Breakbulk Europe, the industry’s premier event, returned for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the annual affair. The two-day event was held in Rotterdam last month, where many of the industry’s directors convened to get acquainted with what's new and what’s changed in their industry.

At a panel specifically discussing how Engineering, Procurement, and Construction, or EPC’s, can work to improve their logistics, directors from several companies weighed in on what the necessary needs are. Co-founder and CRO e2log, John Donnelly III, moderated the panel and posed a variety of questions to figureheads of logistics.

The pandemic resulted in a lot of change, which forced many logistics companies and EPC’s to reorganize in their operations. Of those changes are the rates.

“What we see as a major shift is in the past, people like us used to run projects for our clients where there were a lot of unit rates that freight forwarders were comfortable [with] in terms of fixing for a long term,” said Cryril Varghese, the global logistics director at Fluor.

He added that despite that typically being the norm, it was quickly realized that this form of operation was not as efficient and foolproof for business. In actuality, it’s creating another issue such as risks, simply to stay afloat with rising prices.

“We’ve come to realize it’s not an ideal solution because that's primarily leaving a lot of risks in terms of the commercials on the freight forwarders — pretty much depriving them of the opportunity to manage projects well because they now need to focus on keeping the rate low,” Varghese said.

One of the standout issues discussed at the panel brought attention to whether technology could assist in the overall improvement of how logistic operations work, and what type of technology. While the notion is technology should be incorporated into the logistics industry, it needs to be targeted.

“Technology should not be introduced for the sake of being trendy and digitizing of things like that,” said Adolph Colaco, founder and CEO of e2log.

He added that stakeholders play a major role in bringing perspectives for the betterment and overall improvement of a company’s will and desire to change. But there is another challenge that turns up.

“If you want to make an impact and solve a problem, it's key to recognize who the stakeholders are within an organization when it comes to the execution of complex projects. And what we found throughout this journey is that these stakeholders are well outside a supply chain,” said Colaco.