20 June 2012
Press Release: CLECAT welcomes Green Light for Modular System in cross-border traffic
CLECAT welcomes the recent clarification of the European Commission on the cross-border journeys of the European Modular System (EMS). In a recent letter from Vice-President Siim Kallas to the Chairman of the Transport and Tourism Committee of the European Parliament certain points of the Directive 96/53/EC on weights and dimensions in road transport were clarified. The Commission has confirmed that the cross-border movements of EMS combinations between consenting Member States which allow their use on their national territory is allowed and in line with the spirit of subsidiarity.
29 May 2012
Freight advice workshops for 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic games
Transport for London (TfL) will hold European Freight advice workshops for London 2012 in Paris, Lille and Holland, with the intention of ensuring freight and servicing companies are aware of the possibility of impacts to their operations and to help them understand how to plan for this to maintain as far as possible ‘business as usual’.
25 May 2012
CLECAT disappointed by EU deal on Sulphur
CLECAT regrets that the EU has not taken the views of the European business and industry into account in a time of economic difficulty and has not responded to the joint industry call to postpone the strict sulphur limits to allow investments in mass production of low sulphur fuel and development of cost-efficient abatement technologies.
22 May 2012
CLECAT alarmed by restrictions imposed by TRENITALIA for transport of hazardous goods
The Association of European Freight Forwarders and Logistics, CLECAT, has alerted the European Commission on concerns expressed by its members on the recent announcement by Trenitalia implying a limitation of the free movement of dangerous goods vehicles in Italy. Trenitalia has introduced, with immediate effect, a restriction for ECM (Entity in Charge of Maintenance) in Italy: Railcars that contain hazardous goods now have to be managed by an ECM with a self-declaration of conformity rather than certification.
22 May 2012
CLECAT calls on Commission to reject a call from Nordic road freight operators to suspend cabotage
The Association of European Freight Forwarders and Logistics, CLECAT, is calling on the European Commission to reject a call from Nordic road freight operators to introduce a temporary six months opt-out of EU’s cabotage rules. The road associations from Sweden, Denmark and Finland have called on their Transport Ministers to seek support from the European Commission to change the cross-border movement of trucks from the Baltics and Eastern Europe into Scandinavia.
15 May 2012
Concerns expressed to MEPs over Rail Recast Package
CLECAT, representing freight forwarders and logistic companies, the shippers (ESC) and the independent rail freight companies (ERFA) have written an open letter to Members of the European Parliament regarding their views, expectations and concerns over the European Commission’s proposal for a directive establishing a single European railway area (Recast) COM(2010)475.
07 May 2012
CLECAT calls for investments in Infrastructure for Growing and Driving the EU economy
Debating the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) instrument at an event hosted by MEP Filip De Backer last week, Mark Huybrechts, President of the European Freight Forwarders Organisation, CLECAT, said that this instrument published by the European Commission in October last year, represents a big leap forward in the transport policy field for many years. Together with the TEN-T guidelines they establish the framework for the building of one trans-European network, complementing national infrastructure policies and adding genuine European value to them.
23 November 2011
CLECAT Members elect new President and new Board
On November 16th, just one day ahead of the Freight Forwarders’ Conference held in the magnificent venue of the WCO headquarters, the CLECAT General Assembly elected a new Board, including a new President.
A large number of delegates coming from all Member Countries elected the entire Board by acclamation.
Clive Broadley (left) and Marc Hubrechts (right)
The new Board is formed by the following individuals:
PRESIDENT
Marc Huybrechts
BE
SECRETARY GENERAL
Francesco Parisi
IT
TREASURER
Frank Huster
DE
CHAIR OF AIR INSTITUTE
Klaus Pfab
FR
VICE CHAIR OF AIR INSTITUTE
Andrew Melton
UK
CHAIR CITI
Pierre Cornet
FR
VICE CHAIR OF CITI
Mario de Matos Oliveira
PT
CHAIR OF MARITIME INSTITUTE
Willem van der Schalk
DE
VICE CHAIR OF MARITIME INST.
