British International Freight Association

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British International Freight Association
AbbreviationBIFA
Founded1944;80 years ago (1944) [1]
Type Trade association
Legal statusNon-profit organisation
Headquarters Feltham, Greater London
Location
Area served
United Kingdom
Members
over 1600 [2]
President
Sir Peter Bottomley
Website www.bifa.org

The British International Freight Association, also known as BIFA, is the prime United Kingdom trade association representing UK freight forwarders. [3] These are companies that forward goods internationally on behalf of importers and exporters. [4] It is a not-for-profit organisation owned by its members and managed by a small Secretariat. The board has seven non-executive directors and three executive directors.

Contents

The Association acts as an authoritative voice for the industry at official and government levels. The Association is responsible for setting industry standards and providing both educational courses and required mandatory training programs which enhance the professional levels of freight forwarders and logistics service providers in the United Kingdom.

BIFA is the UK National Association member of the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations FIATA. It is one of a number of freight trade associations and is listed by the UK government on their Business Link website. [4] It is also consulted by H.M. Revenue and Customs as a member of the Joint Customs Consultative Committee. [5]

The role of BIFA is to represent freight forwarders in discussions with the UK government and various international NGOs, and to provide advice and information on legislative issues that affect the industry sector. It is consulted by UK media organisations concerning air cargo security. [6]

BIFA’s Freight Service Awards

Every year BIFA awards "best in industry" awards in a number of categories, including Air Cargo Services Award and Young Freight Forwarder Award. [7] [8]

2022 award winners

Air Cargo Services category - Noatum Logistics [9]

European Logistics award - Westbound Logistics [9]

Ocean Services - Uniserve Group [9]

Cool & Special Cargoes - JCS Livestock [9]

Extra Mile Award - Anchor Freight [9]

Project Forwarding - Deugro (UK) [9]

Specialist Services - Seafast Logistics [9]

Staff Development - GEODIS Freight Forwarding UK [9]

Supply Chain Management - Killick Martin & Co [9]

Apprentice of the Year - Thomas Low (OIA Global) [9]

Young Freight Forwarder of the Year - Thomas Frost (GEODIS Freight Forwarding UK) [9]

Standard trading conditions

The BIFA Conditions, often used in UK forwarding contracts, have been supported by the courts in England and Wales based on the consultation and review process which was undertaken before they were adopted and a finding that "They seek to balance the interests of all parties, and in my view, have long been accepted as reasonable and fair." [10]

BIFA's standard trading conditions do not permit set-off of mutual debts. The UK Court of Appeal case of Röhlig (UK) Ltd v Rock Unique Ltd. (2011) upheld the validity of Clause 21(A), Lord Justice Martin Moore-Bick stating that this clause:

Contains a prohibition against set-off of a kind commonly found in commercial contracts. Its purpose is to ensure that amounts falling due in respect of goods or services are paid promptly, thereby ensuring that cash-flow, which has been described as "the life-blood of business", is not interrupted. [11]

Related Research Articles

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Team Global Express operates a logistics and global freight forwarding network spanning 150 countries, with over 20,000 customers. Toll has more than 16,000 team members across 500 sites.

A freight forwarder or forwarding agent is a person or a company who co-ordinates and organizes the movement of shipments on behalf of a shipper by liaising with carriers. The carriers may use a variety of shipping modes, including ships, airplanes, trucks, and railroads, and often use multiple modes for a single shipment. A freight forwarder does not move the goods but acts as an agent in the logistics network and will carry out freight consolidation, rate negotiations, shipment tracking, customs and other documentation, among other tasks. FIATA describes a freight forwarder as the "Architect of transport".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PKP Cargo</span> Polish rail freight carrier

PKP Cargo is a logistics operator and a part of the PKP Group in Poland. It is the largest railway freight carrier in Poland and second largest in the European Union. PKP Cargo is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The company's largest shareholder is PKP S.A. with a 33,01% share.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations</span> International trade association

The FIATA International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations is a non-governmental organisation representing freight forwarders worldwide. According to the FIATA Annual Report 2021, FIATA counted 109 Associations Members representing the freight forwarding industry within a territory and 5959 Individual members, representing freight forwarding and logistics companies.

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Kuehne + Nagel International AG is a global transport and logistics company based in Schindellegi, Switzerland. Its main owner and operator is Klaus-Michael Kühne via his Kühne Holding and Kühne Foundation.

