JIFFA Report

8

2024

2024

JIFFA Attends FIATA World Congress in Brussels
Japan International Freight Forwarders
Association Inc. (JIFFA) attended the2023 International Federation of Freight
Forwarders Associations (FIATA) World
Congress (FWC) on Oct. 3-6 in Brussels,
Belgium. On behalf of JIFFA, SecretaryGeneral Hisanao Kawachi joined adelegation of four from Japan at theassembly, which was attended by a totalof 650 individuals from 80 countries andregions.
Under the title “The Changing Climate
of Logistics,” the participants discussed
how freight forwarders can realize green
logistics. The FWC began with a keynote
speech by Secretary-General Kunio
Mikuriya of the World Customs
Organization (WCO), which isheadquartered in Brussels. To realize
green logistics, it is necessary forcustoms to join hands with freight
forwarders to go paperless, Mr. Mikuriyaemphasized. It is also necessary toenhance the authorized economic
operator (AEO) system and operate it
more efficiently, he added.
At the 2023 FWC, experts fromvarious fields of business were invited topanel discussions. It was recognized in
exchanging views at a panel discussion
on green logistics that connectivity toinland areas is important at a time whendoor-to-door delivery services are
becoming more and more common inlogistics. Panelists agreed that making
effortstoreinforce
inlandtransportation—which is attracting
attention in Japan as well, because it isfeared that overtime restrictions to be
imposed this year will bring about truck
driver shortages—and promoting modal
shifts are both directly linked to actions
to tackle climate change. They also
agreed that developing infrastructureand securing funds are both very
important to this end.
Discussions were also held on theneed for freight forwarders to join forces
with shippers to adopt eco-friendly
packings; review transport routes, means
and lead times; and use relevant facilities.
It was proposed that freight forwarders
work with each other to draw and shareglobal supply chain maps to increaselogistics efficiency. It was also advisedthat freight forwarders promote
digitalization and share shipper data to
optimize logistics. Some cases wereintroduced under which sharing
confidential information on customs andother rules and regulations with logisticsrelated parties or governmentalorganizations while securing safety has
contributed to simplifying complexities inlogistics.
In the EU, the Import Control System
2 (ICS2), an advanced cargo information
system, was introduced to customs
clearance in 2021, andisscheduledforapplication to ocean
shipping in March 2024.
Opinions
were
exchanged on thesystem, too, which is
attracting attention asanapproachtoaccelerate
safetymeasures and free tradeflows.
Views were also
exchanged on how for
FIATA as a whole to clear

WinterJapan

International

Freight

Forwarders

Association INC.

4F, Across Shinkawa Bldg. Annex, 16–14, Shinkawa 1-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104–0033
Telephone 81 3 3297 0351 Facsimile 81 3 3297 0354
e-mail gene@jiffa.or.jp URL https://www.jiffa.or.jp
Issued in March 2024

New Year’s Message
Japan International Freight Forwarders Association

goals and what functions, organizations
and founding it should have to this end.
As the 2023 FWC was convened inEurope, which is implementing
environmental measures ahead of others,
it was described that the EU is
introducing an emissions trading system(EU-ETS), which will be applied toshipping in 2024. Attending experts,
however, feared that it will take sometime before a system is established underwhich operators can successfully passcosts to others, as gaps in shipping
companies’ business scales lead todifferences in cost structures.
As 2023 was an election year, FIATA
held an electoral general meeting on the
final day of its FWC to elect new
executives and judge the admission of
new members. As a result, Mr. Turgut
Erkeskin from Turkey’s International
Transport and Logistics Service
Producers Association (UKIKAD) took
over the federation’s presidency from
Former President Ivan Petrov. New vicepresidents, meanwhile, were Mr. Thomas
Sim of the Singapore Logistics
Association (SLA), Mr. Jens Roemer of
Forward Belgium (FB) and Mr. Marc
Bibeau of the Canadian International
Freight Forwarders Association (CIFFA).
FIATA welcomed Namibia, Serbia andQatar as new members, increasing thenumber of association members to 114
and indicating its memberships isconstantly expanding. It was decided atthe 2023 FWC that it will meet nexttime in Panama in 2024 and Vietnam in
2025.

