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FTA to become Logistics UK

[ February 24, 2020   //   ]

The Freight Transport Association is to change its name to Logistics UK during 2020, says chief executive, David Wells.

He said that the Tunbridge Wells headquartered organisation was not changing its focus, or the services, support and advice provided to members but was “a natural progression in our name, which has been under way for several months already. Evolving our name is not something that I or the Board take lightly, but it’s something that we believe is essential if FTA is to continue to grow and achieve more for its members in a fast-changing world.”

Wells, who is marking ten years in the post added: “I’m really proud of what FTA has achieved over the years, and while we already provide a broad range of high-quality services to the industry, the core of what we do is representation of our members’ interests through effective lobbying and negotiation with policy makers.  Our change of name is designed solely to support and strengthen the many policy wins we already achieve on behalf of our members.”

He said that the Association was strong because it already represented all of Logistics, and, increasingly, “policymakers and the media look to consult with organisations which can represent the whole sector. This has been especially important, and continues to be so, in our discussions around Brexit.”

The Association had been very successful over the past couple of years in raising its profile, and achieving a long list of policy wins.

He added that the future will be very different for the industry: “The creation of a new ministerial role, Minister of State for the Future of Transport, to oversee and shape the development of the Logistics sector, directly acknowledges the interconnectedness of supply chains. This is another example of how the world around us is changing, and why evolving our name now will help strengthen our voice and our influence. The Minister will be visiting the Innovation and Technology in Transport Expo in May, a major new event in the Logistics calendar, where FTA has brought together the biggest flagship conference programme in the sector. It’s free to attend, so I would encourage you to register at www.itthub.co.uk.

FTA’s membership has grown by almost 25% over the past five years, testament to the efforts of the association’s team, he added.

“Our policy team, which now numbers more than 30 people, is one of the most influential of any business group, with contacts at all levels of government, and the personal relationships they have developed with opinion formers on all aspects of transport and logistics have enabled us to drive more than 70 quantifiable policy wins – on topics ranging from infrastructure to regulations, recruitment, the environment and the future shape of the industry – in the past year alone.”

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