LOGISTICS company Air21 Holdings, Inc. said the government must cut down on the sources of friction hindering supply chains by digitizing the shipping process from end to end, and called for investment in the infrastructure that will enable such a transformation, such as data centers.
Air21 Holdings Chairman and President Alberto D. Lina said the government’s role in transforming the industry is to accelerate digitization, overhaul regulation, and build capacity in the workforce.
The goal is “unhampered movement of goods and to prepare such touch points along the supply chain,” Mr. Lina said at the 48th Philippine Business Conference and Expo, organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“We need to push for the entire supply chain — from end to end — to be fully digitized and to have real time intelligence on the state of our industry,” Mr. Lina added.
Mr. Lina said the data industry must be built up to ensure that the data gathered in digitizing the logistics process is legally gathered, safely stored and processed, and properly disposed of.
Mr. Lina added that regulations should be harmonized for companies like this that have to deal with various jurisdictions such as ports and local governments.
He said truck bans and traffic number coding need to be implemented in a manner that does not hamper the flow of goods.
“We welcome the recent initiative of the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry), TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) and PTTC (Philippine Trade Training Center) in tapping the logistics industry in drafting the Philippine skill framework for logistics,” Mr. Lina said. — Justine Irish D. Tabile