Happy New Year !
In the beginning of 2024, I with Japan
International Freight Forwarders
Association Inc. (JIFFA) members good
health and much success in business. I
also hope from the bottom of my heartthat you and our industry will both growfurther.
In 2023, we were in a different
situation from the growth trend we had
been on, partly because policies to fightinflation, which had occurred in the U.S.
and Europe ahead of other countries andregions, began to show effects. The
Chinese economy did not come back due
to deteriorations in the real estate market
and other reasons, although Beijing had
lifted its zero-COVID policy. The U.S. andAsian economies both managed to hold,but Europe was in an economic slowdown,
resulting from surging resource prices.
The containership market was also
impacted, and as such, container
movement was slow. In the first half offiscal 2023 (April-September), JIFFA
member freight forwarders exported
23.82 million tons of international
multimodal cargo from Japan, which
remained nearly unchanged from a year
earlier. However, imports decreased some
9% to 34.71 million tons. In terms ofnumber, they totaled 2.38 million TEUs,
which shrank approximately 6%. It is

unknown whether imports declined dueto the depreciation of the yen or rises infood and other consumer goods prices. In
particular, those from China, where theeconomy is slowing, waned. Airfreight
volumes substantially decreased in both
export and import. When compared withthem, international multimodal cargodiminished much milder. I believe that it
was thanks to member freight forwarders,which strive to increase international
multimodal cargo in volume. I would liketo extend my deepest thanks to them.
Airfreight movement can sometimes bea leading indicator of oceangoing cargo
movement. We, therefore, still cannot be
optimistic about developments in thecontainership and other parts of theshipping market this year, but there are
new movements. We had visits one after
another from Southeast Asian andEuropean organizations last year. We aremuch busier than we were on prepandemic days. At a time whenenvironments are rapidly changing aroundthe world, associations are collecting,sending out and sharing information toknow what will be innovation and growthengines. We also intend to operate tolook into the future. We are very glad that
we had 15 new members last year, which
increased the total number of JIFFAaffiliated freight forwarders to 551. We
understand that it was because ouractivities are highly rated and hope that
our industry will become much brisker.
It is expected that this year, there will
be more uncertainties about the U.S. andChinese economies. Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine has sharply raised resource

Chairman Junichiro Watanabe

prices. The shipping business has alreadybeen impacted as the conflict between
Israel and Hamas has forced shipping
companies to reroute their services to theCape of Good Hope. Unmistakably, theglobal economy is surrounded by manychaotic factors. Nevertheless, moves
toward decarbonization and digitalization
will not stop, and our industry must keep
up with them. This year, Japan is at its first
turning point in 30 years, as it could takeadvantage of the depreciation of theJapanese yen to overcome deflation andsubsequently enjoy full-scale price andwage hikes. We expect that there will bechanges in member freight forwarders’operating environments and thosesurrounding the freight forwarding
business. Taking it into consideration, we,
at JIFFA, will advance education programs
and organize various seminars this year tohelp our members.
Before closing my New Year message, I
would like to hope that 2024 will be agreat year and ask member freight
forwarders to continue to support andencourage us as they always do.

JIFFA Report

2

2024

JIFFA Report

Int’l Multimodal Cargo to/from Japan Fall in Apr.-Sept. ‘23
Forwarding Committee
Japan International Freight Forwarders
Association Inc. (JIFFA)’s Forwarding
Committee recently unveiled statistics oninternational multimodal cargo thatmember freight forwarders carried to andfrom Japan in the first half of fiscal 2023
(April-September). The statistics werecompiled from valid answers made by
469 regular member companies in asurvey. Cargo transported between third
countries and regions as well as
consolidated cargo co-loaded with othertransporters are not included. Changes in
the number of regular members that
responded to the survey are not（1,000 revenue tons）

64,00062,000 60,516

61,017

61,46160,00058,00056,000

Total

54,00052,00050,00048,00046,00044,00042,00040,000 Import
38,00035,951
36,00037,09237,89634,000considered.

Summary
In the first half of fiscal 2023, JIFFAaffiliated freight forwarders moved a totalof 58.53 million revenue tons ofinternational multimodal cargo to andfrom Japan, which fell 5.1% from a year
earlier. The decrease was made bysluggishness in consumer goods andother imports due to the depreciation of
the Japanese yen and higher prices,
although shipments to and from Japan
had been on the rise since the second
half of fiscal 2020 (October 2020March 2021).
Imports slowed
because of steep
61,643 61,729
increases in raw
material prices andthesagging
58,530Japaneseyen,decreasing 8.8%
to 34.71 million
revenue tons. In
contrast, exports
managedtomaintain positive
growth for two
straight terms, but
in terms of volume,
38,040they
only
36,788increased a 0.9%
34,710
to 23.82 million
revenue tons.

