The Logistics of Logistics The Ukraine Logistics Coalition with Ben Gordon
The situation in the Ukraine grows more desperate every minute and the need for humanitarian aid is enormous and growing. People who work in logistics and supply chain are in a unique position to help the people of the Ukraine. To assist the people of the Ukraine in their time of greatest need, The Ukraine Logistics Coalition was formed by Ben Gordon and leaders from some of the top logistics and supply chain companies in the world.
If you can support The Ukraine Logistics Coalition with a donation of money, equipment, facilities, expertise, please contact Benjamin Gordon ben@bgsa.com.
About Ben GordonBenjamin Gordon is the Founder and Managing Partner of Cambridge Capital. He draws on a career building, advising, and investing in supply chain companies. Benjamin has led investments in outstanding firms including XPO, Grand Junction, Bringg, Liftit, and others. As CEO of BGSA Holdings, Benjamin has spent his career investing in and helping to build supply chain and technology companies. Benjamin led the firm's efforts, advising on over $1 billion worth of supply chain transactions. Benjamin has worked with firms such as UPS, DHL, Kuehne & Nagel, Agility Logistics, NFI Logistics, GENCO, Nations Express, Raytrans, Echo Global, Dixie, Wilpak, and others. Prior to BGSA Holdings, Ben founded 3PLex, the Internet solution enabling third-party logistics companies to automate their business. Benjamin raised $28 million from blue-chip investors including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, BancBoston Ventures, CNF, and Ionian. 3PLex was then purchased by Maersk. Prior to 3PLex, Benjamin advised transportation and logistics clients at Mercer Management Consulting. Prior to Mercer, Benjamin worked in his family's transportation business, AMI, where he helped the company expand its logistics operations. Benjamin received a Master's in Business Administration from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale College.
A Letter From Ben Gordon Regarding The Ukraine Logistics CoalitionThe headlines coming out of Ukraine continue to get more horrifying. Russia shows no sign of halting its attack. Thousands of people have died and millions of Ukrainians have been driven from their homes.
As grim as it looks, we can make a difference! YPOers are action oriented, and while many of us have offered traditional assistance I believe there is much we can do to help the supply chain.
Ukraine has several major supply chain needs—including (a) buses to evacuate refugees; (b) donors to provide food, medicine, and supplies; (c) planes to airlift food, medicine, and supplies into neighboring countries like Poland, Hungary and Romania; (d) warehouses to act as cross-docks near the border to receive and transmit supplies into Ukraine; and (e) trucks to transport supplies from neighboring countries into Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, Odessa, Kharkiv, and Lviv.
We need to supplement and enhance what currently exists. To do this, those of us in the supply chain industry must step up! We need to work together to get major supply chain companies to donate the desperately needed trucks, planes and warehouses. Time is precious, as innocent Ukrainians are being shelled and killed around the clock.
In short, we need an Operation Warp Speed for the Ukraine supply chain.
The Global Diplomacy Network (GDN) is launching the YPO Logistics Coalition for Ukraine. We are looking for:
- Leaders who will join the board and play a hands-on role – preferably with experience in humanitarian rescue/relief, supply chain, and global scope.
- Transportation/logistics companies who can commit air, ground, and warehousing capacity. This includes
- Trucking into major cities in Ukraine
- Trucking from Europe to the Ukraine border – particularly from Poland, Romania, and Hungary
- Warehousing in Europe close to the Ukraine border – e.g. cross-docks in Lublin and Rzeszow Poland, Balti Moldova, and Suceava Romania
- Air from US or elsewhere into Eastern Europe – as close as possible to Ukraine
- And the US ground legs too
- Suppliers who can provide food, medicine/medical equipment and other key resources.
- Someone to quickly build an online marketplace that includes (a) Ukraine government and key NGO needs on the ground; (b) suppliers that can meet these key needs; and (c) logistics companies that can deliver these supplies.
Open letter to supply chain leaders: Ukraine needs humanitarian relief - FreightWaves
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