Robert Keen
UK
CHAIR OF RAIL INSTITUTE
Ivan Petrov
BG
VICE CHAIR OF RAIL INSTITUTE
Veronique Corduant
BE
CHAIR ROAD INSTITUTE
Mark Bromley
UK
VICE CHAIR OF ROAD INSTITUTE
Jeroen Eijsink
NL
CHAIR OF SECURITY INSTITUTE
Maurizio Fasce
IT
VICE CHAIR OF SECURITY INST.
Sören Kullberg
SE
ELECTED, WITHOUT PORTFOLIO
Frantisek Komora
SK
ELECTED, WITHOUT PORTFOLIO
Jerzy Wójtowicz
PL
For more information, please see this Press Release.
13 September 2011
CLECAT's 11th Annual Freight Forwarders' Conference
The 11th edition of the
Freight Forwarders’ Conference
Thursday, 17th of November 2011
“FACILITATION and COMPLIANCE”
Logistics Service Providers
facing compliance challenges and seeking facilitation
The FFC2010 material is far from
being obsolete, but we are now facing the challenges of 2011. Last year we have
seen that embracing the objective of reducing emissions, to eventually
decarbonise EU transport and logistics, is now mainstream thinking of our
companies’ management: it has even entered their commercial processes, despite
the fact that our Members still regret the absence of a commonly agreed
measurement system for CO2 emissions.
The freight forwarding sector has
learnt that there is great value in compliance, which is today the main
building block of our companies’ reputations. This is the reason why this year we have asked
a number of distinguished professionals to explain how compliance can be more
or less burdensome and how they managed to reap certain advantages by enhancing
the compliance element of their processes. The idea was that trade facilitation
is not an abstract concept, but it becomes realistic if it is triggered and
justified by compliance.
Today’s logistics landscape is
scattered with a number of constraints that make the flow of goods all the more
difficult, exactly when our technology should make it simpler. We face both old
and new challenges in our quest for compliance. Social legislation, corporate
social responsibility and fiscal compliance rightfully require a continuous
improvement in standards. Improvements in the protection of the environment are
featured in the agendas of our management meetings, as they are perceived as a
strong competitive element. Supply chain security is all-embracing and
logistics without safety and security awareness seems today uncanny. Non-proliferation
treaties are putting a strain on our business processes and, last but certainly
not least, full compliance with competition rules is an idea that our sector
has learnt how to fully embrace.
In simple terms, making business
choices in logistics today is more complex than it was a few decades ago.
Making business choices is however at the very heart of entrepreneurship. The
role of a representative federation such as CLECAT is to help its members to
deal with the panoply of requirements, so that their member companies can also
make well informed decisions in their business, whilst complying with existing
legislation. With the FFC2011 the goal is to portray the picture of reputed logistics
companies that have been able to achieve facilitation through their compliant
records thereby extending the benefit to their customers.
Compliance also has another crucial
aspect in today’s logistics business pertaining to the area of investments. Both
public and private investments that are not mindful of present and future
compliance run the risk of being wasted. This latter aspect of compliance is central
in CLECAT’s activities and drives our work with the EU’s future legislative agenda.
There are also other aspects of
regulatory compliance that have emerged in our assessment as strong discussion
items: is the enhanced compliance with the regulatory pressure just a burden
for business or can it also stimulate innovation? Is voluntary best practice at
odds with regulatory compliance, or is the former the best way to prepare the
implementation of the latter?
With this last tease in mind, we
look forward to seeing you again at the conference. We hope that the programme we have prepared will
attract your attention and elicit your reactions. CLECAT
Members are very thankful to the speakers and panellists that have confirmed
their participation.
The CLECAT Secretariat
View the Conference programme here
Register for the Conference here
Practical Information here
13 September 2011
Nicolette van der Jagt is CLECAT's new Director General
Nicolette van der Jagt has succeeded Marco Sorgetti as the Director General of CLECAT following Mr Sorgetti’s selection as the new Director General of FIATA in Zurich. The President and the Secretary General are pleased to have secured the appointment of Nicolette van der Jagt and that Nicolette will ensure a smooth transition and will continue and expand the achievements secured under Mr Sorgetti’s leadership.
For more information, please see the attached Press Release.