32,00030,00028,000 Export
26,000 24,565

23,92524,00023,56523,60324,941

23,82022,00020,00018,0000year on year
in total

FY2022 FY2023
FY2021 FY2022
FY2021
FY2020
1H
2H
2H
1H
2H
1H
Oct 2020 Apr 2021 Oct 2021 Apr 2022 Oct 2022 Apr 2023
Mar 2021 Sep 2021 Mar 2022 Sep 2022 Mar 2023 Sep 2023

+6.7%

+17.4%

+1.6%

+1.0%

+0.4%

−5.1%

Exports
In
AprilSeptember 2023,
JIFFA-affiliatedfreight forwarders
exported 23.82
million tons ofinternational
multimodal cargofrom Japan, whichstrengthened
0.9% from thecorresponding six

months of 2022. Nevertheless,outbound cargo movement was not as
brisk as in the second half of fiscal 2020,
when traffic was greater than prepandemic levels.
Exports to China managed to hold theleading share, but in terms of volume,
they turned downward, shrinking 0.5% to4.98 million revenue tons. Freight
movement was stagnant to the U.S. as
well, due to inventory adjustments. U.S.bound multimodal cargo diminished9.5% to 2.87 million revenue tons,
coming in second place. Assuming third
place, on the other hand, exports to
Europe remained on an upward trend,
expanded 1.7% to 2.18 million revenue
tons. Finishing in fourth, those to South
Korea dramatically came back from
suffering a double-digit contraction in theprevious term, which jumped 14.9% to1.72 million revenue tons. Coming in
fifth, those to Vietnam also registered adouble-digit improvement for two
consecutive terms, surging 14.1% to1.55 million revenue tons. In sixth place,in contrast, exports to Thailand fell 5.7%
to 1.38 million revenue tons, while thoseto Taiwan went down 1.8% to 1.24
million tons, claiming the No. 7 spot.
Ballooning 52.3% to 1.22 million tons,
those to the Middle East entered thechart at No. 8. Ranked ninth were
exports to Oceania, which skyrocketed
74.4%, a greater increase than any
other, to 844,000 revenue tons. At thebottom of the top 10, those to Central
and South America decreased 4.4% to811,000 revenue tons.
Exports to China held the largest shareon a TEU scale as well, totaling 228,755
TEUs, down 3.9%. As for exports to theremaining destinations of the top five,those to the U.S. amounted to 119,929
TEUs, down 2.4%; to South Korea,
104,424 TEUs, up 33.3%; to Europe,
87,002 TEUs, down 4.6%; and to
Thailand, 69,681 TEUs, down 9.5%.

Imports
Imports of international multimodal
cargo to Japan declined 8.8% from a year
earlier to 34.71 million tons in the firsthalf of fiscal 2023, incurring a year-onyear contraction for two back-to-backterms.
By origin, imports from China waned
9.5% to 17.53 million revenue tons but
managed to account for the largest partof the pie. Shipments slid across theboard from all of the top five countries
and region of origin. Those from Vietnam,
for example, plunged 14.7% to 3.03
million revenue tons, finishing in second
place. They were followed by those from
Europe, which sank 5.3% to 2.76 million
revenue tons. Coming in fourth, imports
from Thailand plummeted 11.7% to 2.2
million revenue tons. At the bottom of
top five were those from the U.S., which
contracted a more considerable 18.3%
to 1.67 million tons. Looking at imports
from others, those from South Korea
rose 8.6% to 1.54 million revenue tons,

