Makati City, Philippines – One of the biggest and most established global freight forwarding networks, Combined Logistics Networks (CLN) has successfully brought more than 260 freight forwarders from across the globe under one roof in a 4-day conference being held at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel in Manila, Philippines from March 25 to 28, 2019 in cooperation with the Tourism Promotions Board Philippines.
With a goal of giving opportunities to forge lasting partnerships as well as providing a secure and reliable platform for global business tie-ups for independent freight forwarders, CLN has chosen to host its 17th Annual Partnership Meeting in the Pearl of the Orient Seas, Philippines.
This year’s conference will involve network management updates, face-to-face meeting sessions, social programs and a loyalty awarding ceremony. Among the topics that will be touched also include the digitalization of freight forwarding and the shifts in the industry after a massive globalization.
“This is our second event in Manila this year. during our last event, we made use of the conference to introduce Philippines to our clientele as a preferred destination to outsource. We received a lot of praise for introducing Manila to them as most members have never been to the Philippines. Likewise, my partner and I thought that it is already high time for our international clients to experience firsthand, how beautiful our country is,” said Christian Raeuber, CLN’s director and co-founder.
Participants came from over 50 countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Argentina, India, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Philippines, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Portugal, Indonesia, Turkey, Panama, Israel, Mexico, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Bahrain, Australia, and South Africa, among others.
Prior to this year’s conference, CLN previously hosted its events in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Thailand, Dubai, China and Malaysia.
“This is already a full circle for us. In 2003, we held our very first CLN conference with 25 delegates here in the same hotel, which up to now still stands as one of the best venues at the heart of the country’s central business district,” Nils Walle, CLN director and co-founder, meanwhile expressed.
Walle also mentioned that the Philippines is an ideal venue to host such conference as the country is among the fastest growing economies in Asia as it continuously improves its ranking in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index attributed to increasing international shipment; improving tracking and tracing capability; as well as a developing infrastructure and logistics competence. From 71st among 160 countries in 2016, the Philippines’ competitiveness in trade logistics’ rank jumped to 60th place in 2018 according to World Bank report.
“As a business destination, the Philippines is at the forefront of customer service with its eager workforce with a great command of the English language. Businesses are also flourishing and the economy is expanding. Apart from that, Manila’s unique offering of available hotel facilities and entertainment destinations are also major factors why we chose to bring the conference back to Manila,” Raeuber further stated.
Mark Millar, one of the thought leaders in logistics cited in his keynote speech that as of 2018, global logistics activities worldwide are worth a total of USD 6.3 trillion also with a higher growth trajectory than the global GDP growth trajectory over the next 5 years according to Transport Intelligence’s report.
Already 17 years in operation, CLN is one of the most established and dynamic freight forwarding networks in the world handled by RW Solutions Ltd. It currently has over 300 offices in 75 countries worldwide.
This year’s CLN event is sponsored by Royal Cargo Inc., Perimeter Global Logistics, RW Outsourcing, Resources Freight Pte Limited, State Logistic company WLL, SE Global Logistics Sa De CV, CT Freight, Leman Oy, Calenberg Oversea Logistics GmbH & Co. KG Advantage Worlwide (UK) Ltd, Clearfreight Inc., Cardinal Maritime Limited, Francesco Parisi Casa di Spedizioni S.p.A. and Korman International Co Ltd.
