There should be something for everyone in this July issue. I did a little globetrotting to talk to GInter in Miami now that the company has included household goods shipping as part of its service following its acquisition of Coco’s International; and, a little closer to home, I popped over to The Netherlands to find out more about Harmony. I confess not to have known much about the organisation before my visit, and I suspect there were a few others who didn’t either: that’s why I wrote the story. Interesting stuff. I have since found out that Armstrong in the US has joined too.
Elsewhere in these pages you’ll find conference reports from EUROMOVERS, which I attended, and both BAR and Britannia in the UK. I always say, at this time of year, that I don’t understand why more people don’t attend these conferences. They are of tremendous value and I have always felt that anyone who’s serious about being in the industry should join in. But, sadly, there are still those who don’t seem to be able to see the value in them. Just one good idea, one new contact or one extra piece of business and the delegate fee is covered.
There are some other interesting stories too this month. We have take a look at chat lines for websites which seem to be all the rage nowadays and taken another look at GDPR now that the deadline has passed and we are all supposed to be compliant. There’s also a very interesting piece about the £40/item liability that has been the norm on contract conditions for many years. I have often thought that if £40 was right in the past, it can’t possibly be right now. It seems that this is now increasingly being challenged in the courts so you might like to reconsider what your terms and conditions say.
There’s a story about Van Excellence on page 24 too. I urge you to have a look. It’s run by the Freight Transport Association (FTA) and is an attempt at raising standards amongst fleet operators who do not need an operator’s licence. The story includes a link to a video which clearly illustrates that the penalties for delinquency in charge of a van fleet are just as severe as for HGVs even though you don’t have a licence to lose. 30 minutes watching it might be time well spent.