3

2024

South Korea accomplished a double-digit
taking the No. 6 spot. Finishing in
improvement of 10.8%, amounting toseventh, those from Taiwan augmented
78,472 TEUs.
4.6% to 1.16 million revenue tons. In
eighth place, imports fromTop 5 Countries/Regions with Volume GrowthHong Kong dropped 0.2% to(unit:1,000tons)
835,000 revenue tons, and in (1) Export
FY2023
FY2022
Y/Y
ninth, those from Indonesia
To
Y/Y
1H
1H
（％）
sank a more notable 12.5% to
1,223
803
420 52.3％
1 Middle East
791,000 revenue tons. 2 Oceania
844
484
360 74.4％
Imports from other parts of 3
Korea
1,716
1,494
222 14.9％
1,547
1,356
191 14.1％
Asia totaled 736,000 revenue 4 Vietnam
755
644
111 17.2％
tons, which soared 16.3% to 5 Other Asia
(2) Import(unit:1,000tons)
break into the top 10.
FY2023 FY2022
Y/Y
To
Y/Y
In terms of number, imports
1H
1H
（％）
from the four leading sources 1
Korea
1,536
1,415
121
8.6％
736
633
103 16.3％
were all lower than a year 2 Other Asia
1,160
1,109
51
4.6％
earlier, with those from China 3 Taiwan
4 Philippines
498
481
17
3.5％
going down 9.8% to 5 Latin America
578
565
13
2.3％
690,798 TEUs; from Vietnam, (3) Total(unit:1,000tons)
down 12.7% to 119,548
FY2023 FY2022
Y/Y
To
Y/Y
1H
1H
（％）
TEUs; from Europe, down
1,300
897
403 44.9％
12.2% to 112,477 TEUs; 1 Middle East
2 Oceania
993
645
348 54.0％
and from Thailand, down 3
Korea
3,252
2,909
343 11.8％
10.2% to 91,458 TEUs. On 4 Other Asia
1,491
1,277
214 16.8％
India
968
902
66
7.3％
the other hand, those from 5

JIFFA Delivers International Multimodal Transport
Education Committee
Seminar for 1st Time in Sendai
Japan International Freight Forwarders
Association Inc. (JIFFA)’s Education
Committee delivered a seminar oninternational multimodal transport in
Sendai on Dec. 5, 2023. It was the firsttime for JIFFA to organize the seminar in
the northern Japanese city, as it isnormally held in Hakata in July every year
as a one-day intensive course of lectures
on various subjects.
The 90-minute seminar began with the
opening address by Mr. Masahiro
Hamada, chairman of the Education
Committee. Following Chairman
Hamada’s address, Mr. Ryo Shibasaki
from NRS, a JIFFA-affiliated freight
forwarder, gave a lecture on the carriageof dangerous goods, a subject that
attracts a great deal of interest.
In the lecture, Mr. Shibasaki touchedon the basics of the International
Maritime Dangerous Goods Code (IMDG
Code) to teach the handling of
dangerous goods. Using writtenmaterials, he held many detailed
discussion in a limited length of time. He
discussed relevant rules and regulations,
including those applied in Japan; howcontainers are packaged; how dangerous
goods are classified, labeled, isolated andstored in containers; and how small
amounts are handled.
A feedback from an attendee indicatedthat as expertiseis required totransport
dangerous
goods,
theattendee wants
to learn specificexamples,efforts, matters
to pay attention
to and so on.
A n o t h e rattendee said it
gained deeper
understandingof the things that it had neverexperienced at work, such as a very small
amount of dangerous goods and thosethat must not co-loaded with others.
Another indicated that the seminar wasvery easy to understand.
The seminar was attended by people
not only from Sendai but fromneighboring prefectures as well. A survey
conducted after the course showed thatsome of the attendees want JIFFA to holdsimilar events again.

