HELPING HANDS

An earthquake destabilizes a city. A tsunami razes shanties to the ground and deprives many a household of its bread winners. Ethnic clashes and wars displace innocent civilians, who are often stranded without food, water, clothing and shelter. Wrong moment for the victims and the bereaved. But the right moment for fellow humans to off er help and support. Several parties play a part in alleviating the physical, mental and emotional pain of those who have borne the brunt of the disaster. The United Nations coordinates emergency relief. Corporate firms donate money generously to rehabilitate victims. And logistics services providers, which have played their part in the past, are increasingly contributing in more organized ways than before, even collaborating with erstwhile competitors.

Because there is more to business than just profits. There is, these days, a stress on what is popular as the triple bottom line; one of the arms of which is corporate social responsibility.

Like it or not, natural disasters keep occurring all over the world, with fire, air and water wrecking havoc, killing, maiming and destroying. And unfortunately, over the last few years, it is Asian countries that seem to have borne the brunt.

The 20004 tsunami which left 250,000 dead in countries extending from India and the Maldives in the west to Indonesia and Malaysia in the east in 2004, was followed by the earthquake in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan which decimated over 70000. Indonesia was in the news again with the earthquake in Jogjakarta and the floods in Bogor (south of Jakarta) in 2006 and 2007, respectively.

Water-borne tragedies have struck Bangladesh and Myanmar, with Cyclone Sidr and Cyclone Nargis unleashing their destructive potential in 2007 and 2008. In Bangladesh, a staggering nine million people were affected in one way or the other – homelessness, joblessness, bereavement, starvation, etc. And China has just marked the first anniversary of the massive Sichuan earthquake, which killed some 90,000 people and injured 370,000.

Among all the actors involved in the relief operations – donors, governments of the countries affected, it is the logistics service providers that are able apply the initial anodyne, so to say, by arranging for the sourcing, stocking and supply of essentials like food, water, clothing and medicines, thus helping the victims to hold their mind, body and soul together, before things are restored to normal by the other actors in the fray.

There is an element of philanthropy in this. As is believed by some, one can aid fellow humans in four different ways: donate blood, money, labour, or knowledge. The philanthropy practised by the logistics service providers who bring out their fl eet of vehicles and move food, fodder, clothes, and medicines, is thus a “service by labour. There have also been instances of providers, who as part of their corporate social responsibility objectives, have also donated money to aid rehabilitation programmes. One such example is the donation made by UPS (over US$1 million) to the Red Cross Society of China and the China Charitable Foundation for earthquake relief in China recently. Another is the S$20 million ( US$13.8 million) raised by TNT employees for the World Food Programme’s School Feeding Projects.

BEYOND COMPETITION

An interesting development in the humanitarian logistics sector is the evolution of cooperative ventures among players who are otherwise competitors in the business. Agility, TNT and UPS have shown remarkable camaraderie in this respect under the LETs (Logistics Emergency Teams) initiative, which was launched in January 2008 under the auspices of the World Food Program (WFP) at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.

Frank Clary, senior manager, CSR, Agility, tells Logistics Insight Asia that the three partners have been able to learn a lot from each other while working shoulder to shoulder to save lives. Meanwhile Ken Sternad, president of the UPS Foundation, relates that the partnership has called for patience and dedication to the common cause, and the three companies have been able to pool in their resources to deliver the goods effectively.

When questioned about the man-hours expended on humanitarian logistics operations, all respondents said that it would be difficult to assign numbers, considering all the preparatory work and training involved before the actual deployment and on-site work commences. Onno Boots, the regional manager of TNT Asia put it succinctly, “Instead of counting the hours, we make the hours count.” However, Chris Weeks, director of Humanitarian Aff airs, DHL, does provide some statistics on resource utilization in recent Asian disaster areas (see Table 1). As for planning and methodology, Mariam Al-Foudery, the VP of enterprise communications and CSR, Agility, outlines a series of logical steps in Table 2.

FORWARD PLANNING

Needless to say, disasters may strike deserts, tropical forests, mountainous inhabitations or coastal plains. Each would thus be a unique case to be handled with careful planning. The security situation is of course a factor which, while not obviously deterring logistics service providers and humanitarian teams, needs to be understood well so that suitable precautions can be taken. Agility’s Clary says that most certainly, the safety of the personnel who commit themselves to this noble cause is as key a priority as reaching the needy with the essential supplies. Lessons learnt from each expedition are also of immense value, as far as applicability to future projects of a similar nature is concerned.

