluntariness of cooperation. UNFFC is opened for other associations, whether as participants or observers. The Un­ion is going to take part in studying of current situation in transport sector both in states of this region and in other states, where there are economical interests of member companies.
UNFFC shows its efficiency already today by the initializa­tion and development of modern regional projects. One of such projects is the creation of regional logistic monitoring service and Green Way portal, which in perspective should become the great project. The organizations, directly re­lated with freight forwarding activity, as well as traders will be involved in project implementation. Such organizations, for example in Uzbekistan, are: Uzbekistan Association of International Freight Forwarders (UAIFF), Uzbekistan Asso­ciation of International Road Carriers (UAIRC), Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI). The company with IT experience, which will undertake the development of informational portal, will also be included into the project implementation. UAIFF as operator, UAIRC as carrier and UAIRC as customer are three main components in the de­velopment of regional cargo traffic and regional trade.
 
At present moment the concept of creation of modern logistic centers with advanced technology and modern standards in Central Asia is being intensively studying now.
The development of logistic centers, in spite of consider­able investments, really allows reducing of transport costs and involvement of small and medium business entities into the development of international trade, their rate in GDP of Central Asian States is constantly increasing.
The implementation of these projects will facilitate the development of transport and favourable conditions for trade increase in Eurasian region.
Ilya Segal, Executive Director of Kazakhstan National Freight Forwarders Association, informed about the situa­tion in freight forwarding industry in Kazakhstan.
He noted that as acknowledged and equal partner, the association takes part in the discussion and preparation of decisions in different field and interdepartmental working  groups, promptly solving the current and strategic objec­tives on freight forwarding industry development, some problems of their member companies. The work is being carried out on the implementation of international quality standards for all services, provided to Kazakh and foreign customers.
Commenting situation in Kazakh freight forwarding mar­ket, I. Segal noted that, when due to the wagons lack and cargo owners requirements of keeping delivery terms the de­mand on freight forwarding services with the use of own ve­hicles and own infrastructure increased; national companies, wishing to meet this demand, began to buy cargo wagons, high-capacity containers, freight terminals, which widened the scope of their activity and the range of their services.
 
The new service – transportation with own cargo wag­ons – had increased so greatly by 2004, that in order to solve its problems the owners of these wagons and contain­ers joined into Kazakh Association of Carriers and Wagon Operators(KACWO). Today 18 KACWO member companies provide above 28 thousand wagons of different types. All in all there are more than 34 thousand cargo wagons in private property, or about 40% Kazakh wagons fleet. These wagons are the property of more than 200 private companies.
Discussing the role of freight forwarding industry in the development of cooperation on cargo traffic cost efficiency, it is necessary consider the necessity of coordination and activation of associations participation in solving of the fol­lowing problems: development of cooperation of business leagues for covering of transport and transit needs of the states for increasing trade.
In his presentation he also stressed the importance of the work with „UKRVNESHTRANS” on Cooperation Agree­ment. I. Segal noted that the Agreement is also opened for other states, public and other organizations, associations and unions, which are interested in partnership for efficient freight forwarding market.
 
