GSF and NITL USA invite Masakorala to speak at annual conference

Wednesday, 12 March 2014 01:22 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) will host the eighth world cargo symposium which kicked off on Monday long with the Global Shippers’ Forum (GSF) in Los Angeles, United states of America. The global gathering of industry specialists will discuss matters pertaining to international transportation, international trade and global outlook for the sector in the coming years. The National Industrial Transport League (NITL) of USA, along with the London based GSF has invited Sri Lanka’s Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) Logistics Committee Chairman and the CEO of the Shippers’ Academy Colombo to speak on two important sessions at the annual GSF gathering. Masakorala, who is also the immediate past Secretary General of the Asian Shippers’ Council (ASC), has been requested to present the recent legislative reforms that were brought in by the government of Sri Lanka, to bring in transparency and to eliminate anticompetitive practices in the shipping economy. Sri Lanka has taken a lead role in establishing guidelines to eliminate the practice of unbundling of freight which had led to serious erosion of competitive environment of traders. The GSF has reported that this problem has been more prevalent in Asia, Africa and Latin America as most of the developed countries the buyers were controlling the freight and have had less impact as they had competition authorities in the legal system to check on anti-competitive practices. Therefore it is said that the intension of the GSF is to understand and to disseminate the Sri Lankan message to the rest of the world especially in developing Asian countries where most cargo originates. The second presentation that Masakorala has been requested to present is on commercial terms, known as INCOTERMS. He was instrumental in getting more clarity into the INCOTERMS 2010 and was providing consultative details to International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Paris when the 2010 edition was drafted. In fact he has been invited to be in the voluntary consultative panel of ICC on INCOTERMS, as he serves as a board member of the ICC Sri Lanka. At the GSF, Masakorala will present a paper, seeking the support of GSF members to promote the use of correct commercial terms as most shippers and service providers today continue to use wrong terms such as CIF, CFR and FOB when containerised cargo is being shipped through modern container terminals. Sri Lankan Shippers’ Council Vice Chairman Sean Van Dort will also represent Sri Lanka at the GSF.