Dear IFA Members and their staff

We are now into the 2nd week of the 2023 new year and I hope it has started well for all of you. The Board has planned for some new ventures this year which it hopes will be of major benefits to members. These ideas were put forward and approved in both the Board and the AGM meetings in October and include a MID-YEAR ZOOM MEETING in March/April at which all operational staff would be invited to join in along with the principal IFA member; and a WEBINAR ON E-COMMERCE to be conducted by Kurt and Maxi Ebert of CCS Express.

The major item affecting you now is the majority decision regarding TWO MEMBERS PER CITY whereby the Board now has the mandate to increase membership through having a second member in some cities.

The first step is to invite applications for membership in some of the major cities where we already have a member.

Seven of the Board members have already offered to open their city to a second member – London, Manchester, Budapest, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Taipei, Sydney and Melbourne.

Please can those of you who work with other partners in these 8 cities approach those companies to see if they might be interested in joining us and let me know of any interest that I can follow up?

You are particularly encouraged to suggest agents to join up in any of your cities.

Who would you like to share your city with?

Having a 2nd member in your city would actually give more choices when looking for an agent. IFA members probably check with the current member first when seeking the appropriate agent, then look outside the group if not suitable. So having a 2nd member in a city makes very good sense and the Board feel that as our members are very protective of their city they would only recommend worthwhile companies to join.

Criteria of selection of successful applicant would be strictly determined by the Board. The applicants would be judged on merit and good financials, that could be certified, as well as 3 current references.

RESIGNATION OF OMNI LOGISTICS IN SFO, LAX, BOS, AUS AND PDX, as of 1 January this year. They have advised that regrettably their resignation from the IFA after many years is a result of their increased network.

SO MEMBERSHIP IS NOW OPEN FOR SFO, LAX, BOS, AUS and PDX. Maybe some of you have your own offices in some of these cities you might like to join up. Just email and let me know.

TWO IMPORTANT MATTERS TO REMEMBER

Every member is requested to send any news about their company or country that can be included in a newsletter.
Diarise the dates of next year’s AGM to take place in Istanbul, Turkey.
Tuesday 26 September (Welcome Dinner) to

Friday 29 September (IFA Hosted Farewell Dinner)

BEST WISHES TO ALL IFA MEMBERS
FOR THE 2023 NEW YEAR