Newsletters

Message from the President

Dear members,

Welcome to the spring edition of Globalia’s quarterly newsletters. I am sure that 2021 is proving to be much more profitable and productive than the previous year and that all of you are taking steps for increased cooperation for a greater volume of business. Meanwhile, we are constantly working towards a better experience for our members and to this end we have made considerable investments to boost the visibility of the network and the members. Make sure to go through the network news we have included in this newsletter to find out about our new SEO tactics and the changes we have made to our website.

This newsletter comes with all the news about the important projects undertaken by network members in the last three months along with lots of news that are making headlines in the logistics sector. You will also find a very interesting article with several digital marketing tips that will help the freight forwarders survive the post-pandemic months. Apart from this, there is an article that will inform you about all the challenges facing freight forwarders in 2021.

Before concluding I would once again like to remind our members to start implementing a digital strategy to survive the ever-increasing competition. As the first step towards this process, you can start by making use of FreightViewer, Globalia’s member-exclusive rate management and quotation generation software that will immensely simplify your office operations. Make sure to get in touch with our team for any queries regarding the proper use of this online tool!

Hope you enjoy reading!

Kind regards
Antonio Torres
President and Founder - Globalia Logistics Network

Globalia takes yet another significant step by bolstering its marketing team and tools

Globalia has made substantial investment in communication and marketing to boost the visibility of the members and increase the coverage of the network.

Globalia Logistics Network has taken yet another significant step towards empowering the network agents by investing in new SEO tools and expanding its marketing team. This will increase the visibility of the network as well as awareness of those members whose achievements are regularly published in the news section of their website.

Enhancing Globalia’s marketing tactics will also help them to rank higher in the result page of Google search that will in turn increase their outreach, attract new reliable forwarders to the network and generate interest in the benefits of belonging the network.

They have also added new features to their website including a 24x7 live chat feature and a more userfriendly Members’ Area. All these efforts clearly demonstrate their dedication towards promoting their member’s brand and this is precisely why they are steadily counting on more members.

"We started this year with lots of ambitious projects and thanks to the combined efforts of the entire Globalia team, we have already accomplished many of them! Within just the first three months of 2021, our network has increased a 10% and I am confident that with all our efforts and investments our coverage will continue to grow!"

INTERVIEW

SIMON MOORE

MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR OF GLOBALIA

Simon Moore plays a key role in researching and recruiting the best companies for membership in Globalia. His most important job consists of carefully researching the background of the members before determining if they are eligible for membership. Before joining our team, he spent five years in Italy teaching students from across the globe. With several years of experience in customer service, and results orientation, Simon believes that good communication is the key to outreach enhancement.

MEMBER NEWS

Globalia Ho Chi Minh sends out their 12th air charter with shipment of PPEs from Vietnam to the USA
Read more

Globalia Singapore moves 4 units of A60H dump trucks
Read more

Globalia Sialkot undertakes an important air-charter shipment for the Government of France
Read more

Globalia Chicago recognized by INC. Magazine as one of the 5000 fastest-growing companies in the United States
Read more

Globalia Piraeus joins forces with Globalia Larnaca/Limassol to work on a long-term shipment involving the movement of edible oil
Read more

Globalia Sao Paulo/Itajai obtains a contract for the weekly air shipment of perishable cargo
Read more

Globalia Bristol gets shortlisted as finalists for the BIFA Award 2020
Read more

Globalia Haiphong successfully moves a bulk cargo shipment via ocean freight
Read more

MEMBER INTERVIEWS

RYAN KULASEKARE

COO OF KMR GLOBAL LOGISTICS, GLOBALIA MEMBER IN VANCOUVER, CANADA

In this interview he talks about the history of his organization, how they managed to function during the pandemic, the road to success of freight forwarders and many other things.

WILLY SEONG

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF HEUNG -A LOGISTICS GLOBALIA MEMBER IN SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

In this interview he talks about how they got into military logistics services, the challenges they face with these kinds of projects and more.

