The Logistics Sector on the Southern Shores of the Western ... - cetmo

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Logistics</strong> <strong>Sector</strong>on the Southern Shores of the Western Mediterranean October 2010enforcement, developing and implementing specific vocational-training plans andinvolving banks in financing the sector, a crucial topic mentioned by nearly everyoneinterviewed in each country.• Work together to define a development strategy for the private sector since, as thepresent situation shows, liberalization alone is not enough to create a structured,competitive logistics sector.• Establish permanent dialogue with operators and distribute information. This is the bestway to foster the creation of professional associations and ward off the excessiveindividualism that currently prevails. If government departments will not listen to sectoralorganizations or negotiate with them, business creation is likely to suffer.B. Strengthening Business StructuresStrong business vitality was noted particularly in the private sector. However, companiesshowed serious shortfalls in different domains, notably strategic management, theorganization and management of operations (working methods, integration of technologies,quality systems), marketing and sales. Modernization programmes tend to resolve suchproblems, but generally only concern SMEs and are not managed by the Ministry ofTransport. It is therefore recommended:• Ensure that the approach and criteria for implementation of programmes enable theMinistry of Transport to play the principal role, so that programmes are as specific aspossible and better coordinated with strategies for improving the logistics sector.C. Planning Change in Crucial <strong>Sector</strong>sCertain basic horizontal problems such as the fragmentation of road transport, the lack of alogistics culture and logistics operators, along with operational problems at ports arecommon to all the countries analysed. Here, improvements of a general kind (regulations,taxation, etc.) or generic implementation of modernizing programmes do not seem enough.Specific plans need to be designed, more advanced outside help obtained and a more globalapproach considered, possibly even on a scale encompassing the whole of the Maghreb. Inthis domain, the main recommendations are the following:• With help from Europe, study how the road-transport sector can be restructured,preferably across the whole of the Maghreb, to counter unofficial transport and its destructuringeffects; reduce fragmentation and promote the creation of larger companies.<strong>The</strong> case of Spain (Strategic Plan for the Transport of Goods by Road, PETRA) is aninteresting reference, since it is also a country suffering from fragmentation.• Analyse the experience of other developed and developing countries where logisticsoperators are established and develop a list of good practices to promote this sector ofactivity.• Define an efficiency scenario for ports on both shores of the Western Mediterranean,including Ro-Ro and container traffic, in order to reduce current bottlenecks in thetransport chain for imports and exports alike.D. Strengthening the Effects of Environmental Improvements in the <strong>Sector</strong><strong>The</strong> plans and projects that countries are starting to implement address certain basicshortfalls in the transport and logistics sector: logistics hubs, training and controls forenforcing regulations. To succeed in intensifying the effects of these improvements to theCETMO 13