PHILADELPHIA, January 13, 2004 – Nearly two-thirds of chemical industry executives recently surveyed by BDP International, a global logistics and transportation services company, and its Centrx consulting unit were unaware of the U.S. Government’s Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program and its similarities to existing Responsible Care® standards.
Nearly 44% of respondents were unaware of C-TPAT and of those who were, more than 37% were unaware of its similarities to the chemical industry’s Responsible Care program. On a combined basis, 64% of total respondents were unaware of similarities between C-TPAT and Responsible Care.
Significantly, more than 90% of the respondents who were aware of C-TPAT felt it was important to align their organizations with its initiatives. However, of those who felt alignment was important, only 44% were able to identify a function, job title or department within their companies that would be accountable for coordinating C-TPAT and Responsible Care.
“These findings suggest there is ample opportunity for the chemical industry to merge Responsible Care and C-TPAT in the interest of supply chain efficiency as well as security, “ said Michael Ford, BDP’s vice president for regulatory compliance. “Although participating in the C-TPAT program is not mandatory, if your suppliers and customers are, it behooves you to get on board.
“The data also suggest the need for initiatives on the part of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection and associations such as the American Chemistry Council to educate the industry about the similarities of these programs and perhaps even partner with chemical companies to expedite their integration.”
Of the respondents who could identify where responsibility for coordinating Responsible Care and C-TPAT would lie, 24% assigned it to supply chain management, 22% to international transportation/logistics and 25% to safety and security. Moreover, 90% of these respondents reported that their companies are undertaking specific measures to integrate Responsible Care and C-TPAT into policies, programs and procedures.
When asked what practices were being undertaken to share and benefit from similarities between Responsible Care and C-TPAT, among the initiatives noted were joint domestic/international supply chain security teams (29%), comparative analyses of Responsible Care and C-TPAT (28%), and incorporation of Responsible Care security measures into the C-TPAT program.
Respondents who could not assign specific responsibility for coordinating Responsible Care and C-TPAT cited other priorities in a resource-constrained environment as the single largest barrier to integrating the programs. This would seem to indicate a lack of awareness of the potential benefits of combining these programs, correlating closely with the percentage of respondents who did not know how their companies would recover the additional costs of implementing them separately (42%).
In November 2003, BDP International and its Centrx consulting unit commissioned Adler Research, Bethlehem, Pa., to survey U.S. chemical companies to measure trends in the integration of Responsible Care® and C-TPAT (Bureau of Customs and Border Protection’s Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism) standards toward establishment of global supply chain security practices.
Specifically, the survey sought to determine the extent to which respondents were aware of similarities between Responsible Care and C-TPAT and were integrating these programs.
A 12-question survey was distributed on-line to subscribers of Chemical Week magazine’s Distribution & Transportation electronic newsletter and BDP clients. Respondents represented a variety of responsibilities within their companies, including international transportation/logistics, domestic transportation/logistics, sourcing/ procurement, regulatory compliance, safety and security, plant/facility operations and general management. Their companies ranged in size from under $100 million in annual revenues to $5 billion and over. Data were collected from 218 respondents between December 8 and December 19, 2003.
About BDP
BDP International is one of the leading privately held freight logistics/transportation management firms in the U.S. It operates freight logistics centers in more than 20 cities throughout North America and a network of subsidiaries, joint ventures and strategic partnerships in 140 countries. The company serves more than 4,000 customers worldwide. Clients include Air Products & Chemicals, Borden Chemical, Inc., Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, The Dow Chemical Company, Heineken USA, Honeywell, Johnson & Johnson, Osram Sylvania, Rohm and Haas, Trek Bicycle and others. BDP provides a range of services, including ocean, air and ground transportation; 4PL lead logistics process analysis, design and management; export freight forwarding; import customs brokerage and regulatory compliance; project logistics; warehousing/consolidation/distribution; and Internet shipping transaction/tracking management systems.
About Centrx
Centrx, the other co-sponsor, is an independent unit of BDP established to share intellectual capital with companies seeking to achieve greater supply chain value and logistics process improvement on a global level.
About Adler Research
Adler Research, a division of swb&r, specializes in Web-based survey design and deployment. Based in Bethlehem, Pa., swb&r is a full-service public relations and marketing communications firm with a national client base serving international markets.
For further information in Europe, South America and North America, contact:
Arnie Bornstein,
Director - Marketing and Corporate Communications,
BDP International, Inc..
Phone: 215-629-8493
fax: 215-629-8995
e-mail: abornstein@bdpnet.com.