Of course, emergencies cannot be predicted, but bearing in mind that it is not a question of whether they will occur but rather of when and where they will occur, volunteers need to be trained – quite akin to soldiers who need to be prepared all the while to be pressed into service as soon as war breaks out). Or as French essayist Jean de la Bruyere put it, “Generosity lies less in giving than in giving at the right moment.”

DHL’s Weeks, while lauding the courage of the NGO volunteers who “run the last lap of the race” in the disaster zone itself, emphasizes that DHL volunteers focus only on the airport and airside operations and hence are not exposed to hazards per se. Clary also has a word of praise for the great job done by humanitarian communities in the most challenging circumstances. The logistics service providers can best employ their expertise at the upstream (enabling) part of this noble chain of events.

THE CSR ERA

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) while a liberally used term these days, is genuinely more than managementschool jargon. It helps corporate entities kill several birds with a single stone – accountability to society and servicemindedness, even in the heat of business rivalry and competition. The “triple bottom line” has moved up from being a concept defined and developed by John Elkington 15 years ago to a way of doing business today.

As with any deed, there are benefits – some obvious, some latent. The logistics service providers learn what it is to work under strenuous and stressful conditions, which stands them in good stead in their normal line of profitable business and spruces up their abilities to think on their feet.

Miriam Al-Foudery says, “At the end of the day though, we get involved because we believe we can help, and because we believe it is the right thing to do.” UPS’ Sternad says that fulfilling social responsibilities helps companies attract new talent and that community-serviceminded young people want to work for companies that give back to society.

Customer service, needless to say, takes on a new meaning when one talks about saving human lives, as disaster response operations transcend competition and profits. As Chris Weeks says, “In times of disaster, there’s absolutely no room for egos or business competition.” TNT’s Ono Boots adds that one should not compete when it comes to saving lives.

One may conclude that cooperation among competitors in certain areas of activity and endeavour enables all of them equally to compete with each other in the business arena. Pithily put, helping each other to help others, helps one to help himself.

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WORKING SHOULDER TO SHOULDER TO SAVE LIVES

Agility's MARIAM AL-FOUDERY, vice president (enterprise communications and CSR), and FRANK CLARY, senior manager (corporate social responsibility) talk to Logistics Insight Asia about helping out in times of need.

Q: What is Agility’ s approach to providing humanitarian logistics services?

A: When Agility determines it will support a humanitarian operation, the scope is clearly defined and we communicate to our partner what will be donated, which can be the time of one of our senior warehousing or transport people to help in setting up the humanitarian supply chain or logistics services like moving containers of medical supplies or blankets. Those commitments are honored fully. Agility firewalls its commercial activities from its charitable activities to avoid any conflict of interest in any humanitarian operation that we have been invited to support.

Q: When you enter into partnerships such as with TNT and UPS, how are the responsibilities split up?

A: All the companies involved in a partnership adopt the same scope of work, which is defined by the Global Logistics Cluster, a grouping of UN agencies, and international organizations. The Global Logistics Cluster sends out requests for help and the companies decide which is best equipped to respond to the same.

For instance, TNT or UPS may already have an airline fleet operating in a particular region and may thus be in a position to contribute to the air operations; while Agility may take up the warehousing and road-rail transportation part of the exercise. It should be mentioned that TNT and UPS have been outstanding partners and the companies have been able to learn a lot from each other, and it has been a satisfying experience working shoulder to shoulder to save lives.

Q: Is the security of personnel an issue?

A: The key to security mitigation is avoidance. Our humanitarian and emergency logistics program (HELP) focuses on strict ground rules for disaster response. We only respond to natural disasters and only at UN security level three or below (five is the maximum security threat level). This is to protect our volunteers from possible harm – after all, they are company employees volunteering on a humanitarian mission, not humanitarian professionals.

We of course ensure that we provide the required security training for our volunteers, and when we deploy, our people are seconded to the UN Logistics Cluster team. This implies that we are encompassed by their operations and security umbrella.

Q: Would Agility consider extending its operations to actually supplying those aff ected in the disaster zone?

