Wednesday 13th May 2013 – Today we are launching a new worldwide network of Freight Forwarders: Africa Logistics Network.
There are many networks in the world, but this is the first dedicated to Africa. We believe Africa is the continent with a future of new opportunities.
The idea of Freight Forwarders networks was developed at the end of the last century and was crucial in building the bases for a rapid development of logistics in Asia, in particular of China. Every network is a community of Freight Forwarders, with a specific number of shipping companies that can join the network for each country. The Freight forwarder companies that joins the network are immediately in touch with many other companies in every country of the world, allowing to manage shipments in an effective way.
The Africa Logistics Network (ALN) is the first network with the aim to cover the entire African continent, by selecting members by quality in every country in Africa. At the same time, the worldwide coverage of other country will be developed too, but with the priority of Africa.
“We bet on Africa – said Alessandro Saponaro, Chairman of Africa Logistics Network – because the billion of people that live there is developing their economy, mostly fast, with a growing middle class. Even if Africa has some hustles, the Africa Logistics Network wants to become an instrument to favour the best small and medium Freight Forwarders companies in Africa. A few multinational companies are already in Africa, but what we need is a network that can select and certify the quality of small and medium enterprises”.
ALN aims at take all the opportunity of the real spirit of the networks. In fact nowadays most of the networks opened for the registration of countless Freight Forwarders (and their registration fees), with some coming to 6,000 participants. This means losing the purposes of the network, which should be the selection of quality, the community and often even the benefits for the companies which joined the network.
Africa Logistics Network will be open to 2 Freight Forwarders for each country, with the exceptions of USA, China, India, Australia, Canada and Nigeria that can have till 5 to cover a more extended territory.
At the present the Network counts on 31 registered companies, located from the North to the South of Africa: Angola, Tanzania, Kenya, Togo, Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea, Gabon, Cameroun, Chad and others. Also companies from USA, UAE, Jordan, China, Hong Kong and Europe joined the network.
The annual meeting will take place every year in a different country, in Africa and other continents. The first meeting will be in Bergamo, “the city where the idea of the new network comes from and also close to the Expo 2015 in Milan”, said Alessandro Saponaro. It will take place from Thursday 1st till Sunday 4th October, with a conference of high profile speaker (institutions, other network, maritime companies) and the opportunity of one-to-one meetings.
A visit to the Expo 2015 Milan will be also arranged on Sunday 4th October, where there will be the visit of the African pavilions: a taste of Africa before everybody gets back home.
The Africa Logistics Network is operational from today, with the website www.africalogisticsnetwork.com offering information about the registration to the network and to the first meeting in Bergamo. Other useful information are available on the social network (LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter). Specific application and software for the registered companies are under development.