Agility and customer focus remain central to the freight forwarding profession, conference told

Earlier this month, FIATA Senior Vice-President Mr Jens Roemer spoke at the panel “How are cargo owners and freight forwarders reacting to the changing world?” during the 4th edition of the Logistics for Europe Conference, organised by CLECAT and the European Shippers’ Council here. The session also featured Mr Nanne Schriek, Project Manager Supply Chain Management at evofenedex, and was moderated by Ms Anne Kerriou, Editorial Manager at Upply.

Mr Roemer reflected on the evolution of freight forwarders from transport architects to orchestrators of global connectivity, recalling that FIATA launched the FIATA Multimodal Transport Bill of Lading as early as 1986, enabling seamless movements under a single contract. He noted that strong global networks continue to underpin this service, ensuring reliable end-to-end delivery.

He explained that agility and customer focus remain central to the forwarding profession. Without the burden of owned assets, forwarders can select the most suitable options for their customers and offer tailored multimodal solutions. Their expertise now spans supply chain consultancy, digital trade documentation including the digital negotiable FIATA Multimodal Transport Bill of Lading (eFBL), compliance, resilience, routing optimisation, crisis response, carbon strategies and risk assessment.

Commenting on current market dynamics, Mr Roemer pointed to the increasing concentration of global container shipping and the ongoing “digitalisation paradox”, where technological progress contrasts with longer door-to-door lead times on major corridors. Congestion persists at European terminals, with large vessels, volatile schedules and late closing changes placing pressure on operations. Forwarding teams must repeatedly adapt arrangements to unpredictable arrivals, affecting productivity and motivation.

The panel also discussed human resources as a defining strength and source of vulnerability within the logistics sector. While disruptions can be anticipated but never precisely predicted, well-trained personnel remain indispensable, and no algorithm or Artificial Intelligence can replace their judgement. The resilience demonstrated during the pandemic reaffirmed this.

Mr Roemer raised concerns regarding congestion, demurrage and detention, noting that container dwell times have more than doubled with larger vessels and shifting schedules. Terminal capacity limits make these conditions difficult to manage. He observed that reducing free demurrage and detention periods does not improve fluidity when dwell times remain high, and called for reasonable free times to ensure that tariffs fulfil their intended purpose.

Cooperation across the maritime supply chain also featured prominently in the discussion. While each actor has its own priorities, improving the performance of the supply chain is a shared responsibility and essential for the customers it serves. He underlined the important role of freight forwarders, who benefit from end-to-end visibility and access to high-quality original data and are therefore well positioned to support more connected, efficient and resilient solutions.

He welcomed CLECAT’s call to revisit maritime logistics performance and governance and highlighted FIATA’s contributions through the FIT Alliance, which promotes standardisation and effective use of technology and data, as well as through the Cargo Integrity Group, which advances cooperation to strengthen safety and efficiency, said a release.

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