CQR Shenzhen was recently charged with the shipping of a blade for a cooling fan from Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur.
The team arranged the shipping with CI airline and ensured that the packaging was strengthened to carry the 1.68 tons.
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“We have worked with Creedence for several years,” stated National Freight Manager, Colin Moonsamy, “and the visit of our Principals further emphasised the opportunities for growth not just in the South Africa market, but also the possibilities of growth in the bordering African countries”
Managing Director of Creedence, Tim Law was impressed with the professionalism and friendly attitude of Alpha Shipping staff, who have given Creedence confidence to continue with their expansion in South Africa.
CONQUEROR would like to congratulate the Alpha Shipping team and invite members with shipments in South Africa to get in touch with the team.
Q. Can you tell us a little about the history of PT ARAYA BANGUN SARANA?
A. PT ARAYA BANGUN SARANA is a family owned business started by my father, which began life as a trucking company and then in the early 90’s, due to the demands of more complex procedures and bureaucracies, became a forwarder. I am the second generation in the business.
Q. What would be the most significant shipment/project your company has handled? What challenges did it pose and how did your team overcome them and successfully complete the shipment?
A.The expansion project of Camco Omya factory. At that time, there wasn’t enough qualified heavy cargo transporters and road conditions weren’t good either. The location of the future factory site with its rugged terrain made transportation a big headache; the trucks had a lot of blown tires. To ensure minimal problems and delays, we carefully planned each journey ensuring each cargo was delivered safely (80MT per load) although slowly.
Q. What are the main challenges freight forwarders in Indonesia are facing at the moment?
A. There are many but if we are talking the biggest challenges, then it’s the Port authorities and Shipping Lines adding Forwarding divisions and trying to steal our market share. Then there are the government regulations that are slowing down export/ import activities and also making us forwarders less useful.
Q. How are you and your team meeting these challenges on a daily basis?
A. We strive to provide a better service and extra services each and every time. The challenges we face get harder every day and we require more than just hard work to produce smarter employees; we endeavour to seek out their hidden potential. Unfortunately, Indonesia is not known for the quality of its human resource which is difficult considering a forwarding companies’ most valuable assets are their employees who must often communicate, coordinate and make important decisions at crucial times.
Q. PT ARAYA BANGUN SARANA has been around now for 25 years, how different is the company now to when it was founded?
A. Back then we WERE just a simple trucking company born out of the necessity for transporters, business flourished and we were much needed. Now the market is overcrowded, everybody is doing and developing the same things, it requires extra work to exist and improve. We have also shifted from semi-old fashioned methods to more modern methods.
Q. Do you have any current plans for PT ARAYA BANGUN SARANA?
A. We are developing a courier cargo service for smaller packages to meet E-commerce demand. We also plan to work more on domestic forwarding sectors as there are many islands and ports which are yet to be explored.
Q. Where do you see the company in 10 years?
A. We see the company being more sophisticated in some areas as specialisation is more and more demanded, Forwarding and Logistics distribution will be more closely related.
The handling of the trailers necessitated special road movement licenses with round the clock coordination with all local official authorities, such as police and army escort under the full supervision of local customs and airport authorities .The period this took place was on the eve of a local holiday in September when all of Israel shuts down.
“We were up against an inflexible timeframe to load the sensitive cargo on the special full charter cargo aircraft to fly from TLV airport. The holiday would be beginning in just a few hours when the local airport authorities would impose flight restrictions,” said Albert Benezra, Air Freight Development Manager.
“This was definitely one of the team’s most challenging and stressful projects handled in recent years especially as the notice given was extremely short to say the least, but as always they stepped up and completed it in time,” said Albert.
Delegates representing 141 cities across 70 countries made their way to Abu Dhabi for the 5th Annual Conqueror Meeting. “These meetings are vital to both the success of each member as well as the network as a whole,” said Conqueror Managing Director, Antonio Torres.
“Success in the freight forwarding business is in part down to who you know. If agents aren’t meeting partners regularly and building lasting cooperative relationships, a company should expect to be in dire straits in just a few years,” he continued.
“My business it too important to place its fate in a company that I barely know anything about. A website and a few phone calls and emails can only tell me so much. Only by meeting face to face can I have a true sense of an agent’s character and modus operandi,” said one delegate.
It is clear that delegates have found the 5th Annual Conqueror Meeting worthwhile as over 1900 one to one meetings were booked by delegates ahead of the event and every moment in between is being taken up with unscheduled spontaneous business opportunities.
Another delegate had this to say, “This is my annual opportunity to promote our business on an international platform with agents all under one roof at one time. I can’t afford to sit back and relax; every moment, every conversation is an opportunity. We all understand that we can’t beat the multinationals alone; it is a cooperative effort that will enable us to ‘Conqueror the world.”
