By Richmond Kofi Adjapong

I’ve learned something over the years: logistics is often less about the freight and more about how you respond when everything—yes, everything—goes sideways.

At Rich Freight Services Ltd in Ghana, resilience and optimism have become more than buzzwords. They’re survival skills. From storms delaying vessels to sudden regulatory changes or even a late-night customs snafu, it’s not the challenges that define us—it’s how we react to them.

1. Embracing Disruption as Part of the Job

Here’s something I’ve come to accept: perfection isn’t the baseline—response is. You can’t prevent every disruption. But if you can absorb it, adapt quickly, pivot decisively—then you’re ahead.

We’ve had containers stranded by industrial action, trucks stalled at border checkpoints, systems glitching in the middle of clearance. In each case, it wasn’t the issue itself that defined the outcome—it was the team’s response. With resilience, they found alternate routes, re-stacked loads, moved schedules. They just… kept going. Because in logistics, that persistence becomes your most valuable asset.

2. A Positive Mindset Sparks Creativity

Optimism isn’t misplaced enthusiasm—it’s creative fuel. When the usual route is blocked, optimism means asking, “What else might work?” instead of groaning, “Not again…”

During the pandemic, one client had perishable exports held up by delayed sea shipments. Instead of abandoning the route, our team worked with trucking partners and cold-storage hubs to preserve goods inland until the ocean cleared. The result? Saturdays counted. Nothing wasted. A client that stayed with us.

An optimistic team sees possibility in chaos. And that mindset ripples outward.

3. Maintaining Team Morale Through Pressure

Logistics isn’t always glamorous. Some days it means standing at midnight at a port gate, managing shipping line teething pains, calming panicked clients, and guiding drivers with no clear ETA. In those hours, optimism isn’t a bonus. It’s essential.

At RFS, we emphasise two things: breathing, and recalibrating. A quick team huddle. A few words of encouragement. “We’ve done tougher.” Then redistributing workloads so nobody hits a wall. Small acts—but they compound. They stop fatigue. They keep the operation moving—and human.

4. Turning Setbacks into Lessons

Resilience isn’t just recovery—it’s improvement. After every major event—be it shipping delays, customs audits, or weather disruptions—we do something simple: debrief.

What could’ve gone better? What tools were missing? Did we need alternative contacts, different paperwork templates, faster communications? Then we update our playbook. That way the next disruption carries less risk.

In fact, our post-COVID workflows, digital adoption, and parallel route planning all came from tough lessons. Without those odds, we might not have stepped up.

5. Confidence Builds Client Trust

Clients can sense it. A forwarder who panics teaches no one. But a team that’s deliberate, alert, unshakeable—especially when the unexpected hits—that builds trust fast.

Clients often remark, “You seemed calm when it counted.” That’s not a compliment about our tone. It’s about confidence—about knowing we can handle the unexpected. In global trade, that reassurance is worth more than cost savings.

6. Optimism Drives Business Growth

Optimism isn’t just mindset—it’s fuel for innovation. We started exploring courier‑level e-commerce support, digital dashboards, and regional haulage lanes—all because someone first said, “Let’s try.” Without a degree of hope, logistics becomes rote. But with it? We innovate. We expand. We grow.

That attitude—persistence with optimism—shapes not just service, but strategy.

Looking Ahead to London

This November, at the 2025 Go Global Awards in London (hosted by the International Trade Council), I’ll be thinking about resilience—both ours and our peers’. We’ll be talking about 2025, yes—but also about tomorrow’s disruptions: climate, technology, trade volatility. And the mindset needed to face them.

Events like these are not just celebrations—they’re resets. Reminders that we’re part of a global freight network built on people who refuse to stop—even when things break. And I’m proud that Ghana—Rich Freight Services Ltd in particular—will share that mindset on the world stage.

Final Thought

Resilience isn’t heroic. It’s routine. And optimism isn’t naive. It’s adaptive.

By Gloria Sewor

We often hear the word “resilience” tossed around in logistics circles. It's become one of those buzzwords—like “sustainable” or “agile”—that people nod along to without really unpacking what it means.

But when you're the one responsible for getting cargo from a supplier in Europe to a warehouse in Accra, through storms, strikes, delays, or port congestion... resilience stops being a concept. It becomes a test.

