The 5th anniversary Fleet Forum Conference was marked by being the most highly attended event to date.  More than 35 organisations sent over 70 representatives to participate in the two day conference hosted by OSCE in Vienna, Austria on 24-25 October 2007.  This annual event is designed to bring together Fleet Forum member organisations to share information on current trends and challenges, review the previous year's Fleet Forum activities, stimulate new project ideas, and plan for the coming year.

Day 1 

The conference was opened by Saban Buttanri, Chief, Asset Manager, Department of Management and Finance with OSCE, and Rob McConnell, the Fleet Forum Coordinator.  This brief ceremony was followed by keynote speeches from Lars Gustavsson, World Vision International Vice President of Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs, and Joseph Hili, OSCE Director of Management and Finance, who shared their insights into the work being done at the Fleet Forum and the importance of the initiative which is bringing resources and attention to the issues of humanitarian transport operations.

The morning then continued with a presentation by Dominic Grace, Chief, Project and Emergency Services for WFP's Field and Emergency Support Office, and George Fenton, World Vision Associate Supply Chain Director for Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs, both members of the Fleet Forum Management Team.   Providing a snapshot of the Fleet Forum's year in review, the presentation focused on a report of a recent stake holder's analysis, redesigned governance structure for the Fleet Forum aimed at optimising operations, and an announcement about an expansion in staffing to include two new positions - Programme Manager and Communications Manager - to allow more efficient project delivery and information sharing.

To close the morning session were three presenters each focusing on a key aspect of the Fleet Forum's three pillars approach to humanitarian transport.  Ravi Solanki, UNHCR Senior Field Safety Advisor, explained the framework for accountability approved by the UN General Assembly in March 2007 which defines the roles and responsibilities for agencies working in the field to help improve their joint security arrangements.  Focusing on efficiency and effectiveness was Matthew Bader, Regional Representative for Jacana, who provided interesting insights into vehicle acquisition and offered his three secrets to humanitarian leasing.  Paul Taylor, Managing Director of Carbon Impacts, addressed the environmental impact of fleets, focusing on good carbon management and the current trend in carbon offsetting activities.

In response to feedback received from previous annual conference attendees, the 2007 event devoted a more significant portion of time to working group and small group discussions to cover a broader spectrum of topics and allow for more in-depth exploration of these topics.  The afternoon session on day one was opened with a case study on vehicle replacement including a vehicle optimisation tool presented by Alfonso Pedraza of INSEAD and Véronique de Vulpillières of EURODECISION.  This presentation set the stage for the rest of the afternoon's working group sessions.

A Focus on Good Practice 

The plenary group was divided into smaller working groups focusing on one of five topics - clean fleets, accountability, tracking & data capture, fleet safety and vehicle lifecycle management.  Each group was asked to discuss the concept of best practice and identify potential best practices within their topic area.  Following this, each was to consider what tools and resources their organisation needed to adopt good practices and how the Fleet Forum might encourage this process.  From these sessions came a clear call for the Fleet Forum to act as a resource as a central point to share information, and advocate the issues to key decision makers.  In addition, while steps have been taken with regards to most of the topics, accountability stood out as a key issue which has not been addressed, and the foundations were set for a Fleet Forum project in 2008 that provides a framework for accountability.

Day 2

The morning of day two focused on two key issues.  First, a case study presented by Clive Upton, Technical Officer of Tearfund who guided the attendees through a difficult tragic vehicle accident.  The case followed not only the repercussions of the loss of life, but also the challenges faced as the organisation sought to find who was responsible and how they could prevent further such accidents from occurring. 

We then set the foundations for the afternoon's working groups with two presentations from innovative managers.  Finbarr Curran, Director of Emergency Support with WFP and Lars Gustavsson, World Vision International Vice President of Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs addressed the question of management commitment and how we can affect change within our organisations.  Mr. Gustavsson enlightened the group with his ten tactics for affecting change including understanding your audience,  understanding your organisation's true identity, packaging messages appropriately for each audience, never underestimating the power of friendly rivalry stimulated by highlighting successes, and most importantly to never give up.

Following lunch, working groups to answer four key questions aimed at addressing the issues of change management and management commitment were launched utilising a technique called the carousel method.  This technique allows large groups to interact as a whole by breaking down into smaller groups that rotate around to pre-determined moderators who are each responsible for one question. The idea is that each group will build upon and react to the findings of the previous groups and overall findings will be based upon a wider spectrum of inputs.

Fleet Safety

At present, the Fleet Forum is engaged in the first implementation of its Fleet Safety Project in Kenya, and a key focus of the annual conference was the issue of safety and the roll-out of the project.

Andrew Pearce, Senior Group HSE Auditor for Shell International, combined the issues of management commitment with safety, and presented on how to create this commitment for the issue of road safety within individual organisations.  His presentation was followed by a review of the Fleet Forum Fleet Safety Project by Esther Bosgra, a TNT Project Manager and Fleet Forum Management Team member.  Ms. Bosgra also held the premier screening of the Fleet Safety awareness video, a key element of the first module of the training programme which was put together by the FIA Foundation.

Conference Networking

Throughout the conference, breaks and a dinner hosted by OSCE  for all participants at a traditional Viennese winery, allowed for discussions to continue in a less formal atmosphere.  Networking between Fleet Forum members is a key highlight of the event.  The Fleet Forum strives always to bring together key stakeholders to share information, and the in-person networking that occurs at the annual conference is one of the ways in which we fulfil this part of our mandate.

This year, we also marked the 5th anniversary of the conference with attendees.

 

Conclusion 

The Fleet Forum would like to thank its hosts the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and all the active Fleet Forum members who participated in this year's event.  Copies of some of the presentations are available for download below, and requests for further information can be sent This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .  We look forward to seeing you at the 2008 event in Brindisi, Italy being hosted by UNLB and UNHRD.