Strong attendance in Munich despite obstacles…

Munich Conference News

GFG Secretary Rachel Marchant reports

GFG Members overcome obstacles to attend conference.

Despite travel difficulties due to SARS and the Iraq war, there was still a good attendance at the Munich conference from 6-9 April 2003. Even with the 25% loss, there were still 59 attendees and 8 partners. The conference was hosted by the German GFG members, Becker Rueppel and Globe Cargo. The grand finale was the closing dinner, including suckling pig, at the famous Hoffbraukeller, followed by yodelling, bell ringing and entertainment from Christine.

New President

Congratulations are due to Marina Marzani of Esse Emme in Italy who, although already fully accepted by members unofficially, was officially elected to the post of GFG President. Marina’s first conference as President proved her suitability for the role of President for the GFG.

Membership Advancements

The following members were successfully voted upon to advance their membership status.

Moving from Observer to Aspirant Status were:
CFS SRL, Argentina
Fast Forward Freight B.V., The Netherlands
Levaco N.V., Belgium
Pole Star Logistics, Bangladesh
STC Freight Services, Syria.

Moving from Aspirant Status to Associate / Full Member Status were:
Harbour Handlers PTE Ltd, Singapore – Associate Member;
Naser Mohd Al Sayer Freight Services, Kuwait – Full Member; Robert E Landweer & Co., Seattle, Washington State, USA – Associate Member.

New Conference Format

During the conference the members tried the new format of Regional and Inter-Regional Meetings on Monday afternoon, instead of individual sales meetings.

The format consisted of each region having its own independent meeting, followed by various combinations of meetings enabling each group to meet up in turn. There were some very large groups – America and Europe and some very small – Asia and Middle East/Africa. Some felt that the groups could be split in a better way to even the size and this will be considered for the next conference.

Regional Meeting Feedback

The main feedback from the regional meetings was that a set agenda and printed notes prior to the meetings would make the meetings more meaningful and productive. These points were taken on board for future conferences.
The majority voted to repeat the regional meeting format.

Membership Committee Renewal

The Membership Committee benefitted from a review since the Chairman of this committee is now the GFG President and will not have sufficient time to fulfil both roles. Klaus Kehl of Becker Rueppel is now the Chairman of the Membership Committee.
Furthermore, with continuing efforts to grow the group, the Directors have refreshed the membership committee. The following Directors will assist in obtaining new members in the following areas:

Europe and Africa – Klaus Kehl of Becker Rueppel GmbH & Co KG, Germany – kk@becker-rueppel.de
Middle East and South America – Marina Marzani of Esse Emme SRL, Italy – marzani.sm@interbusiness.it
Western USA – Brigit Hamanaka of Ken Hamanaka Co. Inc, Los Angeles, USA – brigit@kenhamanaka.com
Eastern USA – Ilan Fidler of ARI Shipping Corporation, New York City, USA – ilan@arishipping.com
Asia and Far East – Dennis Smith of Trade Facilitators International, Australia – dsmith@tfibne.com.au – AND – PK Ki of Helka Express International Ltd, China – pkk@helka.com.hk

Assistance is welcomed and you are invited to contact the above people if you can offer good recommendations