JIFFA Report

4

2024

JIFFA Report

Report on logistics affairs in Vietnam
Hirofumi Orita（Chairman of the Forwarding Committee）
Japan International Freight Forwarders
Association Inc. (JIFFA)‘s Forwarding andInternational Exchange committees senta joint mission to Vietnam to look into
local logistics affairs on Nov. 11-19,
2023.
1) Why Vietnam now?
The recent trade tensions between the
U.S. and China are urging shippers torealign supply chains, accelerating “China
plus One” strategies. In particular, shifts
to Vietnam are remarkable.
Looking at international multimodal
shipments moved by JIFFA member
freight forwarders, those to and from
Vietnam have been greater in terms ofboth tonnage and TEU than those to
and from Thailand since 2016,accounting for the largest part of thetotal volume of those to and from theASEAN member nations. JIFFA, which
conducted a similar project in Vietnam in
2007, travelled to the Southeast Asian
nation again to live up to many who wantto have more recent information.
In the autumn of 2023, as a side note,
Japan and Vietnam celebrated 50 yearsof their diplomatic relations.
2) Ports in Vietnam
Three Vietnamese ports were ranked
in the world’s top 50 container ports in
2022, according to the Journal ofCommerce, a U.S. magazine.
Container throughput was greater at
all of the three ports than at Tokyo,
which handled 4.93 million TEUs. In
particular, containers to and from Cai
Mep Port surged 17.9% in volume, thesecondlargestyear-on-year
improvement among the 50 ports.
There is a deep-draft port developedon the coast of the South China Sea withODA from Japan, as no old river ports innorthern and southern Vietnam cannot
accommodate large vessels. There areseveral inland container depots (ICDs)
near shippers’ manufacturing facilities inboth regions.
In the north, Hai
Phong Port is distantfrom Hanoi, making
ICDs worth using. In
the south, however, Cat
Lai Port is very close to
Ho Chi Minh City. ICDs are, as such, onlyused to complete customs clearance
formalities more easily or owing tocontracts with truckers.
As for containerized shipments on the
U.S. and Europe trades that are onlytransported to and from Cai Mep Port, inmany cases, shippers avoid the port, as it
is more distant from them, and take andbrought the shipments to and fromcontainer yards at Cat Lai Port, which is
closer. Containers are frequently drayed
between Cat Lai and Cai Mep in barge
services, which enjoy an on-time
performance of 100% on the nine-hourroute.
3) Logistics and customs clearance
In Vietnam, which stretches long from
north to south, trucks are still dominant,although railways and inland waterways
are becoming more and more common
for domestic transport due to rises inenvironmental awareness. However,Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City bothprohibit truck operations in certain
daytime hours.
Cross-border cargo to and from China
is carried by truck and rail. Nevertheless,local freight forwarders pointed out
severalproblems,
saying that boardercustom offices in China
are closed very often,
while others claim that
traffic is limited.
For
customs
clearance formalities,
Vietnam has introduceda system called VNACCS, which has beendeveloped by importing

Forwarding Committee

NACCS from Japan.
4) Personal comments
Cities were flooded with motorcycles,
a situation that remained unchanged
from the last time we visited Vietnam. In
contrast, there were much more cars
going by. We even saw some EVs andcharging stations from time to time.
Roads have been developed between
cities and ports. It was impressive that we
frequently saw container barges running
whenever driving along rivers or on
bridges.
There were many young people intown, making everywhere busy. In
particular, Hanoi was so full of energy as
to live up to its former name, Thang
Long, which means a “soaring dragon.”
We were sure that in Vietnam, which is
expected to grow further economically,
freight forwarders can have a subsequent
presence in various fields of business thatare not only maritime transport but also
overland, railway and cross-bordertransport;
bondedwarehouse
operations; and cold-chain logistics.
JIFFA will unveil a report on our
logistics research in Vietnam within thisfiscal year. We will also hold a briefing s

5

2024

FY2023 Courses for Qualifying International Multimodal Transport
Education Committee
Specialists Held in Tokyo, Osaka
Japan International Forwarders
Association Inc. (JIFFA)’s Education
Committee held its annual courses of 10day lectures for qualifying international
multimodal transport specialists in Tokyo
between Oct. 5 and Nov. 16 and in
Osaka between Oct. 19 and Dec. 1,
2023.
At the fiscal 2023 courses, materials
prepared by lecturers and the 11th
edition of the JIFFA guideline oninternational multimodal transport were
distributed to 147 students in Tokyo and
69 in Osaka. The Education Committee,
which revises the guideline every three
years, issued the latest edition in October
2023. The courses were provided with an
upgraded curriculum, which included
supply chain management (SCM) and thehandling of refrigerated and frozen
products.
On Dec. 14, the Education Committee

Thai, Indonesian Language Seminars Held Online
Language Training Committee
Japan International Freight Forwarders
Association Inc. (JIFFA)’s Language
Training Committee organized its eighth
Thai language seminar on Dec. 1, 2023
and seventh Indonesian language seminaron Dec. 8, both of which were held online.
At the Thai language seminar, Ms.

Marin Nakajima gave an in-depth lectureon Thai people to seven students before
beginning language learning. Giving
examples that deeply related to Japan,
she explained how Thai people think
about things, what they do routinely, how
they view history and so on. Having
learned them, the students
moved onto language lessons
that included how to give
greetings and introduce
themselves in Thai.
At the Indonesia language
seminar, which was attended by
five students, Ms. Yumiko Horasbegan with a lecture on theorigin of Indonesian, which is thenewest unified language, thelecturer said. As there are several

Online Seminar Held on US Economy, Possible Impacts on
Supply Chains
International Exchange Committee
Japan International Freight Forwarders
Association Inc. (JIFFA) held an online
seminar on July 21, 2023 to discuss thecurrent state of and future outlook for
the U.S. economy, focusing on policies
that can have impacts on supply chains.
Interest was so high among member
freight forwarders that as many as 180
individuals joined the seminar. Mr.
Hirohisa Akahira from the Japan External
Trade Organization (JETRO) was invited
as a lecturer.

