BIFA Awards
besides the land/air option via Delhi, Uniserve also opted for sea/air routes via Sri Lanka or Singapore to the UK. Furthermore, Bonnett noted: “Our customer realised there were challenges in other locations, relating to the supply chain or demand for capacity in the lead- up to Christmas. So we found solutions for their shipments from Cambodia, India, China and Pakistan too.” In order to achieve the various multimodal solutions, it was imperative that all stations worked together, with Uniserve acting as control tower. Uniserve also scaled up its operations and warehousing in Dhaka and Chittagong rapidly, bringing in extra staff from elsewhere in the group. Between 23 August and 23 September, Uniserve managed three phases of emergency shipments totalling over 1,000 tons across multiple origins. “Our ability to quickly mobilise resources, optimise routing and maintain meticulous tracking at the SKU level enabled the customer to salvage its peak season inventory despite the crisis in Bangladesh,” Bonnett said. Calmer situation Fortunately, the situation there calmed down quickly. Volumes out of Bangladesh have been slower in the last few months and the intense pressure of last summer is not expected to recur any time soon. As for opportunities in the wider region, Bonnett considered that the China+1 model is likely to run for a good while yet. In fact, he said: “Because of President Trump, retailers are more likely to take that approach because their margins are down and customers won’t want to pay higher prices for goods. “India could potentially compete with China, given its population and the cost of manufacturing; so could Southeast Asia – although a lot of the factories opening there are built with Chinese money and materials anyway.” Uniserve continues to focus on strategic European growth, multimodal service network development and investment in land and property, as well as scaling its award-winning air freight solutions.
xxx
Uniserve saves customer from Bangladesh chaos
When political unrest in Bangladesh disrupted supply chains, Uniserve stepped up with multimodal solutions that impressed the BIFA judges so much that they bestowed the 2024 Air Cargo Services Award on the company
optimal mix of air, sea/air, and land/air services based on product availability and urgency. “Charter is simpler but it’s expensive; we reduced our client’s costs by millions by avoiding charter flights,” Bonnett explained. “Traditionally, it’s just a case of air freighting the goods out of Dhaka, but we had to move large volumes very quickly in this case. So we put them on trucks to the border, where they were able to cross in bond, and then go on to Delhi airport,” Bonnett said. We knew that capacity issues began to emerge at Delhi too as the unrest in Bangladesh continued and alternative routes became more congested. Therefore,
I n mid-2024, Bangladesh was a place of widespread civil disobedience, factory closures and government-imposed Internet blackouts. The disruption to garment manufacturing and supply chains posed a threat to shippers’ ability to meet peak season demand in the UK. Uniserve air freight director Leighton Bonnett recalled: “On 8 August, our client approached us about air charter options from Bangladesh. By 12 August, this hypothetical enquiry became an urgent request to explore chartering ten aircraft starting 25 August 2024.” Optimal mix However, as communication with factories and suppliers improved, it became clear that some orders had progressed and some of the extreme urgency had reduced. Uniserve worked closely with the customer to assess all available logistics routes and determine the
“ We reduced our client’s costs by millions by avoiding charter fl ights – Leighton Bonnett, Uniserve
Air Cargo Services Award
IAG Cargo, the single business combining the strengths of British Airways, Iberia, Vueling, Aer Lingus and LEVEL, has sponsored the BIFA
Awards for over 30 years. The success of the UK Freight Forwarding sector remains as important as ever to Britain’s place in international trade. Our sponsorship of these awards underlines our commitment to not only promote the sector, but to continue working closely with the Freight Forwarding community to deliver more connections and opportunities for global growth.
14 | August 2025
www.bifa.org
Made with FlippingBook Annual report maker