A: Our role is to focus on the logistics. If we are doing our jobs right, we are busy with trucks and warehouses and the humanitarian community has more resources available to help distribute freight and humanitarian supplies to those in need. Realistically, Agility HELP volunteers are focused on managing the freight and equipment as if it were a commercial operation. We do our best to maintain the quality of the goods in transit and we try to move freight as fast as possible to assist the humanitarian community with their efforts on the ground.

The chaos of a disaster response – including massive numbers of displaced people, rapidly changing information, and scarcity of resources – implies that not everything always proceeds smoothly. However, overall, the humanitarian community does a great job in extremely challenging conditions of getting relief to the people who need it the most. We have consistently been impressed by our humanitarian counterparts and the work they do, and we see ourselves as enabling entities.

Q: Corporate social responsibility has become a very liberally brandished term. How much ‘heart’ can there really be in a profi tmotivated business?

A: Honestly, actions speak louder than words. After assisting our humanitarian partners on eight disaster response operations in the last three years, and being a founding member of a first-of-its-kind multi-stakeholder partnership with the humanitarian community that is setting the standard for other industries – we think we have demonstrated our commitment.

In Indonesia, 43,000 people got food deliveries from the World Food Programme (WFP) thanks to our involvement. In Myanmar, we helped in setting up the air and land bridge from Thailand and managed the central warehouse in Yangon. It was that supply chain that ultimately got relief goods to 1.5 million people. This entails the deployment of real resources and the display of true commitment. This is a source of tremendous pride for our employees, who are the ones that volunteer to participate.

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READY TO RESPOND TO DISASTERS

CHRIS WEEKS, director of humanitarian affairs, DHL, is focusing on developing the DHL/UN partnership as a model for other companies to successfully help in the humanitarian arena.

Q: How does DHL organize its humanitarian logistics eff orts?

A: DHL has a global network of Disaster Response Teams (DRTs), which work in partnership with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). The DRTs – each with about 80 trained DHL volunteers – are based in Singapore, Panama and Dubai, and support the UN and the international community’s disaster response efforts in the aftermath of major suddenonset natural disasters.

Their mission is to manage air cargo operations at the airport closest to the disaster-aff ected region, reduce bottlenecks and keep the airport open for additional relief flights. The tasks include transfer of relief goods from dollies and aircraft pallets to wooden pallets, warehouse management and loading of relief goods onto trucks or helicopters for onward transportation.

Q: Does this involve cooperation with business competitors?

A: DHL has been working very much with the UNOCHA, so in any deployment we participate in, our scope and role are always defined together with the UN. However, talking of cooperating with competitors, I would like to say that in times of disaster, there is absolutely no room for nursing egos or business competition.

Q: Are there many risks involved for volunteers who sign up to the DRTs?

A: I’m sure there can be risks for the NGOs (non-governmental organizations) which undertake the “last mile” delivery of aid to affected victims, and their efforts are extremely laudable. But we haven’t encountered problems related to DRT volunteer safety because our role in a deployment focuses on the airport and airside operations and DHL engages only in natural and not man-made disasters.

Q: Given that this is a non-revenue endeavor on the part of DHL, how to ensure that you are not overextended?

A: In all our DRT deployments, we work at the request and in partnership with the United Nations, so our involvement is largely governed by them. Leveraging our expertise at such crucial junctures helps to eliminate inefficiencies and creates a working system which we subsequently hand over to a local operator for longer-term management when our three-week period involvement comes to an end. Thus, we do our very best when we are very there, and the responsibility is passed on thereafter.

Q: What’s your view on the seemingly newly-found fashion for corporate social responsibility?

A: As far as DHL is concerned, the company recognizes its responsibilities as a committed and responsible corporate citizen and strives voluntarily to make a diff erence in the communities it serves. DHL looks to leverage its core competencies to benefit society and also minimize the negative impact on the environment.

Sustainability, which is at the core of our business, ensures long-term profitability and growth. DHL is thus able to help its customers, partners and stakeholders meet their sustainability objectives as well. And disaster management is one of the strategic thrusts of the company’s corporate sustainability efforts.

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‘TNT HAS ALWAYS BELIEVED IN CONTRIBUTING TO SOCIETY’

In times of disaster, make the hours count rather than count the hours, says ONNO BOOTS, regional managing director, TNT Asia.

Q: How much of a financial commitment is TNT’s involvement in humanitarian logistics?

