Award-winning shipping company Global Freight is reaping the benefits of a strategic move to increase support for the growing regional manufacturing sector.
The Telford company, which celebrated 20 years in business in 2016, anticipated the effect that uncertainty over Brexit would have on order books and export programmes and is supporting a number of county manufacturers exploring new markets.
Managing director Nicole Gunter said: “We’re very proud to be a company which supports UK SME manufacturers – we understand their issues, their needs and ultimately, their business.
“Manufacturers had faced months of uncertainty before the Brexit decision and the result was a slow down across the board while they waited to see which way the vote would go.
“Like us, many firms were considering strategies for this new business landscape, and manufacturers immediately responded by repositioning to sell to markets further afield.”
“These firms may not necessarily be exporting large volumes of product, but perhaps smaller shipments to more locations. This is where we can add value to their business – whether we’re moving component parts by courier to Europe or a consignment of boilers or baths on a container ship to the Far East.
“Exporting for small companies is not all about multi-million pound deals. It can be about a single product, one shipment, one package or one box.”
Global Freight is currently working with Shropshire company Hospital Direct International which imports products from Europe and the Far East as part of their UK distribution efforts for a well-known Swiss medical devices company, and exports to Europe and the rest of the world. (You can read the case study here)
Rebekah Gutteridge, Operations Director, Hospital Direct (Marketing) Ltd, said: “We were already importing and exporting in a small way when we first approached Global Freight but it is a complex area and we knew that it could be improved.
“Their knowledge of the import/export business has made our expansion into overseas trade much less of a frightening proposition and given us the confidence to explore more of that market than we would have done on our own.”
