Letter

'Lines are not playing the game with forwarders'
AS THE marketing manager of Aero Aqua and with a long career behind me in the shipping business, I find that the marketplace has to be likened to mud wrestling - you cannot get a grip on anything and hold on!
For example, I have a wonderful client who has been with me for years. I recently quoted him a rate from China. I quoted a net net rate as the volume had yet to be determined and profit would be minimal. Lo and behold a co-director of my client phones the same line and is given a rate of US$150 below the rate given to me, the forwarder. I have some questions at this point.
Why are forwarders not protected?
What is the function of the Freight Forwarders' Association?
Where is the trust between carriers and forwarders?
Are preferential rates not given to forwarders any more? Should we in future phone the lines, pretend to be the client dealing direct as opposed to being a forwarder, and would we then get a better rate? It would appear so! Should we lie about the volume - inflate projections; is this the answer to rock bottom rates?
Where will this end for the forwarder? Is there no longer a place for us in this country?
Now follows the worst part.
This loyal client of close to ten years learns that his colleague has obtained a rate by merely phoning the line for US$150 less than his trusted forwarder - imagine the holocaust. How do I convince him that the rate given to me was the rate passed onto him? It sounds weak, it is weak, and I am embarrassed beyond words, angry and utterly disappointed in the entire system.
Averille Roberts, Aero Aqua, Durban.