Global forwarder network to meet in Jo’burg next year

JOHANNESBURG HAS been named as the venue for the 22nd annual general meeting of Global Logistics Associates (GLA) – a worldwide network of independent freight forwarders and customs brokers. Alwyn Nel, MD of Johannesburg-based Kingfisher Freight Services, was re-elected president at the recent AGM held in Nevada, US. The meeting in Lake Tahoe was attended by 110 representatives from the companies currently members of the GLA – operating in 46 countries worldwide. They were joined by eight new member companies from Canada, Colombia, Israel, Kenya, Romania, Sri Lanka, Sweden, and Tunisia. GLA links its independent members into a global network of unified standards and joint communication and track-andtrace systems, Nel told FTW. “This offers the benefits of our joint buying power giving access to competitive transport rates and insurance premiums. The economies of scale allow our individual members – mostly mediumsized operations – to compete with the major multi-national forwarding operations.” The association has a dual focus, Nel added. “These are safety issues, rules and regulations on the one hand and the wishes and requirements of the customer on the other. “Therefore, much attention is drawn to trends, procedures and industry compliance issues – making sure that shipments are performed in a standardised and proper way. Also attention to insurance issues, for those rare moments and acts of God when one has to rely on partners to settle damages