
Logistics Sites are Chronically Understaffed
Hello, I’m Ichiki of Sync Logistics.
In this issue, I’d like to share my thoughts on the shortage of land transportation and shipping staff, and ways of engaging with people who work onsite.
■The difficulties in attracting and retaining land transportation and shipping staff
The labor of those who work in logistics sites is indispensable in the used car export business, but the reality is that it’s still difficult to attract and retain staff within Japan. In today’s employment market, job hunters tend not to choose jobs that require physical labor such as cargo handling and truck driving, and our company is struggling to secure personnel who are ideal for the in-house production of onsite operations. One option is to use foreign laborers and technical interns, but I believe that this is quite unrealistic considering visa problems and the cost of long-term communication issues.
If a stable source of land transportation and shipping staff could be secured, it would be easier to make logistics smoother, and export volumes from Japan can be steadily increased. However, we are witnessing the stark reality of staff shortages even with nationwide recruitment, and the chronic understaffing in logistics sites is a bottleneck in the chain.
■The people who work onsite are our valuable partners
The problem of staff shortages onsite cannot be solved overnight. It is important for us forwarders and exporters to first be aware of the hardships and suffering of the people who work in logistics sites. They work onsite every day starting very early in the morning, even on days when temperatures exceed 30 degrees Celsius, inside containers where the temperature feels like anywhere between 40 to 50 degrees. Being given orders by people who have never worked onsite and working while chasing shipping deadlines (cut-off days) is also highly stressful.
These people who are the backbone of logistics and work under harsh conditions are our valuable partners, so isn’t trying to build relationships of trust by understanding actual conditions onsite more important than treating them in a dry, business-like manner?
There is still great potential in Japan’s used car export market. To draw out that potential, our company has been building a strong cooperative framework with our partner companies and further promoting the creation of logistics mechanisms that can withstand market changes.
Thank you for your time.