Covid-19 has changed the way we work. It has been more than eight months now since we made the decision for the Institute’s staff to work from home, and over this time I have been pleased and proud of the way our staff have adapted to remote working and have continued to bring business as usual to our members.
Chief Executive at CILT
The team have worked brilliantly to host national events – such as our Annual Conference and the Virtual Diversity Roadshow – ensure membership figures continue to rise, and deliver key Professional Development initiatives, such as the Competency Framework, to ensure CILT membership remains essential, even during this unprecedented time.
For the profession, Covid-19 pushed everything we do into the public limelight. At the start of the pandemic, the logistics and supply chain sectors were overwhelmed with an increase in demand, while transport modes were hit with declining passenger rates. The pressure was on for our profession to step up to the challenge and you did so in incredible fashion. The start of lockdown came with headlines of empty supermarket shelves and a worrying lack of personal protective equipment, ventilators and hospital space, but logistics companies rallied – as only logistics companies can – to ensure food, medicine and essential supply chains continued to flow and key workers continued to travel.
I was delighted to see government finally acknowledge that our profession is indeed ‘essential’ and that the importance of what you all do has become evident to everyone around the world. Of course, every business and sector has been affected by the pandemic in a different way, but, as a profession, we have risen to meet the tremendous pressure put upon us and continued to do what we do best.
A return to normal may never be possible, and the challenge now, as lockdowns begin to ease, is that the profession remains at the top of everyone’s agenda. Our profession has risen with energy and adaptability to the challenges of Covid-19, protecting staff and customers while flexing to the peaks and troughs in demand.
In 2021, we have to work together, industry, academia and government, to rebuild confidence in the public transport sector and CILT will continue to work with government to ensure it delivers on the promise to support our sectors to return to their pre-Covid-19 levels, while also encouraging active travel options remain safe and accessible to assist the UK in reaching its goal of net-zero carbon by 2050.
Finally, as we move forward into the new normal, CILT will remain an impartial, evidence-led professional body, here to advise government and help our members, with facts and expert-led research providing the foundations for logistics, transport and its associated supply chains to continue to thrive today and in our undoubtedly unpredictable future.
Date Established: November 1919.
Membership Numbers: 12,866 – as of October 2020.
Aims & Objectives: CILT aims to elevate the profession and those that work within it, ensuring goods and people are moved in the most efficient and sustainable way for the benefit of society.
About: The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) in the UK is the membership organisation for professionals leading supply chain operations for the movement of goods and people.
Members of the Institute are involved in the management and design of infrastructure, systems, processes and information flows, and in the creation, management and continuous improvement of effective organisations.
The work of our members adds value to people and society and directly impacts the environment, business profitability and economic growth.
CILT
01536 740104
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