The British Shippers’ Council (BSC), administered by the Freight Transport Association (FTA), has confirmed its new Chairman and Vice-Chairman for 2014/2015 at its recent meeting held in London.
Taking over as Chairman from Roy Bufton of 3M UK is Gillian Scott, Import Logistics and Compliance Manager for the John Lewis Partnership. Referring to the importance of time–sensitivity in retail supply chains, Ms Scott commented on the BSC’s links with other transport bodies internationally through the Global Shippers Forum and across Europe, which provide a broad range of information for its logistics buyer members; ensured that Council meetings were invariably helpful either when negotiating contracts with its prospective carriers, dealing with operational aspects of the company’s supply chains and keeping up-to-date on regulatory matters affecting shippers.
She added that it was also helpful to learn that other members had similar issues to her own and that valuable lessons could be learnt from discussions with fellow members of the Council.
The newly appointed Vice Chairman is Barry Wallace, International Operations Manager for Marks and Spencer, who supported Gillian’s positive comments about the group, adding that the range of outside speakers and contributors considerably enhanced the value of meetings to members, in particular regarding economic intelligence and forecasting relating to current and future cost trends relating to international shipping and aviation matters, and in providing advance notice concerning changes to future European transport legislation.