By Cindy Visser
I remember years ago… I mean years and years ago my dream ‘I have a Dream’ thank you Martin Luther King, to become everything and anything that was so far off the beaten track of my 23 year career and looking back now I wonder…well actually no i don’t, because…. Logistics!
Journalist, Lawyer, Doctor, Vet and my favorite Air Hostess… Lol that’s the funnies because my physic was always going to be the issue but that was then and now is now and if now was then I would have been an Air Hostess.
However, the thought doesn’t even cross my mind, like an ex it stayed in the past because the day I fell into a logistics is the day my world became meaningful and I became the cargo hostess… Slightly closer to travels but cargo gets to travel and I mean… Its close enough.
If you know me Logistics is my life! The passion, knowledge and commitment to the industry is probably not normal, but then again if you chosen the road, pun intended, added to that air and sea, added to that projects, clearance, warehouses, trucks, containers… lions and tigers and bears oh my… Like Dorothy in the wizard of Oz.
Magical, mystical and ever changing. I often say to people who want to learn, the only way is deep end, head first and keep on swimming.
The dynamics of change is revolution or maybe evolution or maybe both.. But when you soul purpose is about growth, profit, trade and negotiations. Literally bringing the world together by one common denominator, someone, somewhere wants to buy or sell cargo that someone somewhere needs it.
Its an ever changing industry where nature is in control… Yes of course a production delay, clearance delay. Trucking, booking, receiving, payments etc… You name it and the ever obnoxious Murphy is always one step ahead…
I started as a PA, moved into operations, customer service, sales sales manager and I guess where the road takes me… Again no pun intended, logistics is like that saying friendship is like a piece of string, it has no end.
Every aspect of that shipment regardless of the incoterm, mode of transport, weight, size or commodity, no matter what, a solution has always been provided. Of course like i said ever changing and what one logistic service provider cannot do another can. It’s forever evolving and change is inevitable.
Nature of course has its own set of rules and probably the one and only time you left brain dead because no matter what transpires or how carefully it’s planned, life, nature, the elements of our existence is completely unpredictable. Planes, trains and vessels have literally come to a standstill due to nature’s service, which is providing the elements to survive..Just maybe a little to aggressive that grounds flights, anchors Vessels in the middle of the ocean, floods roads for the truckers or even the actual people behind the scenes not getting to and from work.
Again we come together and work and evolve through the challenges solutions are inspiration to differentiate one service provider to the next.
Then Covid.. It’s like the never ending story that never ends… But not covid, more ourselves. When did anything, not volcanoes, war, politics, embargoes, tsunamis, etc we etc stop us, but maybe challenge us a little more to box clever.
Covid is another factor of nature challenging us and the only way to get through it, remembering it’s something that hit like a nuclear bomb, we never saw it coming… But then again everything in nature is undetermined… The contributing factors are still the same.
Just like every challenge we faced, which at the time was the worst ever, how did covid paralyze us from evolving?
We are humans are we not, and we seem to forget that. The entire world came to a standstill, we all went into house arrest without knowing exactly why but just that we followed and listened and did as we were told by our Leaders. I mean the last time we felt so vulnerable was at school and yet in one evening, one broadcast and one announcement we were locked down.
Essential cargo became our livelihood… Grocery shopping went from everyday habit to humbleness of running out of milk or bread and then what. Supply and demand became more about necessities then luxury.. I mean I could go on about how every day life became the unknown which is scary and unfamiliar.
Except logistics… Yes vessels stood in queues at ports, countries closed borders to economies of scale where supply and demand wasn’t a factor because our needs were altered from what we live and breath every day to cargo that was going to protect us and save lives.
The difference, every human being was effected, at the same time, same contributing factor, same outcome… What didn’t stop is logistics.
Supply and demand is supply and demand, what we forgetting is that service which is what we offer needs to be a necessity in uncertain times… In no way shape or form has that ever changed… So why stop now.
Just like a pandemic brought the world together… It shouldn’t stop there. Logistics has been bringing the world together from the first trade and nothing can stop the inevitable need and want to live, survive or just spoil ourselves.
Just like human beings cannot satisfy and sustain their lives being alone, neither can we live without resources of sustainability..
That’s logistics… In a impressive ever evolving nutshell to meet our everyday demands.
Cindy can be contacted at email sinsvisser@gmail.com
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