In the 70 years that Queen Elizabeth II has been our monarch, her reign has heralded the transformation of international trade and the beginning and spread of a new global economy.

When Elizabeth II acceded to the throne in 1952, at the age of 25, Britain had lost two-thirds of her pre-war export trade and the post-war beginning of the reconstruction of a new global economy had just begun.

Three months after her accession BOAC began the world's first commercial jet service with the 44-seat Comet 1A, flying paying passengers from London to Johannesburg. Within a few years a variation was flying transatlantic, with 1 ton payload at a cruising speed of 400 mph.

And just three years after Elizabeth’s coronation saw the beginning of containerisation, with the inaugural voyage of the first container ship, the Sea Land Ideal X on the 26th April 1956.

By the early 1960’s container ships had replaced traditional breakbulk liner services on the major east-west trade routes and the impact of these changes greatly reduced the cost of international trade, while increasing its speed and effectiveness and was a major element in rapid globalisation.

Globalisation has been facilitated by advances in technology which have reduced the costs of trade, and trade negotiation rounds, originally under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which led to a series of agreements to remove restrictions on free trade and the formation of the World Trade Organization.

After the Berlin wall fell in 1989, and the Soviet Union eventually collapsed, the WTO was created in 1995 and encouraged nations all over the world to enter into free-trade agreements, and most of them did, including China.

The U.S. and China re-established diplomatic relations in 1979, with China contracting to GATT in 1986, acceding to the WTO in 1995 and becoming WTO’s 143rd member in 2001.

With China becoming a member of the WTO, it started to manufacture for the world, which opened the door to off-shoring production and access to cheap consumer goods.

In 1983 a new technology from the Third Industrial Revolution, the internet, connected people all over the world in an even more direct way, with orders now placed electronically instantly. Instead of having them delivered in a few weeks, orders could now arrive within days.

The World Wide Web followed in 1989, supporting further global integration of value chains. You could do R&D in one country, sourcing in others, production in yet another, and distribution all over the world.

The result has been a globalisation on steroids. In the 2000s, the sum of imports and exports has consequentially grown to represent half of world GDP.

The pandemic has placed an unprecedented burden on the world economy, healthcare, and globalisation, but reports of the demise of consumerism due to COVID have proved premature, with the trade of goods surging to pre-pandemic levels despite well publicised supply chain problems.

Some experts predicted the pandemic would lead companies to source from within their local region rather than around the world, but the international flow of goods is growing faster than local sourcing and near-shoring within regions.

Global supply chains are under the most intense and sustained pressure of recent times, which is why we monitor and report on the most important developments, so that you can take effective action and make informed decisions, that avoid possible issues, before they become problems. 

Container shipping and air freight continue to face challenges globally, but with notice we continue to secure space and get the right equipment positioned. The world of global logistics and supply chain is a rapidly moving environment and Metro ensure that we are at the forefront of developments to deliver the most appropriate service and solution, as we have been for over half of the Queens reign.

Please contact Elliot Carlile to learn how we can support your supply chains, even in the most challenging market conditions.

As we move into the post-coronavirus workplace, we are striking a balance between what worked before and what will succeed in the new future.

From thinking about the next normal to making it work: we considered what to stop, start, and accelerate, because the old ways of working are defunct in the new environment.

We are rethinking the knowledge, abilities, and experiences that our colleagues have, to encourage and implement skills-based development, that will support the expansion and diversification of our talent pool, without compromising on personal development and customer service.

By making the workplace a vehicle for our people and our values and reimagining the work to be done, we are supporting our employees’ needs and career development. 

The new workplace, needs to bring out the best in our team, by providing them with what is best for them. Because better employee experience, increases loyalty, creates larger talent pools, while increasing productivity and boosting customer satisfaction.

All our colleagues have returned to their offices, reuniting with their teams, in a safe and engaging environment, which supports collaboration, in serving our customers better.

Their old technology and thin-client network links are being replaced by leading-edge operating systems, laptop and mobile equipment, that offers more mobility and simplifies business continuity, with remote working a simple extension of the office.

Remote and induction training has continued throughout the pandemic, but nothing beats personal mentoring and the buzz of the classroom environment.

Our internal training team is working flat-out, through a backlog of operational and skills courses, while implementing new personal development plans, so that every colleague is allocated dedicated career coaching, to define their pathway, to realise their career and professional potential.

In a clear sign of our growth through the pandemic, over a dozen team-members - in our head office alone - have been promoted to supervisory, team leader and managerial positions, while long-standing financial controller, Laurence Burford, joins the board as finance director.

Bespoke management and graduate development programmes have been designed by our trainers, to introduce graduates to the variety of roles, skills and capabilities across the Metro group, while the leadership programme covers the essential skills that will enable manager and supervisors to be more effective in their role and support their team, while increasing their personal knowledge, confidence and capability.

Eight management development cohorts are working through the six modules, that will support them in their new roles and help prepare for the next step on their career ladder.

Metro strive for excellence, unparalleled career paths and a working environment that stimulates success, for the individual and for the business. This is inextricably linked in our philosophy. We are constantly recruiting new members to the team and welcome any interest from like-minded people, who would like a future with Metro and our associated business.

If you or someone you know would like to discuss a career at Metro please send details to Paul Moss, our Head of HR for engagement.