At the seminar, lectures were held on
many subjects, such as policy trends in
the U.S., trade policies, economic

administered unified qualification
examinations in Tokyo and Osaka. JIFFA
qualified those who passed the exams asinternational multimodal transport
specialists.

similarities between Indonesian andJapanese, the students first learned how
to pronounce their names in Indonesian.
As it was a small seminar, they were able
to repeat the same lessons over and overagain, such as how to say their names,
places of birth, things they like to do andso forth. By the end of the seminar, they
had learned very basic greeting.

Ms. Yumiko Horas

outlooks and Japanese enterprises thatare reconsidering supply chains. A survey
conducted after the seminar indicatedthat one of the attendees said that it wasa content-rich seminar.

Mr. Hirohisa Akahira

JIFFA Report

6

2024

JIFFA Report

Forwarding Committee
JIFFA Holds Logistics Seminar‘Prospects for Freight Forwarders in the Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Era’
Japan International Freight Forwarders
Association Inc. (JIFFA)’s Forwarding
Committee held a webinar on July 26,
2023 to dig deep into trends in thefreight forwarding business in the postCOVID 19 pandemic era, the latest
technological innovations, businessstrategies and other subjects to provide
attendees with valuable information.
The committee regularly organizes
logistics seminars to focus on subjects
that member freight forwarders areinterested in. In fiscal 2023, it wasorganized online.
Time and date : 14:00-16:00,
Wednesday, July 26, 2023
Style : Organized over Zoom
Title : Prospects for Freight Forwarders
in the Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Era
Lecturer : Mr. Mikio Tasaka, NX
Logistics Research Institute andConsulting, Inc.
Number of attendees: 271＜Detailed Contents of Online Seminar＞

1) Trends in the freight forwarding
business in the post COVIC-19
pandemic era. : Mr. Tasaka lectured thatchanges are ongoing in businesscircumstances around the world andexplained roles that freight forwarders canand should play to address them. He also
touched on the importance ofsustainability;
2) Latest technological innovations :He explored the impacts that the latest
technologies—e.g., AI and automation—
could have on freight forwarders;
3) Business strategies. : Mr. Tasaka
gave a lecture on the strategic approaches
that freight forwarders should make tomaintainandenhancetheircompetitiveness, focusing on a) how to
become more competitive in the global
market and b) the best practices that they
can take for service provision and businessdevelopment; and4) Overseas port and harbor labormanagement negotiations : The lecturer
projected future developments in the

JIFFA Welcomes Visitors from Vietnam, Norway, LaosInternational Exchange Committee
Japan International Freight Forwarders
Association Inc. (JIFFA) welcomed adelegation of some 30 members from
Vietnam on Sept. 12, 2023, who
represented the Ministry of Industry andTrade (MOIT), the Hanoi Logistics
Association (HNLA) and logistics
companies. The HNLA gave a lecture on
fluctuations in trade value between
Vietnam and Japan as well as thepotential and future outlook of theVietnamese market. JIFFA and the HNLA
agreed that they will sign a memorandumof understanding (MoU) in the future todevelop each other’s logistics industries.
JIFFA was visited by Mr. Ole A. Hagenfrom Norwegian Freight Forwarders
Association on Nov. 13. Mr. Hagen,former vice president of the International
Federation of Freight Forwarders

Associations (FIATA) and incumbent
chair of the federation’s Working Group
Rail, came to Japan to look into thefunction of Japan’s mass transit systemand cargo transport modes.
On Dec. 15, JIFFA had visitors from
Laos, who included Mr. Sthabandith
Insisienmay, vice-minister of planning andinvestment; other officials from the
MinistryofPlanning
andInvestment (MPI);
executives from
theLaoInternational
Truckers
andFreight Forwarders
Association(LITFA);andrepresentatives