“Although it’s 5 years since our first meeting, the enthusiasm and commitment of our agents hasn’t dwindled. They return again and again with the same focus and determination as that of our first get together,” explained Mr Torres.
The team organised the making of the wooden packing case, arranged pick up from Malpensa Airport with TORO ROSSO in a specially adapted truck and cooperated with ETIHAD on the air freight portion.
The car arrived safely and is now ‘parked’ in the client’s private living room as a show piece for guests.
We invite members with shipments in Milan to get in touch with the team.
CQR Dammam has signed a joint venture agreement with ALMAR Container Group (ALMAR) for long term association in Saudi Arabia. ALMAR came to this decision after ERAM ROVER completed a successful initial period of engagement in the past year.
“We are very excited about this new partnership. Over the next two years, together with ALMAR, we will open a new container facility under a subsidiary, ERAM ALMAR. We will have fabrication and modifications of containers for various clients in the Kingdom,” said Mufeed Ali, ERAM ROVER’S Business Development Executive.
He continued, “Initially, our agreement is for five years but with an option for automatic renewal of another five years when the first term comes to an end.”
One of its more recent students, far exceeded their expectations. Director Richard Brook-Hart FICS tells the story”Four years ago, Shirley Ntsoane worked as a cleaner in an office block in Johannesburg, a job that she had done for fifteen years since leaving school. Shirley though had greater aspirations, and encouraged by her friendly attitude and work ethic, Alpha Shipping decided to offer her a job as a receptionist in the Johannesburg office. From that moment on, Shirley began to learn a whole new set of skills, and encouraged by her progress, myself and the other management suggested she studied for the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers Understanding Shipping Course. The course imparts a basic shipping knowledge, and is ideal for new entrants to the shipping industry, and to anyone in other professions who have close associations with shipping. It comprises of nine modules with written assignments, culminating in an oral and short written exam.”
“From the start, Shirley excelled, scoring high marks, and finally achieving an average pass mark of over 80%. We have now promoted Shirley to the position of Internal Sales Manager, where she continues to develop her passion for shipping, whilst retaining the humility of her origins.” Recently, Alpha Shipping flew Shirley to Durban, where she received her certificate from the President of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, Bruce Ogilivy FICS. Some of Shirley’s colleagues also attended the lunch in respect and recognition of Shirley’s achievement.
As of February 1st 2016, CQR Santo Domingo has been awarded HP Inc.’s (formerly known as Hewlett-Packard) Household transport services contract to the Dominican Republic. This will be through two companies, the first manages all product warranties of consumers globally (NETSER) and the second is through the company that holds the contract guarantees and services (INFO-Services).
Q. Can you tell us a little about the history of C.V.M. INTERNATIONAL FORWARDING LTD. and when you joined the company?
A. C.V.M. International Forwarding Company was established in 1980 by Chris V. Maragos; a Captain, a Professor at the Training Center of Merchant Marines in Greece, my father and my mentor. The family’s tradition (my grandfather also worked in the field) and their professionalism was mainly what attracted me to the freight forwarding industry.
In the beginning of our company’s operation, we handled 80% of Greece’s world-wide marble exports (about 800 teu / month). Since then, more and more clients of varying industries have entrusted their goods to us. I personally joined the company in 2007, immediately after my service as a 2nd Officer and the completion of my Masters in International Transportation Management.
Q. Does your company specialize in any particular kind of shipment?
A. We are strong in all areas of shipping (sea transports, ship spares & chartering to name just a few). Although, we don’t limit ourselves to one area; our office provides complete logistics solutions (from multi-mode transports to project cargos and more).
Q. What would be the most significant shipment/project your company has handled?
A. We are proud to say that for more than 30 years, we have been frequently challenged with the shipments that we handle. We have handled the stuffing, custom clearance & road transport to Piraeus port of 80 containers – as one lot – in 7 days. Last year, we chartered a vessel within a floatable vessel and currently, we move large steel structures (14m long) on a monthly basis, from Greece to Germany and Baku.
Q. What are the main challenges freight forwarders in Greece are facing at the moment?
A. Unfortunately, the implementation of capital controls in Greece isn’t helping the industry overall, as a continuation of the Greek trade. We – as a company – found a solution, so we will keep our shipments moving and our clients and suppliers satisfied.
Q. How are you and your team meeting these challenges on a daily basis?
A. Wise management and effective partnerships – such as Conqueror freight network – are part of the solution to these daily challenges.
Q. What attracted you to apply for membership of Conqueror?
A. The exclusiveness of the membership and the broad coverage of the network.
Q. Would you say that overall your Conqueror Membership is working for your business?
A. We are so pleased to be a member of such a “family”! While difficult circumstances approach us all (the economic and trade crisis are a global phenomena – nobody can deny that) we have to figure out joint solutions to strengthen our COMMON future…
We are so looking forward to meeting you all in Abu Dhabi to discuss our ideas!