At PORTLINK GHANA LIMITED, we've had our share of those tests. Some passed cleanly. Others—well, we learned. And what we’ve come to understand is that resilience isn’t about having backup plans. It’s about building systems that bend without breaking.

So what actually makes a logistics operation resilient? It's a mix of things, and not all of them are easy to measure.

1. Redundancy Without Waste

Let’s start with the obvious—having backups. Alternative routes. Multiple vendors. Secondary ports. Extra warehouse space.

But here’s where it gets tricky: too much redundancy, and you’re bloated. Too little, and you're fragile.

We’ve seen clients rely on a single transport partner for years. Everything was smooth—until that partner had a truck shortage mid-peak season. Shipments sat idle for days.

Now? We build in options. Maybe not fully parallel systems, but at least fallback layers. A second bonded warehouse. A third-party haulier on call. It’s about having choices when the unexpected hits.

2. Teams That Think on Their Feet

You can write the best SOPs in the world—but the moment something breaks, it’s people who solve the problem.

One morning, we had a container of pharmaceutical goods stuck at the port because of a sudden regulatory change. Not our fault, but still our problem. Our customs broker walked straight into the regulator’s office, explained the urgency, and helped draft the clarification memo that unlocked dozens of similar shipments—not just ours.

That’s not in any manual. That’s resilience powered by people.

3. Visibility and Communication

Resilience isn’t only about what you can control—it’s about how quickly you know something’s wrong.

We use tracking tools, yes. But more than that, we emphasize communication. Quick updates when something feels “off.” Photos from the warehouse floor. Temperature logs sent daily for sensitive cargo. It’s not fancy, but it keeps us in the loop. And when something starts to wobble, we catch it early.

We’d rather say “There might be a delay” than “There’s been a delay.” That little difference… it adds up.

4. Understanding the Local Context

This is particularly true in Ghana, where logistics is affected not just by infrastructure, but by weather, regional regulations, even election seasons.

You can’t apply a system designed for Germany and expect it to work flawlessly here. You have to know which roads flood in the rainy season, which border posts slow down mid-month, which regional depot actually has staff on weekends.

This “local resilience”—the kind that comes from experience rather than theory—is one of our greatest strengths at PORTLINK GHANA LIMITED.

5. Learning from Small Failures

Every resilient operation has scars. Missed deadlines. Botched consolidations. Clients who left, or nearly did.

But the trick is what you do after.

We once had a food shipment held at the border due to an overlooked transit permit. It was our responsibility, and it cost the client a week. After that, we rewrote our internal checklist for cross-border shipments—made it more visual, easier to follow, harder to skip steps.

It hasn’t happened again. That’s what resilience looks like—not perfection, but adaptation.

Why This Conversation Matters Globally

This year, PORTLINK GHANA LIMITED, based right here in Ghana, has been nominated for the 2025 Go Global Awards, taking place in London this November.

Now, this isn’t just another ceremony. It’s a gathering of industry leaders, thinkers, and disruptors from across continents. People who’ve built businesses in challenging environments and kept them running through unpredictable conditions.

Being part of this event means being part of a much bigger conversation—about how businesses stay relevant, connected, and resilient in a world that’s changing faster than we can plan for.

We’re proud to be included in that dialogue.

Final Thought

Resilience isn’t flashy. It’s the quiet confidence that says: “We’ve seen worse. We’re ready.”

It doesn’t mean nothing ever goes wrong. It means when it does, you have the clarity, tools, and people to deal with it.

And maybe that’s the real lesson: resilience doesn’t always look like strength. Sometimes, it just looks like persistence. A team that shows up, adapts, and keeps moving forward.

As we approach 2025, the air freight industry finds itself at a critical juncture. The sector is facing unprecedented challenges including fluctuating fuel prices regulatory shifts capacity constraints, and the increasing need for sustainability simultaneously advancements in technology changing customer expectations and global economic uncertainties are redefining the air freight landscape remain competitive and resilient air freight companies must adopt forward-thinking strategies invest in technology and optimize their operations

READ MORE:

https://www.globalialogisticsnetwork.com/blog/2025/01/08/preparing-for-2025-a-roadmap-for-air-freight-companies-to-stay-competitive-and-resilient/