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By Ali Berrada, President of Logismed
Transport and logistics, a national priority in Morocco
From 14 to 16 June 2022, the 9th Logismed exhibition will take place in Casablanca, partner of France Supply Chain. It illustrates how Morocco has made logistics and Supply Chain an essential lever of its competitiveness.
In Morocco, logistics is a strategic priority. Since 2010, a national strategy has been defined and supported by the King of Morocco. It has been translated into a contract programme between the government and the employers of private companies, in areas as diverse as the creation of platforms and the reduction of CO2 emissions. In 2012, a Moroccan agency for the development of logistics was even created and there is a dedicated minister for transport and logistics, Mohamed Abdeljalil.
The International Transport and Logistics Exhibition for Africa and the Mediterranean illustrates this dynamism, after two years of suspension due to the health crisis. Its primary vocation is, more than ever, to promote the logistics culture in Morocco. It also aims to federate the actors of the sector. A partnership has been established with the Moroccan buyers' association. Other objectives: to promote the logistics professions and of course to provide solutions to companies to improve their competitiveness and performance.
Today, large companies have made their revolution in order to optimise costs, mutualise, increase the quality of service to the customer or outsource. The mass retail sector has contributed to this with companies such as Carrefour (outsourcing of fresh products) or Marjane, the national leader.
A club brings together the logistics and supply chain directors of shippers. The professional and university training system has integrated logistics into its curricula. The objective is now to get SMEs to also take an interest in this lever of competitiveness.
The exhibition reflects Morocco's openness to Europe (20% of participants are foreign) but also to Africa. Morocco is attracting more and more international companies. Decathlon has set up its platform in Tangiers to serve the African market. The quality of the infrastructure and the logistics ecosystem explains this. This was the case in the automobile industry. Would Renault have set up in 2008, without the existence of Tangier Med (ranked 23rd in the world and 1st in Africa) as well as the motorway and the railway linking its factory to the port? In Kenitra, PSA benefits from all these services, just like the automobile equipment manufacturers who call upon specialised service providers for storage or delivery
In 2006, a World Bank study on the competitiveness of logistics in Morocco showed that the overall costs of logistics represented 20% of GDP. Since then, with a strongly exporting economy, Morocco has not ceased to improve its competitiveness in this field.
On June 14, 2022, a Keynote will be hosted by France Supply Chain on the theme: "What are the challenges and major trends of tomorrow's Supply Chain?
HIGHLIGHTS
The war in Ukraine reinforces the need for increased end-to-end visibility
For some months now, international transport has been experiencing major disruptions, largely due to port congestion and shortages of raw materials. According to several insurance companies, this situation is likely to worsen with the war in Ukraine. The Allianz Global Corporate & Speciality Group mentions several threats that could add to the existing difficulties. One of the main risks concerns fuel (especially for cargo ships), the price and availability of which could be a problem. Another danger is cyber-attacks, which could, in the near future, affect the navigation systems of container ships and seriously disrupt maritime freight. Finally, labour shortages are also likely to become a major concern for shipping companies. Indeed, Russian personnel represent a little over 10% of the number of seafarers in the world and Ukrainian personnel 4%. Insurance companies also note that the direct or indirect consequences of the war in Ukraine are likely to affect all economic sectors, but with varying degrees of impact depending on the industry. Thus, the Coface group, a specialist in credit insurance, distinguishes sectors that are more resilient than others. According to this firm, " all industrial sectors are affected, but the most cyclical and energy-intensive, such as petrochemicals, transport, paper and textiles-clothing, will be the most affected". Finally, it cannot be ruled out that international transport players are taking advantage of the confusion to gain certain benefits. As an example, Coface underlines the important variations in the profits of transport companies, with some of them showing very unexpected results: while air freight made a loss of 11% of its turnover in the first quarter, sea freight recorded a profit of 28%! For supply chain managers, these figures corroborate the need to have a clear picture of international flows in real time in order to make the right decisions. In this respect, visibility on transport operations is an imperative to anticipate hazards and react as quickly as possible. To determine the maturity of companies in this area, the Digital Transport lab is currently conducting a major survey. We invite you to respond en masse. The results will be released on 30 June. Answer the survey
NOT TO BE MISSED
Supply Chain Decarbonisation: The Shift Project X SupplyChain4Good collaboration
In 2021, we have drafted a manifesto for a sustainable supply chain and our aim is to have a living document that we continuously enrich with the experiences and projects of our members.
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