The LME Blog Has Landed… And So Has Trade Digitisation
After months of planning, of late nights and early morning meetings, boardroom brainstorming and decisions made, we’re proud to launch a brand-new recruitment experience for the shipping and logistics sector.
LME Recruitment– Logistics Made Easy has finally arrived.
It’s been a long time coming, we didn’t want to jump the gun and launch our brand-new venture without first having all our ducks in a row.
And now the time has come for the big unveiling. We’re delighted to launch this new fun and inspirational space for people to grow, to commit to continually learning, evolving as a business, one that offers a level of service that’s not just admired. A service that stands head and shoulders above.
We’re here to disrupt the logistics and shipping sector, challenge accepted norms, whilst delivering the kind of client and candidate service that they may not have experienced before.
We invite all our clients and candidates to join us on a bespoke, consultative journey. One focused on supporting, guiding and empowering your business to grow and prosper. As a business, we will build relationships based on trust, transparency and honesty. This is our promise to clients and candidates alike.
Our website mirrors our ethos. To make logistics easy. To raise the bar. A no-fuss, straightforward approach to recruitment in the logistics and shipping sector. One that doesn’t waste your time. That delivers on our promises.
Easy to navigate, intuitive, with a clear user journey and touchpoints, one that delivers a structured, streamlined customer experience to resonate with audiences, every aspect of the LME site has been designed to make your recruitment experience easy… and, if possible, fun.
Take a few moments to browse our site. You’ll discover what makes us different, our values and mission statement, why candidates and clients should choose us, and our latest job listings.
We’ve got a whole lot planned for the coming months and into 2023. Stay tuned and you won’t miss out. Trust us. We know our stuff, have our fingers on the pulse of what’s going on in the sector.
Tonnes of content is coming your way in the coming months, from news to guides – basically the stuff that you need to know to stay ahead of the curve. Content that shapes opinions, that cuts through all the hearsay and tells it like it is.
Now on with the show!
What’s Happening in the Logistics and Shipping Sector
Now that the big announcement’s out of the way, it’s time to get to the nitty gritty of what our blog’s all about: keeping you up to speed with everything that’s happening in the recruitment, logistics and shipping sectors. Sharing the stuff that you need to know.
So, what’s going on? Why should you continue to come back to our blog every week? What’s the subject of our first blog?
Keep reading to find out…
Logistics News Hot of the Press!
The UK has a grand plan to digitise trade. But what does this mean for the logistics sector? Are we about to see a wholesale digital evolution of the sector? We don’t have a crystal ball, but the news certainly is interesting.
The future of logistics may be upon us. And so far it has come up smelling of roses. You might be wondering what on God’s green earth are we talking about. We’ll tell you. In the next three weeks, bouquets of flowers will arrive at London’s Stanstead airport from Kenya. Why is that notable? It is one of the very first examples of a consignment of goods exported to the UK using almost entirely electronic document.
Digital disruption has arrived.
The consignment is part of a much larger trail, one that tests the viability of an entirely digital model for trading practices. Arranged by the Institute of Exports & International Trade (IOE&IT) in collaboration with Trademark East Africa, the Trade Logistics Information Pipeline initiative (TLIP) is just one of a series of government sponsored pilots to demonstrate how effective data capture can be to customs officials before the container even leaves the country of origin.
Now, this sounds like a whole lot of sector-specific babble so let us simplify. It basically means that the endless form filling that comes along with goods exports may well become a thing of the past.
The ‘Brexit’ Effect
Post Brexit, UK exports have faced headaches. Nowhere is this more evident than in the export of foodstuffs from the UK to the EU. Companies have been forced to meet strict regulations, endless documents just to move their goods across the channel.
There was a recent story of a large supermarket chain moving a container of frozen pizzas across the channel. Sounds simple, right? According to the director general of the IEO&IT, it took two customs officials eight hours to clear and certify the shipment. This one shipment required 140 individual documents.
That’s insane.
Paperwork headaches have contributed to a decline in 2022 UK exports to the continent to the tune of around 14% compared to 2021. Unsurprisingly, stories like this have shone a spotlight on the government’s efforts to build a successful post-Brexit trading framework.
The Digitisation of Trade
Is it any surprise that the focus is now on improving the efficiency of exports? It’s believed that digital innovation through actions like export and import data capture through online forms, streamlining processes, optimising efficiency, eventually AI integration will save as much as £225 billion to both the public and private sectors.
It’s not just about ditching clipboards, though when you think about it, using clipboards to organise potentially hundreds of millions, heck billions of pounds worth of imports and exports, sounds kind of irresponsible. After all, paper rips, gets wet, flies off, gets lost. Paper is hardly known for its durability!
Meanwhile, the process that underpins who the UK trades with the rest of the world is becoming increasingly rigid. If left unchanged, it could cause more and more supply chain headaches, delays in getting goods from port to market could become more costly – this will have a knock-on effect on the cost of products, something that will hardly be welcomed at a time when people are already feeling the pinch.
Anything that reduces potential delays and the need for oversight intervention whilst speeding up the transfer of documents can only be a good thing.
The Electronic Trade Documents Bill
As revealed on 10th May this year, the Electronic Trade Documents Bill – which places electronic trading documents on the same legal footing as paper documents – was the biggest giveaway as to the future of the export-import processes.
The announcement will have considerable impact on the costs, duration and environmental impact of customs processes. Does it mean that customs officers will, in the very near future, need to be tech whizzes? No. They will likely have to have a period of training to use the digital tech though. But hey, if people can use Twitter and Facebook they can use digital platforms for customs imports and exports.
Let’s face it, everything has already or will continue to go digital… there’s even less paper money in circulation than there has been for decades and some experts as predicting that by the year 2026, the UK may well be a cashless society.
It’s believed that the move from paper-based to digital-focused documentation will help businesses to streamline operations, improve efficiency and support economic growth.
What Does the Future Hold for LME?
The future’s bright and we’re excited to start making serious inroads into disrupting the logistics and recruitment sector. Expect us to make serious waves in the coming months and into 2023.
We do things differently. But that’s good. No business ever achieved sustained success without challenging the status quo, playing it too safe. LME is a bold, fresh look at what a group of dedicated, knowledgeable recruiters can do when they work together.
Our first blog mirrors this ethos. We haven’t played it safe. Done the same old, same old. We’ve brought you news hot of the press. This is what you can expect from LME, a business that has its ear to the ground, that knows what’s going on.
Did you really expect our first blog to be about the Felixstowe strikes?
