Freight Forwarder

[via China Freight]

Company Profile

C.T. Freight was established in 1981 by Clive Thomas, who is owner and CEO of the company. They are the largest independent freight forwarder in Australia and have branch offices across Australia in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Cairns, as well as branches in New Zealand, Singapore, and Los Angeles. They offer all facets of International Forwarding and Logistics, for both import and export, as well as 3PL services, Warehousing and Distribution. They own freezers and coolroom facilities at each office and operate freight terminals at Sidney and Melbourne, which can provide all-round services to sea and air freight forwarders. C.T. Freight is a top five airfreight IATA agent in Australia, was ranked third in the 2006 year result and spent over $34 million US with IATA in 2007 alone.

C.T. Freight and the Australia Air Industry

Air transport accounts for around 50% of C.T. Freight's total income and they are number one with airlines such as Emirates and British Airways. The majority of the air cargo they deal with is perishable goods, but they also handle every other kind of freight including hazardous and project cargoes. At present they are involved in forwarding project air cargo from Australia to Zambia in Africa, and Louisiana in the USA. Their business is very diverse and they can handle any air cargo to and from Australia.

The Australian & Chinese Freight Forwarding Market

The Australian freight forwarding market is more mature than the Chinese market, as it has developed over the last 100 years, whereas the Chinese freight forwarding market realistically began to develop only 20 years ago. The volume of cargo being shipped from china to the rest of the world is much greater than that from Australia, but this is to do with the difference in population. Even though Australian is about 85% of the size of China, there are only around 21 million people living there. In other words, the population of the whole of Australia is about the same as the population in Shenzhen or Shanghai.

The cooperation between China and Australia is very strong and it's getting stronger every year. The resent meeting between the Australian Prime Minister and the Chinese President can only strengthen this relationship. China has been very important to the Australian economy and despite the large difference in population, and Australia is ranked the seventh largest trading partner with China. The Australian economy is growing at a faster rate than any other western country, and this is directly attributed to the business relationship between the two countries. Mr. Wood's reason for coming to China was to meet his agents and partners face to face, in order to find out each others needs, learn from each other, and come up with solutions on how to create even more business.

[via China Freight]

Shenzhen Senbang International Freight Co., Ltd, which was established in 1999, is one of the first None Vessel Operating Common Carriers (NVOCC) in China granted by the ministry of Communications. After years of operation, Senbang has developed into a Third-party International Logistics Corporation. It has been awarded the titles of "Shenzhen Creditable Freight Forwarding Company", "Chinese Top 100 International Logistics Company and Top 50 Ocean Shipping Company" and "Shenzhen Key Logistics Company". During the interview, Mr. Su Dan analyzes the success of Senbang, and presents his opinions toward the 3PL industry and e-business.

Company strategy and staff make Senbang a success

Mr. Su said that the company strategy has played the most important role in the development of Senbang over the past 10 years. The Management Program is the guideline for all the staff, which is dedicated to justice, honesty, and equity. As a result, Senbang provides a secure working environment for its staff, who all follow the slogan on its website www.sbichina.com; " Work hard and enjoy life".

In the heavily competitive logistics market in China, many freight forwarding companies pay too much attention to profit and ignore the working environment and growth of their staff. Mr. Su said that people in the freight forwarding industry face much more pressure than those in many other industries. In order to minimize this pressure, Senbang tries its best to provide a comfortable environment for them. Senbang has no strict principles, such as wearing formal clothes in the company, etc. Besides, it provides high salaries and standard welfare for its staff according to the laws in China, such as insurance, holidays, etc. Although this costs the company more, Mr. Song Gongyou, CEO of Senbang, said that Senbang not only targets on profit, but also pays much attention to offering opportunities to young people in order to sustain the growth of their business and showcase their ability. With the efforts of all the staff, Senbang is confident of realizing their dream to "Build a company with over 100-year history".

3PL is not only a fashion

Third party logistics has become the trend for the development of modern logistics. However, most of the traditional logistics companies do not recognize the signification of 3PL and its effect on the logistics industry when they are trying to enter this market. In traditional logistics, the registered capital, capital assets, number of employees, etc. are the standards used to estimate the strength of a logistics company. Mr. Su said that 3PL is the supply chain practice where one or more logistics functions of a firm are outsourced to a 3PL provider. As a result, logistics companies can provide all-round services effectively, including organization, management, adjustment, etc. and reduce the costs.

Senbang insists on 3PL and puts a lot of resources into training staff and establishing their information systems. In order to maximize their efficiency and profit, they have established nearly 20 branches and offices across China, and have developed a strong agency network covering many important international ports.