Explore Global Forwarding’s evolution from food exports to just-in-time sea cargo deliveries
Established in 1993, Global Forwarding operates out of freight centers in the UK, Ireland, and the US, specializing in bespoke multi-modal freight, logistics and supply chain solutions for all types of cargo. Committed to delivering the highest levels of customer service, the company works closely with clients to offer enhanced boutique solutions and personalized service. Alongside its headquarters in London, Global Forwarding’s presence in the UK includes offices at Heathrow, the UK’s busiest cargo airport, and Manchester, enabling it to service customers in the heart and north of the country. Mark Royden, Co-owner and Managing Director of the organization’s UK operations, shares a comprehensive overview of his branch’s operations.
“In operation for 30 years, Global Forwarding UK started out as a small operation focused on transporting food items such as Dutch cheese, pasta, and English biscuits from all over Europe to the US. Over time, the demand for European food subsided and imports from Asia became the UK’s largest market,” he opens. “Around 17 years ago, we sold a share of the company to a $3 billion turnover Hong Kong company called Hecny Transport (Hecny). What made us particularly interested in reaching a deal with Hecny was its outstanding geographical footprint, with over 200 offices worldwide. Moreover, we wanted a broader reach in Asia, where Hecny is very strong. As a result, in addition to our offices in Hayes, Manchester, and New Jersey, we now have a presence in Asia, more significantly in Southeast Asia.
“Since then, we have been operating as a full range freight forwarder, dealing notably with ocean, air, and sea cargo. As a matter of fact, sea freight is the largest part of our operations, accounting for 60 percent of our business. We have grown from strength to strength, increasing our turnover from £5 million prior to our deal with Hecny to approximately £150 million today. Furthermore, we own our own trucks in the UK, mostly for container traffic,” he adds.
Just-in-time model
William Bashford, Managing Director of Global Forwarding’s Ireland division sheds light on his branch’s operations. “Our Irish business is the smaller and younger of the Global Forwarding family. After opening in 2018 with an office in Dublin, we launched another in 2022 in Youghal, County Cork in the south of Ireland. By splitting our operations into two locations, we are able to cater to customers in both the north and south of the country. In contrast to our UK division, we export significantly in Ireland, with our business distribution being around 60 percent export and 40 percent import, creating synergies between the two divisions. Before joining Global Forwarding, my background was in the meat industry, as well as in deep sea and short sea transportation. As the pandemic started just two years after our inception, we started in one of the most difficult periods. However, we now operate with a team of ten employees, with support from the UK and our backroom in Cyprus. While we are involved in all aspects of the business, we are particularly focused on doing our own deals with local Irish carriers,” he says.
Furthermore, Global Forwarding Ireland stands as an expert in refrigerated cargo shipping, cold-chain management and specialized packaging, thereby ensuring its clients’ fresh and frozen products always arrive in pristine condition. Its dedicated foodstuffs team assists customers with all their export and import requirements, delivering door-to-door global transport solutions both ambient and temperature controlled, by road freight, sea freight, and air freight. These operations are
supported by customs brokerages and vet and port health formalities.
“In contrast to our UK division, we export significantly in Ireland, with our business distribution being around 60 percent export and 40 percent import, creating synergies between the two divisions,” William explains. “Ireland is also recognized as the ‘Food Island of Europe’ with 25 percent of the world’s supply of milk powder supplied from the island.”
Delving deeper into the scope of Global Forwarding’s overall services, Mark explains how its just-in-time deliveries are carried out. “We have recently been selected for a project in which we are in charge of loading and unloading most of the cruise ships that come into the UK. This includes any object that needs to go on or come off the ship, such as post for the crew. Since crew members may stay on these cruise ships for up to nine months, they order what they need from Amazon, which delivers to us. From there, we consolidate those parcels and load them onto the cruise ships. Additionally, there have been instances where machinery parts needed to be replaced on board the vessel, and we had to deliver them just-in-time as the cruise ship only stays in port for 12 hours. We are then given a six-hour window, sometimes less, to deliver the cargo. If we deliver too late and miss the cruise ship, it becomes our responsibility to take that cargo to the next port where the ship will stop. Despite the potential penalties at stake, we have been extremely successful with this just-in-time model, which makes up most of our business. At Global Forwarding, we are especially proud of this part of the business as it can be challenging to offload and onload within a limited time while passengers are coming on and off the ship,” he goes on.
People first
Alongside a reputation for timely delivery and reliability, Global Forwarding has built its success on excellent customer service. “Having the best sales team is crucial to bring in business but having a dedicated internal team to look after customers is equally important. Our customer service team’s accountability sets us apart from larger corporations. When we take an order from anywhere in the world, our team takes responsibility for it all the way through to final destination delivery and billing. In other words, customers only have to discuss with one point of contact within our organization, unlike larger carriers where they may deal with multiple people in a single day, resulting in less effective communication – that is if they can speak to anyone at all. Indeed, the larger the carrier, the less customer service they often provide. Meanwhile, at Global Forwarding, every team member undergoes continual customer service training in-house, and we even offer external training,” Mark reveals.
This focus on customer service goes hand-in-hand with Global Forwarding’s people culture, as Mark points out: “I always say two things: we very rarely lose business, and we very rarely lose employees. The average tenure for our customer service team is 11 years, even with some newer hires to handle the cruise business bringing down the average. Within our office, there is our CFO who has been working here for nearly 30 years and our customer service manager of around 33 years. Their longevity is a testament to the type of company culture we foster; we look after our people, who in turn look after our customers. We prioritize accountability and our employees know that if a problem arises, it is their responsibility to find a solution.”
Through lucrative partnerships and a reputation built on reliability, Global Forwarding is poised to revolutionize logistics worldwide by delivering personalized solutions directly to clients, wherever they may be.