WFN Members in India and the USA Continue Regular Business

Two of our WFN members, Balaji Mariline in India and WWLP in the USA have a strong, long-term partnership.

Sitaram S at Balaji Mariline and Tim Taylor at WWLP are both WFN founder members, and enjoyed meeting again virtually during their 1-to-1 appointment at the WFN Online Meeting in March.

You can see a screenshot of their 1-to-1 meeting below:

Tim Taylor, President of WWLP gave this fantastic feedback, "Sitaram and I have known each other for more than 15 years, it was great to see each other over Skype today and discuss everything from the family to business cycles, industry news about our two countries and our current cooperation. Even though Sitaram and I do not have daily, weekly and sometimes not even monthly shipments together we both have a sense of respect for our knowledge of our countries and share all details on industry news. We both shared details on port congestion in our respective countries, delays in ship arrivals causing severe supply chain disruptions for our customers. The effects on the increasing high rates from the shipping companies and how that has affected our customers bottom line but also our financial strain as most forwarders have a credit arrangement with our larger customers. In addition how the delays in vessel turnaround in the ports has lasting effects on the entire ship schedules and how these delays will simply domino and continue to affect the worldwide shipping schedules for all more trade lanes.

In addition we discussed the new shipping season and rate negotiations that we are both facing with the shipping companies, with the extremely high rates it is more difficult this year to negotiate proper rates with concessions on both side to hold the rates and continue the service as in years past. It will be a challenge for ocean carriers to sustain proper levels of service and transit times based on the current delays.

In addition we discussed the severe shortage of containers in the world fleet. The ocean carriers built larger and larger ships but without the foresight to realize the need for a larger balance of the container fleet, if and when the market booms, like it did in 2020. Now the ocean carriers are understanding that if you build 20,000 TEU ships you better have sufficient equipment fleets to sustain the larger vessels. It is consistent with the lack of proper planning by the shipping lines to predict the future.

The final thing we discussed was the Covid situation and how it was affecting the workplace and overall operations of our companies. Sitaram and myself had to close the offices for 3-4 months, manage proper on line computers, internet connections, software upgrades and monitoring our overall KPI’s. It was a quick learning curve but we both were very successful in the transition and did not skip a beat with our operations and keeping our customers fully updated on each and every shipments. But, we both agreed that bringing the staff back to the office and having them together is a better environment for all including the services we both cherish and are proud of that we give to all our customers."

Sitaram, Director of Balaji Mariline summarised the meeting, "Our concluding frame was that hopefully this difficult situation will come to a close in the next 6-8 months and 2022 should start on a much stronger note. Yes, one thing is certain and that is that ocean freight rates are not going to slide to the ridiculous levels, as it was in pre-COVID times. The pandemic has taught us a lot and hopefully, mankind too has learnt the lessons.

Success of the forwarder community or for that matter, the service provider will depend on how well knit each organisation is. We need to take care of our employees and inculcate a sense of belonging in them to succeed.

Moreover, all these cannot be achieved alone but can be done only with  strong networking with likeminded friends.

Hope we can meet soon, in  person. One concluding remark. The ONLINE meet was fantastic and gave a wonderful opportunity to catch up with all friends across the globe."

If interested in joining WFN, complete the Application Form.

To read more about Balaji Mariline and WWLP, visit their websites here:

www.balajimariline.com

www.worldwidelp.com