The international freight logistics industry is represented globally by FIATA. It is the only global organisation that genuinely focuses on every form of transportation. Through its collaboration with partner organisations, FIATA ensures global representation of freight forwarders as well as a smooth flow of international trade.
For over twenty years, FIATA and TT Club have been offering significant opportunities for young rising stars in the logistics industry by organising a yearly contest. Earlier known as the “Young International Freight Forwarder of the Year Award” (YIFFA), the competition is now well known as the “Young Logistics Professional Award” (YLP). It encourages young, bright minds across the entire logistics industry to participate.
The YLP Award is of the utmost importance to FIATA. It aims at not only developing the youth’s interest in the industry but also the soft skills that are crucial in the day to day work of this demanding sector. All young people under the age of 32 who have at least 02 years of full-time work experience in supply chain logistics are eligible to enroll for this competition which has been going on since the year1999.
Since we have been able to overcome the crisis situations of pandemic, FIATA and the TT Club are looking forward to returning to the physical competition format. This year, the four regional winners will present their dissertations at the FIATA World Congress in Busan, South Korea, during a dedicated session with the final judging and announcement of the YLP Global Winner 2022. This will be a wonderful opportunity for the regional winners to fully immerse themselves in the freight forwarding community and meet their counterparts in Korea’s marine capital city.
Avishkar is the first Indian who will be representing the Asia-Pacific region since the inception of the FIATA Young Logistics Professional competition. He works as a Chief Innovation Officer at ‘The PDP Group’ and has been in the logistics industry for over five years. He will be travelling to Busan, South Korea in September 2022 as a finalist for the 2022 Young Logistics Professional competition.
Avishkar’s dissertation has focused on one complex multimodal export operation from Durgapur to Bangladesh and one complex import operation from Felixstowe to Durgapur. His dissertation was selected as the best paper in the entire Asia-Pacific region, and he will now get the opportunity to represent the region in the world stages of the competition. Avishkar will be competing against the winners of Region America, Region Africa & Middle East, and Region Europe.
The FIATA YLP competition comprises 3 stages, first the national association represents a candidate on behalf of their country, then the national winner competes with the entire continental region, and finally the four regional winners share their presentation at the FIATA World Congress for the world champion.
FFFAI (Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Association in India) shortlisted 3 candidates for India after a thorough screening of over 75 participants. In February 2022, Avishkar was declared as the national winner and got the opportunity to represent India in the “Asia Pacific” region. Avishkar competed with the national winners of various countries of the Asia Pacific, and emerged as the Winner- Region Asia/ Pacific of the 2022 FIATA YLP competition in July, 2022.
All four regions were represented by a variety of impressive entries, and the judges were struck by the high incidence of projects requiring close consideration of environmental factors and prioritising sustainability. Multimodal solutions were to the fore, and in addition to medical supplies, cargoes featured included insecticides, rail tracks, military ordinance, drilling rods, and a satellite.