Mr. Mikio Tasaka

labor-management negotiations between
U.S. West Coast employers anddockworkers.
The Forwarding Committee conducteda survey after the online seminar andreceived feedbacks from many of theparticipants. They said, for example, “I wasable to have an idea of the significant of
the impact that digital transformation will
have on logistics in the near future,” “It
was a great opportunity to reaffirm innumeric terms how poorly competitive theJapanese logistics industry is and how
slowly digitalization is advancing in the
global community,” and “It was so easyto-understand seminar that I was able tohave deeper understanding.”from private enterprises. Being alandlocked country, Laos is making
utmost efforts to develop cross-borderlogistics routes to and from neighboring
nations, LITFA said. To this end, it hasestablished Cross Border Transport
Management Systems. They enable Laos
to issue pre-alerts when shipments crossits borders and enter domestic dry ports,
expeditiously complete customs
declarations and track cargo with QR
codes, the association added.

Vietnam delegation

7

2024

JIFFA Organizes Summer Logistics Field Trip in Tokyo
Public Relations Committee
Japan International Freight Forwarders
Association, Inc. (JIFFA)’s Public Relations
Committee organized its summer field
trip on July 27, 2023. Due to thecoronavirus pandemic and other reasons,it was the first time in seven years for the
event to be held in Tokyo. Applications
were submitted by much more people
than the maximum number ofparticipants to be accepted as soon as
the committee began taking them.
The Public Relations Committee
launched the annual summer program in2007 as part of the public relations
activities that JIFFA was engaging in atthat time. The committee intends toencourage children of affiliated company
employees to feel more familiar with work
environments in and the nature ofinternational logistics by taking them totheir parents’ workplaces.
Date: Thursday, July 27, 2023
Places visited: ANA Cargo Inc.’sfacilities at Tokyo International Airport at
Haneda’s Tokyo International Air Cargo
Terminal (TIACT); the Exhibition Roomof the Tokyo Waterfront Area, or Tokyo
Minatorie; and Sankyu Inc. in the Port ofTokyo’s Aomi Container Terminal
Participants: 38 children and parents
from 18 families as well as 43 members
from the Public Relations Committee andother JIFFA sections
ANA Cargo at TIACTThe members gathered at 9:30 a.m. at
Shinagawa Station in Tokyo, from which
they were headed for TIACT to visit ANA
Cargo. Wearing hard hats, safety vests
and gloves, the children had anexperience of cargo handling and tookdemonstration vehicle rides in a shed.
They were allowed to go inside an empty
container to feel the size of a container.
In the container, they were given an
assignment to pile up empty cardboard
boxes. As they only had one minute and
30 seconds, they had to cooperate witheach other to efficiently complete theassignment. When successfully piling up
all of the cardboard boxes in time, theyreceived words of compliments from anattending staff member, who said, “Theyare very nicely piled up!”
The members moved to a conference
room to listen to a PowerPoint
presentation, which ANA Cargo had
prepared to give them a lecture on air
cargo terminal work. Questions were
given to the children during thepresentation, who guessed answers
together with their parents. They
shouted for joy when getting correct
answers. After the presentation, theylearned container stacking with woodenbuilding blocks. The children also try towear work clothes and ground worker
uniforms with help from ANA cargo staff
members.
Tokyo Minatorie
The next place that the party visited
was Tokyo Minatorie, which is run by the
Tokyo Metropolitan Government(TMG)’s Bureau of Port and Harbor. At
the exhibition room, located on the 20th
floor of a building, visitors can enjoy aview of Tokyo Waterfront City at aheight of 100 meters. The participating
children and parents watched a video on

the Japanese shipping business, which
underpins people’s lives.
Aomi Container Terminal
The members went to the Port ofTokyo’s Aomi Container Terminal to visit
Sankyu Inc., a Tokyo-headquarteredlogistics service provider. Taken to aconference room, they had a lecture on
Aomi Container Terminal, types ofcontainers, machinery and equipmentused at container terminals and so on,while reading written materials.
Then, they entered a bonded area ona bus. An employee introduced themvarious types of containers, while they
curiously looked at containers. After awhile, gantry cranes and an uncountable
number of containers came in sight.
When getting off their bus, they were
surprised and looked up at the hugegantry cranes. They learned that an
operator in a control seat at a height of
50 meters looks at containers by eye
and moves them one by one to a ship. At
the end of the visit to the container
terminal, they were taken inside a dry
container and a reefer container, where
temperature was minus 20 degrees
Celsius, and observe a reach stacker
lifting containers.