‘Beyond Forwarding’ theme of SLFFA’s 2010 fund raiser

Sri Lanka Freight Forwarders’ Association’s (SLFFA) 2010 annual fund raiser has been themed ‘Beyond Forwarding” and will be dedicated to the further development of its training arm AITT, (Academy of International Trade and Transport) which operates as a nonprofit organisation which works towards the development of Education in the logistics industry of Sri Lanka.

The event in the form of its biennial Dinner Dance will be held on 19 November at the Waters Edge, Battaramulla.  

The Sri Lanka Freight Forwarders’ Association (SLFFA), established in 1981, is the apex body of freight forwarders in Sri Lanka.  It has a membership of 90 leading freight forwarders in Sri Lanka.

Chairman Tony de Livera said that in the past years SLFFA had always organised the annual ‘Dinner Dance’ event to support a worthy cause within our society.

He said that due to the enthusiasm and support shown by the freight forwarding fraternity on the areas of training and education, the Association in November 2006 launched the Academy of International Trade and Transport (AITT).  

AITT was formed with the support of the transport division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).  Being a non-profit making venture the primary objective of AITT is to provide professional training for the Freight Forwarding and the logistics industry to develop the professional skills and enhance the knowledge level of our human resources engaged in the total logistics industry to be in-line with international standards.

To meet the continual development of skills and educational need for upgrading in this industry, AITT, has been conducting well designed Diploma and Certificate courses directly relevant to the trade and industry at subsidised cost levels that has benefited all the participants immensely.

Most of the courses are targeted at industry professionals and operators who are keen to undertake a part-time diploma/certificate to develop their skills. The courses are designed to equip students with effective technical and managerial skills, necessary to become efficient logisticians at the supervisory and managerial levels. In addition, the programmes aim to impact the essential knowledge and pre-requisites for the pursuit of further education in business or logistics management.

SLFFA said the industry of ‘Transportation and Logistics’ is a motivator that drives one’s ‘career’ with constant challenges. A profession with a learning curve that never peaks in your career, with its  sheer complexity and dynamic nature of the transport and logistics industry, which  has been a source of constant amazement, occasional consternation to many who had embraced this industry.

Supply Chain Asia Forum Country Representative and CEO Peter Barbut (CMILT-UK)  in a message said:

“Today, the logistics industry is rapidly expanding to become one of the most vibrant in the world. The role of logistics professionals in all areas of the industry will have an increasingly significant impact on this growing economic sector in the future in Sri-Lanka and the Asian continent.”

To meet the continual need for upgrading this industry, The Academy for Trade and Transport (AITT), the official training arm of SLFFA, has since its inception in 2007, introduced and conducted the Diploma and Certificate courses directly relevant to the trade and industry and has trained over 500-students who have immensely benefited from its well designed curriculum courses.  From 2011 onwards the academy will also create opportunity to link its students after completing the AITT-higher diploma course to follow a degree qualification in Transport and Logistics Management in partnership with an Australian university.

Barbut said the sheer complexity and dynamic nature of the transport and logistics industry has been a source of constant amazement, occasional consternation and surprise…to more than 40,000 global forwarding and logistics service providers engaging around 10.million professionals  spanning across all the continents, thus  manifesting  as the largest industry engaged in the field of transportation and logistics. It is wonderful to be involved with and engaged in that dynamism, knowing that there are no right answers as such, that nobody has a monopoly of knowledge about how best to run a successful transport and logistics undertaking, and that today’s recipe for success does not guarantee survival tomorrow. Today with constant knowledge update and training, transport professionals can make high-quality decisions, recognising and embracing the risk that is involved having a sense of vision and volition and trying to persuade others to share such an exciting venture…

“The theme of the SLFFA DANCE 2010 is ‘Beyond Forwarding’ is very appropriately rhymed to manifest SLFFA’s commitment towards the education of professional industry skills to deliver best practice standards in logistics management, which has today become so critical to meet the service challengers of customer demands in the total supply-chain movement in the environment of ‘Globalisation’,” Barbut added.

The main sponsor of the SLFFA event is APL Lanka (Pvt) Ltd whilst the principal sponsors John Keells Airline Division, CLS Consolidators (Pvt) Ltd and SLFFA Cargo Services Ltd. Platinum sponsors are Sri Lanka Ports Authority, Cathay Pacific, Wings Logistics (Pvt) Ltd, Freight Links International (Pvt) Ltd, Pership Group and Speedmark Transportation Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. A host of other organisations are also supporting the event.