Derrick Potter

The outgoing chairman of the United Kingdom Warehousing Association (UKWA) has urged logistics companies to invest more in training to avoid a future skills shortage.

Speaking at the UKWA's AGM held at London's Dorchester Hotel this month, Derrick Potter said he believed most employers appreciate the importance of developing the skills of their workforce.

"[However], generally supply chain companies have been slow to invest and, as a result, the Sector Skills Council for our industry faces a funding challenge," Potter said.

He added that with an ageing workforce and the lack of interest among youth in the logistics industry as a career path, the sector could face a skills shortage in the near future.

"It is therefore vitally important that we begin to attract young people and bring a greater diversity of skills into the sector.

"One of UKWA's key objectives over the coming years will be to encourage members to engage with Skills for Logistics (the Sector Skills Council for the UK's freight logistics industries) to develop logistics-related apprenticeship schemes that will attract government funding," Potter explained.

After four years as UKWA chairman, Potter has been replaced by John Maguire, the sales and marketing director of Flexi Narrow Aisle Ltd.

Potter is the founder and executive chairman of The Potter Group, which provides logistics services and solutions. He is also a director of the Rail Freight Group; a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport; an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Transport Administration; and a member of the Advisory Forum of the University of Hull Logistics Institute.