SATURDAY the 24th of May saw the kick-off for day two of the International Forwarders & Customs Brokers Association Of Australia (IFCBAA)’s National Conference 2025.
Held in Adelaide, the theme for the 2025 edition of the National Conference was “Australia’s Pathway to Trade Growth in APAC”.
Kicking off the day’s sessions was Geoff Young, director at the Trusted Advisor Network, who spoke on shaping leaders & creating industry excellence, as well as transforming leadership and elevating industry standards.
Following was a three-person panel discussing the topic of “Best practice trade digitalisation in APAC”, including Russell Wilkinson, CEO and Founder of World Customs Platform, AJ Smith, CEO of TradeWindow, and Andrew Hudson, Partner at Rigby Cooke Lawyers and director ar IFCBAA.
Among the topics discussed by the panel were digitilisation and AI, with AJ Smith remarking “The system is broken; trade is broken”, also commenting on AI, “It doesn’t take lunch, go on strike, and it doesn’t join unions”.
Mr Hudson remarked “Ideally we would all have Trade Single Windows - the whole world. It should all work together”, referencing New Zealand which he said has a “really good system”.
Another three-person panel then took the stand to discuss “South Australia rail and freight capabilities”, consisting of Adrian Teaha, chairman of the South Australian Freight Council, Jonathan Wilson, CEO of the South Australian Freight Council, and Brad Weston, Commercial Manager of Bulk at Aurizon.
The panel was asked for its projections on the future prospects of SA rail and economic prospects. Mr Wilson delivered a passionate monologue concerning his vision for the state, believing that SA has leaned into its identity in the past five years.
“We’ll never have the population of the east coast or the lottery mineral wealth of the west,” Mr Wilson said, then signposting that SA was a “state of opportunity”, highlighting its low unemployment, low crime, and high quality of living.
Mr Teaha commented that SA was a “connector state”, and that anything going east to west has to go through SA. “Rail doesn’t work in isolation, it works with the whole supply chain in sync”, he said.
Following morning tea was a presentation on “how to handle disruption in the international air & sea supply chain”, featuring Dominic Enthoven, principal advisor for MPC International and Frederic Horst, managing director at the Trade and Transport Group.
Some of the current challenges facing global shipping were discussed, including the Houthis and United States-China tensions, as well as the shortage of staff in key sectors.
While discussing the US-China situation, Mr Horst said, “China is a lot better prepared to weather a tariff storm today than it was five years ago”.
Speaking generally on managing disruption, Mr Horst said, “The main takeaway I can give you, is that you need to think tactically and strategically where your business needs to be in the next few years and the key question; how exposed are you to individual markets? Not just the US”.
Mr Enthoven mentioned that part of his role was representing the Port of Philadelphia, and commented on the recent East Coast US port strike, “When you think about how it affected every port from Maine to New Orleans, (the strike) was a huge risk for East Coast trade with a flow-on effect to other services”, also highlighting a current strike situation in Rotterdam and some German ports.
Export controls (including AUKUS) was the topic and featured a panel of Jessica Rankin CEO of ECAG, Scott McKenzie, principal international trade compliance at Northrop Grumman Australia, and Andrew Hudson.
Mr Hudson commented on AUKUS, a focal point of the panel discussion, explaining that whilst AUKUS isn’t the be-all and end-all of export controls, it’s certainly fundamental for working with trusted partners.
Jessica Rankin presented an overview of the new Australian export control legislation, highlighting the increased complexity compared to previous regulations, explaining that the legislation was implemented quickly to align with AUKUS requirements and includes three new provisions: DHG technology transfers, retransfer controls, and service provisions.
A panel consisting of Steve Grivas, assurance and advisory Partner at HLB Mann Judd, Bill Nussbaum, director tax at HLB Mann Judd, and Scott Carson, CEO of IFCBAA then took the podium to discuss “The 4 s’s for future-proofing your business: safety, security, sustainability and succession”.
The topic of sustainability in particular was highlighted during the panel as a key issue currently impacting all industries.
On the topic of succession planning, Mr Grivas commented, “I think it's key to start the planning now, it could be a five-year process, to get all your processes and everything written down and ready for what they call an exit sale, and then also have someone ready to be able to lead, grooming somebody to be able to lead”.
“You need to organise people, or to find and establish people who have that leadership potential and can become leaders of the future”.
Following lunch was a presentation by two individuals from the Australian Border Force (ABF), Marivi Martin and Adriana Rajic on “Securing global supply chain through resilience – a collaborative approach”.
The benefits of collaboration between customs and industry was a centrepoint of the discussion, with Rajic saying “We believe that securing the border system can not be achieved in isolation, and must be done by harnessing networks, including with industry”.
The final session saw another three-person panel, featuring Justin Bailey, managing director of Wymap Group, Garry Yovich, CEO AU/NZ of direct couriers, and Leanne Lewis, owner of Insync Recruitment Group.
The panel discussed the topic career and leadership journeys in the logistics services industry, with the staff and skills shortage currently facing brokering and freight a focal point.
IFCBAA CEO Scott Carson then closed the conference, thanking the attendees for a positive two days. Later that evening saw the IFCBAA Gala Dinner & Member Awards Night, with the Minister for Trade and Tourism, Don Farrell as guest speaker.