The Women in Logistics and Transport (WiLAT) Caribbean is spearheading the need to raise awareness as part of the solutions required to mend the broken supply chain caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The network imbalance, the result of widespread supply chain disruption rooted in the novel coronavirus pandemic, encompasses high unemployment, the loss of suppliers and customers, and skyrocketing online consumer goods sales amid an uneven recovery.

This has incited a cascading effect for particularly vulnerable developing countries. The logistics and transport industry includes the planning, implementing, and controlling procedures relating to the movement and storage of goods via rail, air, shipping, trucking. An estimated 90 per cent of the world’s goods are transported by sea.

According to WiLAT, the immediate challenges that confronts Jamaica are the shortages in inventory within various industries, threats to food imports, inability to plan for continuity, the rapidly increasing cost of freight, and lack of relevant reliable data that would enable comprehension of the issue.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer, WiLAT Caribbean founding Chairman Dr Blossom O’Meally- Nelson said structured discussions should revolve around a comprehensive national response.

This includes educating the public of the issue, as well as identifying alternative source markets.

Additionally, companies and agencies are urged to implement IT systems that will facilitate greater efficiency in the management of supply chains, which will enable the new markets to be optimised even as the pandemic rages on.

“It has to be a coordinated effort with educating people, as some people don’t know what the supply chain is, they only know their things don’t come…because they’re not able to track these things from a comprehensive basis,” she argued, noting that the onus does not only lie on the Government, but also includes service providers within the private sector.

“Communication is the heart of logistics, if you’re not communicating then you won’t know what is going on. It is a huge communication network which consists of complex databases,” she emphasised.

WiLAT is the women’s forum within the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), the chartered body for professionals involved in the movement of goods and people and their associated supply chains. CILT’s headquarters is in the UK.

According to O’Meally-Nelson, the organisation is committed to raising awareness, capacity-building, and stimulating research and analyses to inform effective responses.

“We’re focusing on these concerns and implications amid the pandemic and trying to raise awareness. So OK, you know that this is what’s happening, but here’s where we really need to get to the root of it and how we can organise and prevent that from happening in the future,” she told the Business Observer.

“…What we don’t want to do is set up another entity that is doing research. We want to maximise what we already have and point them in the right direction,” she said.

WiLAT Caribbean was launched on July 21, 2021, as a member of a global movement of women in logistics. WiLAT started in Nigeria in 2010 and has spread across the globe to 31 countries with just over 3,000 members.

O’Meally-Nelson told the Business Observer, “We will just keep focusing the spotlight on the fact that these things have to be resolved and the Caribbean is a part of it. It’s not just Jamaica that’s trying to change the world. There are other people out there who are engaged in international meetings and conferences. So we have to tap into that and make our people aware that those exist”.

GENDER GAP IN LOGISTICS

In industries such as logistics and transportation, the gender ratio has been so skewed that it trumps any statistic that could indicate a trend of development and inclusivity.

WiLAT aims to globally promote the status of women in supply chain, logistics, and supply transport, to bring together those who support the talent and career development of women, and to provide a supporting network and mentoring opportunities for them in the sector.

“We want to bring more women in the industry, it has been a male-dominated industry and women are not aware of the roles that they can play. They can be inventory managers, work in warehousing, organise and own transportation companies, and they can drive trains and trucks, plus so much more,” O’Meally-Nelson shared.

WiLAT Caribbean logistics professional Dianne Pottinger pointed out that according to a survey conducted by Gartner Inc, globally women comprise 41 per cent of the supply chain workforce in 2021, up from 39 per cent in 2020.

“Every leadership level saw an increase in female representation except the executive level where there was a slight decline from 17 per cent to 15 per cent. This is where WiLAT international comes in on the global level and WiLAT Caribbean in this region,” she indicated.

Nonetheless, Pottinger noted that the ongoing pandemic and the challenges experienced globally with the supply chain has fast-tracked well-needed changes in the industry, particularly women’s contribution in new and innovative ways.

WiLAT Caribbean in the coming year will be exploring and expounding on these new opportunities, she added.