On the web page introducing its Logistics & the Economy Campaign, Logistics UK makes this very important point:
“Logistics is never carried out for its own sake, but only to support the rest of the economy. Anything that adds cost to logistics or makes it harder or slower, adds friction cost into the UK economy. Equally anything we do to make logistics in the UK work better has a direct positive impact: enhancing economic growth, reducing the cost of living and improving the UK’s international competitiveness.”
In January this year, the CIPS (Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply) publication Supply Management posted an article titled “What Products were Most at Risk of Supply Chain Theft in 2022?” This quotes findings from the Supply Chain Insights Report by the British Standards Institution (BSI) which states that:
“Almost one in five (18%) of all global cargo thefts were food items, a five percentage point rise year-on-year, followed by fuel (9%), agricultural goods (9%), electronics (9%) and construction materials (8%).”
The article goes on to explain that:
“Supply chain disruptions over the past year have impacted the ways in which thefts have been carried out, said the report, which analysed supply chain risk in over 200 countries and regions around the world.
“The most common form of supply chain theft was from facilities, accounting for over a quarter of total thefts, increasing from 24% in 2021 to 26% in 2022. The percentage of thefts due to hijacking fell from 24% to 17%.”
Costs and disruption
Relay runs an international freight forwarding service, transporting business, medical, scientific and other specialist electronic assets to every corner of the globe. As with all the consignments we handle, the equipment will have a high monetary value and will be invaluable, and frequently essential, to the end user.
So it is important to emphasise the importance that Logistics UK places on costs to the logistics sector and the effects that they can have on the UK economy. But it is also well worth remembering that the shipments that the logistics sector regularly handles can be essential to customer activities and the public wellbeing.
The risk of theft, but also loss or damage to goods or equipment in transit or storage, must not be allowed to occur. The current disruptive international trading environment makes the objective of delivering high quality safe, secure and efficient services to customers in the UK and overseas more challenging, but by no means insurmountable.
Real-time surveillance
Relay specialises in the handling of high value electronic equipment for delivery and installation at points of end use throughout the UK and around the world. With the BSI survey showing that 9% of global thefts in 2022 involved electronics products, we have a particular responsibility to ensure the utmost security for all customer assets that pass through our hands.
We have always placed a high priority on investing in the latest technology for monitoring and communication. The Technical IT page of our website gives a list of the different methods, such as geofencing and cloud communication, that are used to confirm the exact status of goods in transit.
The same real-time monitoring resources covers our entire national and worldwide network. However, at the end of the day, it is the experience, skills and commitment of the people that work for us that really matters. We believe that this gives Relay the stability and expertise to overcome any foreseeable challenges.