Famous Pacific Shipping executive puts the logistics perspective on inward investment

Some of the world’s most important bankers and investment managers interested in the subject of inward investment were given a logistics perspective recently by Alfred Stienen, managing director of F.S. Mackenzie Group, a member of the Famous Pacific Shipping Group.

The core of Stienen’s presentation was that logistics planning cannot be an add-on to inward planning decisions. His message is that investment in factories and assembly plants will be a complete write-off if the plant is located in the wrong place in terms of its logistics requirements.

Mr Stienen said: “Headlines about jobs created from inward investment often involve direct employment, how many jobs a factory or office development might bring. But these are not the only jobs inward investment creates. Logistics can also bring employment to a region.

“Where F.S. Mackenzie has established offices – we are in 14 offices across Europe, Asia and Africa – we have taken on local staff. In Russia and the Ukraine, for example, we employ more than 120 staff members. What this translates into is a massive investment in skills and training by us in local staff. We bring jobs as much as we bring freight into a region we serve.”

During his presentation, Mr Stienen explained the importance he attaches to membership of the Famous Pacific Shipping global group of freight forwarders: “We are part of the Famous Pacific Shipping or FPS network of forwarders, which as the name suggests is especially strong in Asia but is also present in many of the other key global industrial spots. What this means is really when we serve a market, thanks to our membership of the FPS network, the client is able to access some of the most important freight markets on the globe through our connections.”

He concludes: “I said in my presentation that it is very easy when trying to attract inward investment to concentrate on the showcase architectural models of glittering offices and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities. How many ever put the availability of supply chain and logistics into the equation? Build a fine manufacturing plant without thinking about the supply chain and you might have a white elephant on your hands. International businesses will not locate in areas where they cannot connect to the global economy.”