Logistics advisory Global 78 is searching for more businesses to get involved in research to understand how the fruit and vegetable sector can trade most effectively post-Brexit
Logistics researcher Andrew Morgan is on the hunt for more businesses and organisations to participate in his ambitious new project to understand how fresh produce supply chains are adapting to new trading environments and regulatory regimes post-Brexit.
The aim is to have 100 collaborators (including industry sponsors) by early May. Currently, 54 stakeholders across the UK, Ireland, and continental Europe have been invited to participate, and most have accepted.
Global 78’s Research Programme, launched in mid-January 2024, will run throughout 2024 and into 2025.
Firstly, Morgan will assess the state of play and how Brexit has already affected fruit and vegetable imports, before producing four quarterly reports, for publication by FPJ from June 2024 onwards.
The main audience is expected to be strategic decision-makers in commercial sectors including growers, cargo owners, importers, exporters, agents, terminal operators, shipping lines, airlines, and temperature-controlled storage or transport operators.
However, the research will also be of value to banks and insurers working with fresh produce companies, as well as government policy makers.
Track One of the project focuses on the post-Brexit maritime RoRo freight connections between Ireland, the UK, and continental Europe.
Track Two (with FPJ as media partner) examines the export and import of selected highly perishable fresh produce categories.
Morgan said: “The work is all about helping collaborating companies and agencies to achieve logistics resilience – anticipating the risks, instead of being pushed into ‘crisis response’ mode – through research findings that are independent, impartial, and politically neutral.
“The current focus is on the traffic flows of the Dover Corridor, Thames, and Harwich Haven, before moving to the Irish Sea flows in May.”
Explaining the value of the project, he added: “A thought-provoking article on supply chain resilience by Emiliya Mychashuk (in the Financial Times on 22 July 2023) reported LSE professor Swenja Surminski’s conclusion that ‘building business resilience means anticipating the risks, instead of being in ‘crisis response’ mode’.
“Although the article focused solely on climate change risk, a similar comment is appropriate throughout today’s polycrisis world.”
Email Andrew Morgan at research@global78.co if you are interested in participating in the project.
