Peak logistics bodies agree to combine activities including their national awards and local events, Chair won't rule out a merger
By Anna Game-Lopata | May 3, 2013
Australia’s Chartered Institute for Logistics and Transport (CILTA) will hold
its National Transport and Logistics Awards event jointly with the Supply Chain and Logistics Association of Australia (SCLAA) in Sydney this November.
The SCLAA is currently in the process of re-uniting with the Logistics Association of Australia (LAA) from which it split in 2006.
CILTA Chairman Andrew Stewart says given the pace of change in the industry, he will not rule out a merger with the
peak logistics bodies following their successful reunion, but says it would not be “this year, or next year or the following.”
However Stewart confirms CILTA, the local section of CILT, an expanding global supply chain entity originating in the UK, is taking “small steps” towards working together with like-minded Australian industry bodies like the SCLAA.
“CILTA and SCLAA have been negotiating over several months to combine some activities including the national awards and local events,” Stewart says.
He says the reason for working jointly is to improve the quality of events and to raise the profile of the transport and logistics sectors at a time of “increasing deficit in infrastructure and skills in this large, growing and vital area of the national economy”.
In terms of the awards, Stewart says CILTA and SCLAA have agreed to retain the categories they consider unique to themselves.
In SCLAA’s case it will be the manufacturing-related awards and in CILTA’s it will be the ‘Young Professional’ category.
“This year there will be an extra cash reward for the winner of the Young Professional award, along with the usual trip to CILT’s annual International Conference,
this year to be held
in Sri Lanka,” Stewart says.
Stewart says it’s a “good thing” the SCLAA and LAA have agreed to patch their differences.
“It’s like a family coming back together,” he says.
He says there is a place for more than one Logistics industry body in Australia, given they each have slightly different roles.
“But there is definitely room for unity in some areas, for working together on common goals to avoid double handling and to improve the quality of events like the awards,” Stewart says.
“We need to improve the profile of supply chain and to properly recognise the contribution of the many players.
“We also need to get the regulators, many of whom are CILTA members, talking with industry people. This is something we all have in common,” he says.
Meanwhile Stewart says CILTA is making good progress.
“Our paid membership is growing, including international memberhips for the first time in six years, and we are actively expanding in China, Brazil and the Middle East which provides excellent networking for our members in global logistics,” Stewart says.
He adds CILT UK, which has nine full time course developers, is now offering professional development in China as an approved member organisation for the first time.
It has also become an active supplier of supply chain curriculum to the Middle East as a result of the Emirates-Qantas alliance.
In addition CILTA has been providing complementary transport and logistics courses to Indian mining companies in Queensland’s goldfields.
The awards evening will be held at the Sydney Opera House on November 28.