SECTOR NEWS

A LOOK INTO THE SITUATION OF THE SHIPMENT BLOCKING SUEZ CANAL

A massive cargo shipping container blocked the Suez Canal in Egypt which is the link between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. The cargo vessel called Ever Given has stuck sideways in the canal which in turn blocked the path for other ships who were waiting in line to cross the canal. This led to one of the worst shipping jams in several years.

What led to the blockage?
The Ever Given is a 200,000 tons behemoth that is 400 m long and almost 60 m wide. Registered in Panama, this massive vessel got stuck sideways during its journey from China to the Netherlands. To quote the vessel’s operator, a Taiwanese transport company, the ship was “suspected of being hit by a sudden strong wind, causing the hull to deviate… and accidentally hit the bottom and ran aground.” The huge ship had its bow stuck on one bank of the Canal. Meanwhile the ship’s stern was nearly touching the other side. The crisis commenced March 23 when a dust storm caused the ship to change its route.

The scenario
Several teams were working together to dislodge the Ever Given. Tugs and dredgers were presently dragging the ship to a zone with deeper water and more tugs were on their way. The Ever Given is by far the largest vessel to make its way through the Canal. The Suez Canal Authorities were trying to re-float the ship by using the tug units. Moreover, diggers were also working towards dislodging the ship from the shores of the canal. The ongoing operation needed much care and effort and it will take several days till the canal traffic resumed its normal flow.

The importance of the Suez Canal
The Suez Canal is a 193 km long man-made canal that comprises three natural lakes. Tankers frequently use it for moving crude oil fromoil exporters in the Middle East to the US and Europe. Ocean vessels also operate in it for transporting goods from the North Sea to Asia. Roughly 50 ships cross the Canal on a regular basis. Moreoever, as per a statement by the Canal Authority, around 19,000 ships with a net tonnage of 1.17 billion tonnes crossed it in 2020.

SMIT Salvage a Dutch company that specializes in salvaging wrecked sea vessels was appointed by the owners of Ever Given for helping with the movement of the vessel. In the words of Martijn Schuttevaer, the spokesperson for SMIT, "It will be critical to inspect the vessel and how deeply it is lodged in the embankment... the question is how solidly she has been grounded."

Why is the Suez Canal important for the sea cargo shipping industry?
The Suez Canal in Egypt is a man-made canal that stretches for 193 km and includes three natural lakes. Oil tankers use the canal for transporting crude oil from the oil exporters in the Middle East to the USA and Europe. Container ships also ply on this canal for moving cargo between Asia and the North Sea. On an average, 50 vessels use this canal regularly. Last year roughly 19,000 container ships with a total tonnage of 1.17 billion crossed the Suez Canal.

How the Suez Canal blockage is going to impact the international maritime trade?
Sal Mercogliano a maritime historian says that even though this kind of accident happens once in a blue moon. Therefore, it could have a massive impact on the global trade scenario. If the tugs are not able to dislodge the ship from the banks then they will have to work on unloading the cargo. This can be a very difficult operation that might take more than a few days.

The blockage could also negatively affect the movement of international ocean cargo between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Oil Analytics company Vortexa believed that the blockage of the Canal could stop the passage of 10 ships carrying 13 million barrels of crude oil. Re-routing the ships on the other hand would result in a 15 days delay in their estimated arrival time in the European countries. The oil prices already rose by 2% as a result of this crisis.

To quote Warren Patterson, the Chief of Commodity Strategy for ING Group in Singapore, "It could be having a bit of an impact when you consider about 10% of total seaborne oil trade goes through the Suez Canal, but I imagine any disruption would be very temporary."