A: To TNT, corporate social responsibility activities like humanitarian logistics are not just about donating money, but rather about being involved in these activities. Since the launch of the LET partnership (with UPS and Agility) in 2002, TNT has contributed over S$80 million (US$53 million) in the form of hands-on support in emergencies, and knowledge transfer projects to the World Food Programme (WFP), and also in advocacy and fund-raising activities.

In 2008, globally, more than 250,000 TNT employees and their families participated in our annual Walk the World, and raised S$20 million for WFP’s School Feeding Projects. On the topic of humanitarian services, we provide these services at no cost to the organizations, because this is where we see the need for the delivery of supplies to be most urgent, and a high level of expertise, which we have, is required in this task.

Q: How important is cooperation (with competitors) in these activities?

A: In January 2005, at the Davos Forum, TNT entered into an alliance with other major transportation companies including UPS, Agility and Deutsche Post World Net, parent company of DHL, to form the Logistics and Transportation Industry Humanitarian Workstream. This was created in recognition of the severe impact of natural disasters such as the Asian tsunami and together we wanted to lend a collective hand to humanitarian organizations in natural disaster zones. When it comes to cooperation, the splitting up of responsibilities is divided based on the type of tasks each company can do best. We do not compete when it comes to saving lives.

Q: Can you provide an estimate of man-hours given over to humanitarian logistics operations thus far in Asian countries.

A: Suffice to say that rather than counting the hours, TNT makes the hours count.

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REACT QUICKLY TO HELP THOSE IN NEED

KEN STERNAD is the president of the UPS Foundation, a 58-year old Atlanta-based organization, which in the calendar year 2008, donated US$47 million to support developmental programs around the world.

Q: For the humanitarian logistics services offered, does UPS pick up the bill every time?

A: Primarily, we recognize that, in times of natural disasters, we have a unique opportunity to leverage UPS’ network and, more importantly, our logistical expertise to bring life-saving supplies where they are most needed. Assistance is provided at no charge to organizations like CARE and the World Food Programme.

In addition to the standard grants in the calendar year 2008, the UPS Foundation contributed over US$1 million in cash and in-kind support to the earthquake relief efforts in China. It has also extended in-kind shipping and logistical support and expertise to the relief efforts to the victims of Cyclone Nargis that hit Myanmar last year.

UPS also continues to support local employee volunteerism, designating October as Global Volunteer Month where UPS employees volunteer with various charities in their own communities using UPS assets. In 2008, UPS employees contributed 14,000 hours to local charities across the Asia Pacific.

The Logistics Emergency Teams (LETs), a joint effort between UPS, TNT and Agility, grew out of the World Economic Forum. The partnership has required patience and dedication – but each company is committed to working together and pooling resources to be most effective in times of need. The division of responsibilities has evolved and has been established with some flexibility so that, collectively, the companies can respond effectively to any situation that may arise.

Q: What kind of resources does UPS expend on humanitarian logistics operations in Asia?

A: During times of crises that require humanitarian logistics, UPS’ focus is on reacting as quickly and effectively as possible to help those in need. We are, however, unable to provide specifics on the amount of time and resources spent on these, although it is safe to say that we have donated thousands of hours and several millions of dollars in disaster relief.

Q: When a disaster occurs, where specifi cally does UPS apply its skills and expertise?

A: UPS addresses logistics inefficiency and we share our management and operations expertise to facilitate the eff orts. For CARE, one of our projects includes looking at their entire supply chain and determining how they can best keep their costs and inventories low while still being able to deliver goods to recipients quickly. This also helps NGOs save money and resources.

We have also made recommendations on how to set up warehouse operations, how to leverage different kinds of transportation networks, how to strategically place inventory to make it accessible. We have also advised on technology solutions and management techniques to help NGOs keep track of their supplies and eff ectively manage volunteers and workers.

All this allows us to leverage our long-term approach to technological investment and infrastructure, with an annual US$1 billion to improve our services and continue increasing efficiencies across the chain.

Q: How important is it for companies to practice corporate social responsibility.

A: Giving back to the communities in which we function is a primary motivation at UPS and also a part of our corporate heritage since inception. The relevance of social responsibility to business can no longer be disputed; it fosters loyalty, generates pride and is a source of motivation and job satisfaction.

Young people these days are community-service-minded and seek employment in socially responsible outfits. The bottom line is that our business is healthier when the communities we serve are stronger. So we see social responsibility as a business imperative, as well as being the right thing to do.

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