For some, Vuca may be the world’s latest trendy managerial acronym, short for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. It is, however, maybe the best description of the world we have moved into, one where unpredictable change has become the norm.According to Timothy Thom, senior underwriter at Lombard Insurance, the term, more recently referred to as eVUCA, becomes ever more relevant if one looks back at the past year and a half. “The industry and country have had to look internally and externally to adjust and change and adopt a new set of technology, innovation, and way of working. We have pushed technology adoption forward by many leaps,” he said during an online conference. “As an industry we have had to overcome serious challenges, even further pressures than technology adoption, with the ever-increasing shipping and airfreight rates causing frustrations to clients and importers with volatile pricing. Political uncertainty and corruption have deterred investment and spending. The burning of trucks, looting, cyberattacks, and container shortages have caused complexities never before experienced. Understaffing and policy uncertainty have resulted in slow turnarounds, penalties, and inefficiencies in state-owned entities – as well as confusing ambiguity throughout.”He said in the face of this Vuca world, resilience had become critical.“Defined as the ability to overcome difficulties or pick oneself up after setbacks, the concept of resilience is building up experiences or protective layers to counter the risks we face daily, and an ongoing push and pull between these two forces to continue moving forward,” explained Thom.Lockdown restrictions, port issues, weather challenges, container shortages, looting and unrest, cyberattacks and a global pandemic have not made things easy for industry in South Africa in the past 18 months.But, he said, in true South African style, instead of giving up in the face of adversity, the challenges were tackled head on to get containers cleared and cargo moving in the country.“Resilience shines exceptionally true for the freight industry,” said Thom. “In the face of a pandemic it did not sit back and wait for trade to normalise. Instead, it went out there and made change happen.”He said innovation, adaptation and proactiveness were clear to see.“As a company, we have adopted an agile approach to supporting freight forwarders and clearing agents, with proactive discussions and industry expertise to navigate through tough patches.”
