Labelmaster survey results

HOW WAS IT FOR YOU?

SURVEY RESULTS • LABELMASTER’S ANNUAL SURVEY THIS YEAR LOOKED CLOSELY AT HOW THE SUPPLY CHAIN HAS REACTED TO THE COVID-19 CRISIS. THERE ARE LESSONS TO BE LEARNED

IN THIS STRANGEST of years, with supply chains in many markets under severe stress as they respond to rapid changes in demand patterns and trade flows, Labelmaster decided to change its annual DG Global Confidence survey to interrogate industry on how dangerous goods professionals are coping. Organised in collaboration with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and HCB, as it has been for the past few years, the survey attracted input from 258 professionals from around the world.

Respondents were asked about the challenges that the Covid-19 crisis has presented them with, the difficulties they have had in responding, and how they see the changes that they have had to make to their processes impacting their activities as the world emerges back to normal.

In some respects the results did not generate surprising results but they did reveal some insights into how certain gaps in current business practices have hindered rapid response to the challenges that the crisis has presented, and how these practices may have to change if industry is to be better positioned to deal with similar challenges in the future.

Given IATA’s global reach and broad membership, 70 per cent of the respondents to the survey worked in the air transport business in some way; 20 per cent were primarily involved in road and rail transport, and 10 per cent in maritime transport. Shippers and consignors represented 40 per cent of the respondents, with freight forwarders accounting for a further 23 per cent; another 31 per cent were airlines and ground service providers, with the remaining 6 per cent being warehousing and third-party logistics (3PL) companies.

VISIBILITY PROBLEMS The survey asked about the main challenges presented by the Covid-19 crisis. Top of the list, according to the respondents, has been the ability to secure transport assets: 37 per cent said they had found this “extremely challenging” and another 35 per cent “somewhat challenging”. Another major problem has been receiving and shipping goods on time, and many also reported problems in receiving complete and timely information from their partners up and down the supply chain.

These responses point to a lack of visibility along the supply chain, despite the widespread availability of systems and platforms to provide and share real-time data. Perhaps this will act as a wake-up call to those operators that have not yet begun to implement such solutions. Similarly, there are neutral platforms available to put shippers and owners of transport assets together, which would help alleviate at least some of the problems that respondents have reported in terms of securing capacity.

Indeed, it is apparent from the survey results that respondents experienced fewer problems in tracking shipments across the supply chain (with only 13 per cent finding this extremely challenging) or in communicating with customers and suppliers. This suggests that, while telematics systems are being deployed, they have not yet been fully integrated into internal business management systems (such as SAP).

Furthermore, if all the partners in the dangerous goods supply chain are to work together more effectively, there is an urgent need for standardisation in the management of transport systems, which the current crisis has made even more apparent.