The British International Freight Association (BIFA) has revealed the winners of its Freight Service Awards Competition 2018.

The winners of the nine General, Modal, and Specialist categories in the Awards, which has established a benchmark of quality for the British freight forwarding industry for more than a quarter of the century, are: Specialist Logistics Services, Charles Kendall Freight, Hemisphere Freight Services, OIA Global, Metro Shipping, Uniserve Group, NNR Global Logistics, Bermuda Forwarders and Freightport Logistics.

In the Individual categories, the winner of the Young Freight Forwarder Award is Luke Brown of Daily Groupage Services. The winner of the newly-introduced Apprentice of the Year category is Thomas Turner of Panalpina World Transport. 

This year’s Awards luncheon was hosted by double Olympic champion Colonel Dame Kelly Holmes who gave a motivational speech about what it takes to be a winner whilst dealing with physical and emotional issues.

BIFA President Sir Peter Bottomley MP again welcomed guests to the luncheon ceremony, which was attended by 500 people, and – along with Dame Kelly – presented all the finalists with their certificates.

Robert Keen, BIFA Director General, says: “The BIFA Freight Service awards are all about rewarding excellence and the luncheon is an excellent opportunity for Members and guests to network, cement existing relationships, and develop new ones.

“All the companies that entered this year’s awards could have no finer example to follow than someone who struck Olympic gold twice in Athens in 2004.

“A BIFA Freight Service award, like an Olympic gold, is the ultimate reward for endeavour and professionalism and demonstrates high standards, determination and professionalism. Both represent the ultimate recognition of special achievement."

The finalists and winners in the eleven categories were as follows:

General categories

The Project Forwarding Award – sponsored by Peter Lole Insurance Brokers

Winner - Specialist Logistics Services

Finalists – Dimerco Express Group, Hemisphere Freight Services, Ucargo

The Specialist Services Award – sponsored by Forward Computers

Winner: Charles Kendall Freight

Finalists – B&H Worldwide, The PSL Group, Uniserve Group

The Staff Development Award – sponsored by Albacore Systems

Winner: Hemisphere Freight Services

Finalists – Kuehne+Nagel, Simarco Worldwide Logistics, Uniserve Group, Unsworth

The Supply Chain Management Award – sponsored by BoxTop Technologies

Winner: OIA Global

Finalists – Core Management Logistics, Davies Turner, Yusen Logistics

Individual categories

The Young Freight Forwarder Award – sponsored by Virgin Atlantic Cargo

Winner: Luke Brown of Daily Groupage Services

Finalists – Christopher Carter of Peterson UK, Markus Knudsen of GAC Services, Lisa North of B&H Worldwide

The Apprentice of the Year Award - sponsored by Outsource Training & Development

Winner: Thomas Turner of Panalpina World Transport

Finalists - Paige Baldwin of TPS Global Logistics, Kyle Lawrence of Unsworth, Harry Underwood of Dachser Ltd and Jay Williams of Kuehne + Nagel Ltd.

Modal categories

The Air Cargo Services Award – sponsored by IAG Cargo.

Winner: Metro Shipping

Finalists – Bermuda Forwarders, Dimerco Express Group, Ligentia

European Logistics Award – sponsored by TT Club

Winner - Uniserve Group

Finalists - Dimerco Express Group; Jordon Freight; Simarco Worldwide Logistics

The Ocean Services Award – sponsored by Corrigan Bentley Recruitment

Winner: NNR Global Logistics

Finalists – Dimerco Express Group, UCargo

Specialist categories

The Cool Award – sponsored by American Airlines

Winner: Bermuda Forwarders

Finalists – DB Schenker, Kuehne + Nagel; Morgan Cargo

The Extra Mile Award – sponsored by Descartes.

Winner: Freightport Logistics

Finalists – Espace Europe; ISCA Forwarding, UK Customs Solutions