Government and trade bodies should accept freight forwarding as a proper industry and should optimise on their capabilities. Unified ministry of transport and logistics should be established integrating all function including air, sea, road transportation, ports and shipping and trade facilitation.
These were the recommendations of Moin A. Malik, Chief Executive officer of Agility Pakistan given in the first International conference on "Logistic and Supply Chain," here on Tuesday at a local hotel. He said that government should encourage investor-friendly financing arrangements & policies enabling more organised players to enter into logistic market. National Trade Corridor Improvement Programme (NTCIP) should be implemented completely with the approx. There will be expected saving of USD 500M per annum - 1.34 percent of the value of imports and exports and 0.45 percent of GDP.
He suggested that integrated multi-model networks and enhanced Ports facilities will lead to a unified and integrated network where goods can move efficiently, thus reducing the cost of transportation he added. He pointed out that trained manpower to manage specialised tasks. Need is to build the capacity of the industry's work force. Pakistan International Freight Forwarders Association (PIFFA) has established certified training courses on freight forwarding - however this needs to be further enhanced for the promotion of the logistic supply chain.
Without necessary legislation to meet the requirement of Global Trade and improvement on Linux Professional Institutes (LPIs) economy of the country can not be Opportunities. He said "Pakistan's geographical location can make it a strong Hub for the flow through traffic between Asia and Europe. Our strategic project of AWADAR Port could make us an obvious choice/market as logistics hub to cater for transit trade to and from Afghanistan, CIS and Western China.
He further said that Pakistan is attractive consumer market with the rising population and consumer market of over 180 million people, Pakistan is also an attractive retail market in terms of potential growth for temperature controlled cargo mainly poultry products, fast food chain, consumer products (ice creams, dairy, edibles & pharmaceuticals.
He said that Logistics infrastructure presently, underserved logistics infrastructure is a key opportunity for the industry players. Declaring and providing required infrastructure for Pakistan's Port to be a trans-shipment hub offering air/sea or sea/air facilities can bring a lot of savings for our exports & imports. He said the logistic industry is facing lot of challenges due to inconsistent government policies. Electricity & fuel cost are the major components of logistics operating cost which is continuously rising he enunciated.
"High interest rate vs. Profit returns and high risk on credit in this vulnerable market is a challenge for this highly capital intensive product, unavailability of financial arrangement from government in terms of soft loans or tax relaxation to boost this industry. He said that although the transport sector is functional, its inefficiencies with long waiting and travelling times, high costs, and low reliability are dragging the country's economic growth? The poor performance of the sector is estimated to cost the economy four to six percent of GDP each year.
Tahir Malik, Chairman ACAAP, also criticised the government for failing to cater to improve the airfreight to support business community, which was contributing billions in taxes every year. He said that the national carrier did not have a single cargo aircraft, no proper cargo complex was built in Pakistan till 2001 in addition to unavailability of shells at air freight units for perishable goods, which resulted in the decay of a large quantity of items like mangoes and kinnows as well as pilferage.
Due to lack of facilitation in airfreight by the government, he said that the business community was inclined to go for foreign carriers and providing a business of $1.5billion per annum to various foreign airlines. He stressed the need to establish a proper cargo complex to house costly export goods including leather, textile, surgical and sports goods as well as livestock.
He emphasised upon the government to take this industry seriously to generate revenues and also recognise freight business as an industry. "We can become world leader in air freight due to government's support but are lagging far behind due to lack of it," he lamented. Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), President Irfan Q. Shaikh also stressed the need to remove impediments in the way of logistics and supply chain management, which would be of paramount importance in trade with India and Afghanistan.
"The role of trucking will increase up to four times with the collapse of rail freight in the country," he added. However, he stressed upon the private sector to take over freight trains to avail the cheapest mode of cargo transportation, which would also improve the networking in rural and urban areas in the country.
Muhammad Nadeem Khan, another leading logistics expert, underlined the need to follow the modern trends and technologies to facilitate the consumers and capture the market. He advised the traders and business community to facilitate the customers on the Internet, social networking sites with relevant information and form virtual and digital contacts to meet the market requirements in a more effective manner.
He was also of the view that attacks on Nato containers on the way were extremely disastrous for the poor transporters because such acts of sabotage were not doing any harm to Nato. Iftikhar A. Malik, while speaking as chief guest, termed the logistics and supply chain as the lifeline of economy in the country. He said that floods had damaged the road infrastructure, which inflicted a heavy loss on road transportation of goods.
However, he also expressed his concern over lack of initiative on the part of business community to improve the air, sea, and rail and road logistics and supply chain system in the country. He urged the private sector to get up and face the challenges rather than looking for shortcuts whether the government would come forward and strengthen the logistics and supply chain management in the country. "If a warehouse can be established across the border, then why freight forwarders are sleeping here," he wondered, adding that business community needed to minimise the inventory and become doer and deliverer.
Besides, Vice President FPCCI, Amir Atta Bajwah, Chairman PIFFA, Asim Saeed Khan, President SCAP, Muhammad Qayser Alam, Publicity Channel CEO, Naeem Qureshi, Conference Director Mehmood Tareen, Amer Zafar Durrani and others also addressed participants on the occasions.