There was also stormy discussion about transit potential of Ukraine. This problem was stressed by Yuriy Prikhodko, Ukrainian Association of International Freight Forwarders, in his presentation „Transit potential of Ukraine: prob­lems and their solving”. During FIATA First Field Meeting, region Europe, Yuriy Prikhodko, Director General UAIFF announced that only concrete step-by-step solving of the problems with the use of modern international experience and practice could positively influence the dynamics of transit traffic through Ukraine. «Let us finally realize that the politics, in distinction form business and transport, is developing on the other laws, let us achieve their mutual ex­clusive influence, but also the efficiency of laws appliance, strictly call those who is responsible for non-compliance with international and European strategy of transit traffic development and foreign trade to task»- Prikhodko noted. Today Ukraine urgently needs the introduction of electronic customs and shipping documents, the negotiation of exist­ing problems in the work of regulatory bodies. The freight forwarders hope that the Ukraine’s WTO integration will simplify the process. While addressing to all participants Yuriy Prikhodko announced: «In the situation when the laws do not work, the corruption flourishes, exactions increas­ing, it is high time to act. What are we waiting for? What we hope for? It is time to call spade a spade and to start great work on the creation of favourable conditions for increase and realization of Uraine’s transit potential.»
The topic was developed further in the presentation of V.A.Lugovets, Head of Cargo Traffic Control Department, Ukrainian Customs Service, where he informed about the implementation of single regulatory document and new provisions of goods declaration in Ukraine. The statements of article 76 of agreement about partnership and coopera­tion between EU and Ukraine of 1994 it is provided that the cooperation between EU and Ukraine particularly includes the implementation of single regulatory document in the form, which is applied in EU. Ukrainian customs declara­tion was a bit different, but from 1 January current year new provisions are introduced in Ukraine for issuance of freight customs declaration namely on the blanks, which are applied in EU. Also M. Lugovets in his presentation noted another aspect, related with electronic handling of cargo: ‘’ As we informed at the previous meeting last year, according to Ukrainian Law «On transit» of 18 May 2004, the customs service таможенной settled the procedure of transit rail traffic control on SMGS consignment notes, for the states where it is applied, as well as CIM.
 
The next step was the publication of Directive 1047. This document amends several previous regulatory acts. We made single CIM/SMGS consignment note as the docu­ment which is accepted by customs authorities as transit declaration in rail transit traffic. Point 5 of the Directive clearly shows this: for goods customs clearance CIM or SMGS consignment note is applied, as well as their elec­tronic copies, which includes separate columns from these consignment notes and additional information necessary for customs control, which is mentioned in shipping docu­ments. So this proves another real step from customs serv­ice since our previous meeting.
Also we would like to note that the problems of cargo declaration and electronic declaration in particular, as well problems, connected with cargo handling in the ports, en­couraged us to develop another draft law – amendment of Article 6 of Ukrainian law on cargo transit. We offered to ac­cept standard bill of lading as customs declaration – having amended the law with one simple phrase: in case of mari­time cargo transit within one border-crossing point, the bill of lading should be presented to customs service as tran­sit declaration. This will allow us to implement mechanism which is regulatory mapped out. We have already agreed it with the departments, which today are obligatory in Ukraine when issuance of any regulatory document – these are Min­istry of Finance, State Committee on Business Affairs and Transport Ministry. This document allows us to use the bill of lading as transit declaration and allows our container lines to operate transit traffic within one border-crossing point.
Today to put the container on the transshipment and take it by another vessel it is necessary make the whole scope of different procedures including the submission of freight declaration on the blank of single administra­tive document. It is quite hard. To overcome it and to give freight forwarders, transport operators possibility to handle this issue freely, to make long-term plans, we have pre­pared Draft Law” .
Some participants came to Odessa for the first time. With the great interest they took part in excursion program to see historical monuments and feel the atmosphere of multinational city founded by enterprising immigrants from Europe and Russian Empire.

After it, participants of First Field Meeting met at the Gala Dinner in “Sady Pobedy” (Gardens of Victory) restaurant, where they were delighted to use the possibility given by organizers to see the show program. The evening finished with FIATA diplomas awarding for those who passed vocational training course (FIATA Diploma) which was conducted according to the common AIFFU and UKRVNESHTRANS program validated on 5th of March 2008 in Zurich at FIATA headquarters. Students of Train-the-Trainer course (pedagogy at FIATA vocational training courses). The diplomas were awarded by Jean-Claude Delen, Chairman of FIATA REU and Chairman of ABVT, Mr, Tomas Sim. The distinctive feature of the event is its busy sched­ule, importance of the issued discussed. Participation of various international associations’ representatives, gov­ernmental bodies, and international freight forwarding organizations’ representatives shows the importance of this event for national freight forwarding community and the necessity for further cooperation between Ukrainian authorities and businessmen. Organizers of FIATA regional Meeting is pleased to welcome the guests in Ukraine and wished everybody fruitful work over development of inter­national transport system.


Organizers:

With the support of:

Ministry of Transport and Communications of Ukraine