1- Please introduce yourself and your experience.
I am Brandon Fried, Executive Director of the Airforwarders Association based in Washington, DC.
I am an award-winning, seasoned air cargo industry professional with extensive public relations, media, regulatory and legislative experience currently serving as Executive Director of the preeminent airfreight forwarder trade association in Washington, D.C. I oversee substantial new international member acquisition, revenue management, and implementation of the association’s strategic plan. I am regarded for strong leadership skills, consensus building, motivating, supporting, and driving significant organizational and developmental success.
2- What are your thoughts on the current situation of the freight industry?
Both the maritime and air supply chains remain oversubscribed at the moment as the industry grapples with intense consumer demand in the throes of the pandemic. Companies previously underestimated demand for their products and are now amassing more inventory to satisfy buyers. This volatility is expected to remain for the next year, so our industry is preparing to remain as flexible as possible.
3- What do you think will be the impacts of the new emerging modes of transportation (drones, driverless trucks, “sharing economy” P2P delivery models, etc.) on the cargo and freight markets?
Autonomous vehicles will definitely play a role in the future of freight delivery, and we are seeing some promising concepts now in their development phases. For the time being, however, these new technologies have limited purpose and market saturation so we can expect to be delivering most of our parcels the old-fashioned way, using people to operate, planes, ships, cars, and trucks!
4- How do you see the future of the logistics industry?
The future of the logistics industry is very exciting and in fact, we see younger people focusing on supply chain studies in preparation for related careers. This is a new development as people now see the value of logistics in helping our world to keep commerce moving and essential goods into people’s hands.
5- How important is it to be able to insure shipment delays/interruptions in the current shipping value chain?
As demand for transportation increases, shipment delays are bound to occur so the ability to ensure against these interruptions would certainly be interesting to the freight forwarding community.
6- Finally, where people can find you on social?
Here are a few of my social media anchors:
Talk soon, thanks!