The Hong Kong Association of Freight Forwarding & Logistics Ltd (HAFFA) is a non-profit organization which promotes, protects and develops the carriage of goods generally, and the businesses of cargo forwarding agents and logistics service providers in particular.

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Agility Public Warehousing Company K.S.C.P. is a publicly traded global logistics company headquartered in Kuwait. Agility owns and operates businesses that include an aviation services company; industrial warehousing and logistics parks in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa; a commercial real estate business developing a mega-mall in the UAE; a liquid fuel logistics business; and companies specializing in customs digitization, remote infrastructure services, e-commerce enablement, digital logistics, and more.

Livingston International is a North American provider of customs brokerage services. Livingston International provides customs brokerage, trade consulting and international freight forwarding services to importers and exporters throughout North America and around the globe. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with U.S. headquarters in Chicago, Livingston has over 3,300 employees located at more than 125 border points, seaports, airports and other locations across in North America, Europe and Asia. Livingston is currently Canada's largest customs broker and third-largest in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Röhlig Logistics</span> German freight company

Röhlig Logistics is an owner-run intercontinental sea and air freight business. Röhlig has over 150 offices in over 35 countries on all continents, with more than 2,700 employees. In 2023, the company generated gross sales of € 1.2 billion, with an EBIT profit of € 20 million.

Khimji Poonja Freight Forwarders Pvt. Ltd. is an established custom house agency and a freight forwarding company based out of Mumbai, India. The company provides customs clearing services along with other allied logistics like Air and Sea freight forwarding, Surface Transport, Insurance, Warehousing and door to door delivery of goods. Khimji Poonja also assists its clients in all aspects of International transportation encompassing import and export Sea freight, Airfreight, Heavy lifts, Break bulk and all allied services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dimerco</span>

Dimerco is a Taiwanese freight company.

<i>Air Cargo News</i> British aviation trade magazine

Air Cargo News publishes industry newspapers and magazines and digital information for senior executives, managers and sales agents in the freight forwarding, airline, airport and cargo handling sector. It is based at Sutton in Surrey in the United Kingdom, and is part of UK-based DVV Media International Ltd.

Uldarico 'Rico' Brizuela is a Filipino businessman and philanthropist. He is a member of the Brizuela clan of Pili, Camarines Sur, Philippines. He established one of the country’s most comprehensive logistics operations, the AAI Group of Companies He graduated from the Mapua Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killick Martin & Company</span> Transport company

Killick Martin and Company Ltd is a privately owned global transport and logistics company with its head office in the United Kingdom. The company can trace its origins back to 1861 when it was founded by Captain James Killick and James Henry Martin. The company provides ocean freight, air freight, road freight, customs clearance, warehousing and supply chain management services. The company today has 5 offices in the United Kingdom and a global network of agencies. The ultimate parent company is Atlantic Pacific Group Ltd.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">McDan Group of Companies</span> Ghanaian organization

The McDan Group is a Ghanaian transportation and logistics company with operations in freight forwarding for land transports, sea freight, air freight and contract logistics. The headquarters of the company is in Accra, Ghana. It has presence in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Equatorial Guinea.

References

  1. "British International Freight Association overview". Companies House. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  2. Lewis, Chris (31 May 2023). "New leaders for BIFA". Air Cargo News . Archived from the original on 5 October 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  3. "About BIFA". www.bifa.org. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  4. "Joint Customs Consultative Committee Member Associations". hmrc.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  5. "Cameron calls for action on terrorism after bombs found". BBC. 1 November 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  6. BIFA. "Winners 2017". BIFA Awards. Archived from the original on 9 September 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  7. Ltd, DVV Media International (19 January 2018). "The 'freight and the good' celebrate awards success ǀ Air Cargo News". www.aircargonews.net. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Ian, Matheson. "SPORTING LEGEND REVEALS WINNERS OF BIFA FREIGHT SERVICE AWARDS". Bifa.
  9. Jones, P., Unfair Contract Terms Legislation - new conflicts for the Forwarding Industry, published 24 July 2005, archived 18 March 2006, accessed 29 December 2023. The words are those of Sir Malcolm Pill, Lord Justice of Appeal
  10. Court of Appeal (Civil Division), Röhlig (UK) Ltd v Rock Unique Ltd, EWCA Civ 18 (20 January 2011), paragraph 8, accessed 23 September 2022