Over the past three days at the Birmingham NEC, the world of freight and logistics convened to discuss how the last year unfolded and what the industry’s future should look like.
The Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade hosted a series of panels and talks with other sector leaders, guiding people and businesses through what this means for their imports and exports.
Some of the Chartered Institute’s experts gave their takeaways from the panel sessions, covering topics from customs documentation, to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to the realities of shipping.
Anna Doherty, technical director
I was very honoured to be invited to judge the Multimodal awards again this year. The standard of entries across the categories was extremely high and being a judge lets you have a glimpse into what’s happening across the industry in various areas of logistics and supply chains.
There is significant innovation happening across the sector and the Young Logistics Professional award proves that the future of logistics is in safe hands.
The panels this year covered a wide variety of topics highlighting the evolving international trade landscape and the important role of customs and logistics within supply chains.
I was especially pleased to participate in a panel on raising standards across the UK supply chains with HMRC and BIFA, discussing the recently published Standard for Customs Intermediaries and the newly launched consultation on mandatory registration for intermediaries.
The panel discussion was always going to be engaging, but we also had some great questions from the audience with follow up conversations happening long after the panel wrapped up.
Caroline Rowden, customs practice lead
Multimodal reinforced a simple reality: complexity in international trade continues to grow and businesses must continue to evolve with it.
Businesses are navigating an increasingly complex landscape shaped by geopolitical developments, changing regulations, digitalisation and growing demands for supply chain transparency and resilience.
Trade, customs and regulatory compliance are becoming increasingly interconnected, requiring organisations to adopt a more joined-up approach to managing supply chains, customs obligations and compliance risks across multiple jurisdictions.
The challenge is no longer simply moving goods efficiently, it is understanding products, supply chains, trade lanes and markets in sufficient detail to make informed decisions, anticipate change and build the agility needed to respond to an increasingly uncertain trading environment.
Perhaps the most important takeaway was the need to build agility and resilience into supply chains. Volatility and uncertainty are not short-term challenges; they have become part of the operating environment.
Organisations that thrive will be those that create better visibility across their supply chains, strengthen communication between customs, logistics, procurement, finance and compliance teams, and use data to support informed decision-making.
Will Barns-Graham, head of content
One of the key themes was that, in the face of geopolitical uncertainty and fragmentation, UK supply chains and trade are remarkably resilient and adaptable.
However, volatility and uncertainty are here to stay. Businesses and governments must move from a reactive to a proactive mindset, to better anticipate and mitigate future shocks, reducing their impact on prices and growth.
Better integrating supply chain data into government systems is a way of doing this, creating better real-time intelligence to allow governments to plan more quickly as trade flows change.
We’re also seeing increasing professional standards throughout the supply chain - including through new voluntary standards for intermediaries - which should also bolster resilience by ensuring compliance and increasing trader confidence.
Ilona Kawka, senior digital trade and customs consultant
There were strong discussions on different emerging regulations that are being implemented both in the EU and the UK that will affect businesses moving their goods cross-border.
These include CBAM, the EU Deforestation Regulation and many more. This reflects the ongoing complications that many firms face when importing and exporting, as an ever-growing list of regulations adds to the burden for many.
This also leads onto another theme: worries over noncompliance. We answered audience questions regarding the impact of non-compliance, with many businesses saying they faced increasing pressure to keep up to speed and to protect their international trade.
Another issue that came up is close to my heart: border technology. During out sessions with some leading tech experts, we discussed the importance of interoperability, the future of the Single Trade Window (STW) and other issues related to this new digital age of commerce.
But, amid all the talk of the future, there was focus on the traditional tool that many businesses should continue to rely on: relationships within their supply chain.
Phil Adnett, managing editor
It was another packed house at Multimodal. Every year people ask interesting questions and demonstrate their desire to sell British goods to the world.
As we’ve said before, trade and geopolitics have come together heavily over the last few years. We have seen an increasing weaponisation of chokepoints across the world, ranging from the Red Sea to the Strait of Hormuz and the Suez Canal, all of which is hitting shippers and the businesses that use shipping services to sell their goods to the world.
There’s also a considerable amount of regulatory change for businesses to keep up with. The sheer variety and breadth of questions reflected this, as people asked about the possible change in approach to the EU-UK reset, customs documentation, the UK’s upcoming deforestation regulation and the ever-present CBAM.
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