MORE NEWS AT A GLANCE

Post Covid-19, the logistics companies are prioritizing supply chain resiliency like never before

According to a research by Capgemini, over 80% of companies in this sector have reported being negatively impacted by the pandemic and it has prompted them to focus on supply chain resiliency in order to adapt to the new circumstances

Amazon is gearing up for the delivery of 100 million vaccines within 100 days

The multinational has expressed its willingness to leverage its operations to help US President Joe Biden fulfil his mission of vaccinating 100 million US citizens within the first 100 days of his office in the White House

Vaccine manufacturer Pfizer is taking it more suppliers and boosting its manufacturing capacities for fulfilling its mission of delivering 2 billion vaccine doses by the end of this year

As stated by Tim Manning, the Supply Coordinator of Pfizer’s Covid-19 Response Team, “Our first action gets Pfizer more equipment and supplies that are enabling them (the Biden administration) to ramp up production and deliver more vaccines.”

Coca-Cola teams up with Wallmart for the drone delivery of coffee-flavoured soda

The two multinationals have partnered with Drone-up for a promotional campaign to deliver the new coffee flavoured soda by air

The cargo division of International Airlines Group will now offer Iberia A330 ‘preighter’ service access to its customers

This acquisition will create a 20,000 miles railway network connection the three countries of Canada, USA and Mexico as the first part of the trade alliance of these three nations

SPECIAL

Challenges facing freight forwarders in 2021

The pandemic and subsequent lockdown all over the world had a massive impact on trade and economy and this amplified the problems already faced by the independent freight agents. The boom in ecommerce led to extra pressure on the logistics companies. Added to this the freight companies in Europe had to cope with the challenges posed by Brexit...

1. CAPACITY CHALLENGES

The sharp increase in online shopping trends has resulted in a crunch of transportation and warehousing space. After the added pressure following Christmas and Chinese New Year, the shippers are now focusing on planning and implementing a dynamic change that will allow them to cope with the changed market reality. To quote Jim Monkmeyer, the President of Transportation of DHL Supply Chain North America, “We will see ongoing capacity challenges—and a seller’s market for those that control the capacity—throughout 2021, as most passenger flights remain grounded and sustained peaks around e-commerce, Chinese New Year, and the [Covid-19] vaccines mean that demand remains high for domestic ground carriers and international capacity across multiple modes.” The logistical challenges are likely to continue as “the global effort to roll out vaccines puts pressure on already strained logistics resources. Pandemic-related trade will continue to crowd out trade in other types of goods… On the other hand, a lot of very smart people and groups are working hard to find innovative ways to adapt and create better solutions that will have impacts on how supply chains are run far beyond this pandemic, so we expect to see some innovation and progress starting to appear too,” states Christopher Hale, the CEO of Kountable, an international tech platform provider.

2. ALTERED CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS

The arrival of new technologies has changed the expectations of your customers. Moreover, as consumers become more reliant on information, they expect their logistics service provider to keep them fully informed about the exact status of the shipment throughout the entire transit process. In other words, the time is now to switch to a technology-powered supply chain not only for the benefit of your clients but also for your survival in the coming years. Logistics companies now need to concentrate on making all sorts of data available for their customers within the least possible period and this can only be made possible by large-scale implementation of digitization. Supply chain professionals now need to intricately follow the trending technologies in the market and adapt them to retain their customers and attract new ones.

3. SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATION

Supply chain integration refers to the process by which all the stakeholders involved in the shipment can seamlessly exchange data to reduce expenditure and waste, and improve response time and production time. Supply chain integration has become extremely important for enhancing the flexibility of international freight companies. It can be done by partnering with another company in another territory and by cooperating more exclusively with your partners, suppliers, customers and every other stakeholder in the process.

4. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

The digital transformation, the most pressing of all challenges of the supply chain industry. Digitization is changing both the business models and the strategies of conducting business to extend your customer base. Both large and small forwarders are now transforming several aspects of their processes from quote generation to invoicing to movement and delivery. However, digital transformation is not just about the implementation of new software it is also about adopting a digital mindset which is still not so common in our industry.

Refer&Earn

The growth of our network in the past few years has been astounding. Although we have 192 cities already covered, we still have enough room for more agents!
25% discount on your next annual membership fee!
Make sure to talk to your peers in the industry about the advantages of becoming a member of Globalia!

Here are some of the cities which are in need of coverage

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