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Logistics
group's fund system keeps cargo agents in line
By Ian Putzger
Toronto
Small and mid-sized forwarders (SMEs)
continue to band together. Global Logistics Network (GLN),
an alliance of cargo agents formed six years ago, has
pushed its membership tally beyond the 300-mark. As of
early August, GLN had 306 members with 552 offices
covering 336 cities in 125 countries.
According to GLN founder and president Roy Stapleton,
about 60 percent of the newcomers in the past four to
five months have come through referrals. While clearly
pleased with the growth, he was quick to downplay the
number of members.
"It's not a numbers game," he stressed. "Our focus since
inception in mid-2003 has been to grow our network
slowly but consistently by selectively adding only
quality-focused members in key locations throughout the
globe. We have never sought quantity over quality."
He added that the organisation has let some members go
that did not fit the GLN criteria, for the most part in
relation to payment matters.
The organisation has a fund into which all members
contribute, which covers receivables of members in the
event one of them goes bankrupt. To avoid getting to
this point, there is a late payment alert system. All
members are required to report instances where other
members miss the timeline for making payments. If the
matter is not remedied within five business days, the
alert escalates to a second level. After another five
days without settlement an alert goes out to all
members.
"That system has kept everyone in line," said Stapleton.
GLN consists overwhelmingly of SME forwarders, but
larger operators are welcome to join.
UK-based consolidator Air Menzies International is about
to become an associate member in 17 countries. Last
year, Crane Worldwide Logistics came on board. The
venture of former EGL boss Jim Crane is aiming to become
a billion-dollar player with company-owned offices in
over 40 countries.
Contrary to predictions of a sweeping demise of SME
agents in the current crisis, the minnows appear to be
hanging in there.
"I haven't see a lot of small forwarders close down, not
nearly as many as expected," said Stapleton.
Over the past two years there has been a trend among SME
forwarders to form specialty networks that focus on
specific commodities or market segments, such as
pharmaceuticals or the aerospace industry.
GLN launched a dangerous goods network in early 2007,
which has since grown to 81 members in 61 countries. A
similar undertaking has been an express network, which
appears to have reached a plateau at 110 members in 59
countries.
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