BANKERS and investment managers interested in targeted regional, or inward, investment were given a logistics perspective recently by Alfred Stienen, managing director of FS Mackenzie Group, a member of the Famous Pacific Shipping Group.

Mr Stienen said logistics cannot be an add-on to inward planning decisions. Factories and assembly plants will fail if located badly for logistics, a company statement said.

"Headlines about jobs created from inward investment often involve direct employment, how many jobs a factory or office development might bring. But these are not the only jobs inward investment creates. Logistics can also bring employment to a region," Mr Stienen said.

"Where FS Mackenzie has established offices - we are in 14 offices across Europe, Asia and Africa - we have taken on local staff. In Russia and the Ukraine, for example, we employ more than 120 staff members. What this translates into is a massive investment in skills and training by us in local staff. We bring jobs as much as we bring freight into a region we serve," he said.

"How many [people] ever put the availability of supply chain and logistics into the equation? Build a fine manufacturing plant without thinking about the supply chain and you might have a white elephant on your hands. International businesses will not locate in areas where they cannot connect to the global economy," said Mr Stienen.

Source: shipping online