Two 3PLs from the opposite sides of the Atlantic, Charles Kendall Freight from London and Memphis-based Mallory Alexander, last year entered into a joint-venture to open an office in New York. AJOT recently had a chance in Shanghai to sit down with Tinamarie Newman, Mallory Alexander’s COO and Peter Sunderland, Charles Kendall Freight’s Managing Director to discuss their companies’ trans-Atlantic venture and beyond. By George Lauriat, AJOT Shanghai. It is perhaps a little strange to be talking about a New York office joint venture between two 3PLs based on either side of the Atlantic while selling services in Shanghai. Yet in many respects, the joint venture between London-based Charles Kendall Freight (CKF) and Memphis-based Mallory Alexander is about future opportunities and Shanghai, and Asia in general, represent opportunity. English Playwright George Bernard Shaw once wrote, “England and America are two countries divided by a common language.” Shaw aside, in the world of freight, the customs and commonality of practices of forwarders in the US and UK is much closer than between other nations. Nevertheless, as with any arrangement between forwarders, finding the right partner is often difficult. For independents, partnerships with mega-forwarders is dangerous, as client poaching is a distinct possibility, not to mention the potential of a takeover. On the other hand finding a like-sized and like-minded independent 3PLs isn’t always easy – there’s no speed dating solution to finding a solid partner. Tinamarie Newman, Mallory Alexander’s COO, when asked by the AJOT how the JV got started said, “We met through mutual friends.” We were looking for a UK partner as a competitor had bought our previous partner,” Newman explained. Peter Sunderland, Charles Kendall Freight’s Managing Director said, “ We [CKF and Mallory Alexander] were similarly situated; both fourth generation privately held companies…both with the same standards and financially solid.” Although the companies have many similarities with fourth generation family members still holding key offices in the company the beginnings of the two firms are quite different. Mallory Alexander was founded in 1925 as Memphis Compress and Storage Company, to handle the region’s cotton business. Even today Mallory Alexander handles a vast majority of US cotton shipments. By the 1970s Mallory Alexander had entered the contract warehousing business and acquired an established international freight forwarder specializing in air and ocean shipping. Since that time the company has grown both organically and through acquisition. Charles Kendall, a procurement and trading company was formed in 1946 and Charles Kendall Freight (CKF) itself in 1954. The company specialized in the Middle East [initially Oman-based operations] but in recent years has branched out into many other sectors and areas. Like Mallory Alexander, some of the growth came through acquisition but in recent years the forwarder has principally grown organically. Among the new region’s added to the portfolio was the US east coast. CKF’s agent in New York became more interested in the Far East business and as a result the idea took hold to open an office in the New York region. However, CKF found itself in need of a partner. Similarly Mallory Alexander needed UK representation and had a hole in its US portfolio in the Northeast region. From these mutual needs grew the decision to open the Mallory Alexander International Logistics NY office in Inwood, New York. According to Sunderland “the timing [for the joint-venture] was perfect” for both companies. The location of the new office near the Port of New York/New Jersey and the associated airports in the region is a plus for both firms. Both Alexander & Mallory and CKF are confident that the trans-Atlantic relationship can vault both organizations. Sunderland said that the next are of cooperation is technological but in the future it might extend to other joint ventures farther a field. For 3PLs with such as extended servi