CII NOW A FMC REGISTERED NVOCC

When Pete Lamy and I started CII sixteen years ago, we were quite confident our future was export airfreight to the South Pacific and this niche would satisfy all our needs. Today it still represents 80% of our revenue, but our growth has been such that today our other business activities account four $millions; not the $200,000 it was for our first year in business. Back in 1993 if Pete and I were asked “When will you begin offering ocean freight consolidations to the forwarding community?” our retort would have been, “Never!” Today we received official notification from the FMC we are now a fully approved NVOCC.

In 2008, our ocean freight turnover accounted for 5% ($1 million) of our gross revenues, and thanks to our dedicated and knowledgeable staff (Pete and I still know as much about ocean freight as we do about the Trans Siberian railroad and quite frankly we would not be the right people customers should contact about ocean services) we now can claim to be the only full service wholesaler operating in America. Yes, we are a one stop shop. Domestic trucking/airfreight has part of our portfolio of services for several years now and now with our NVOCC license we re now able to cover the globe by sea and air.

This move to become a one stop shop could not have been more timely as the recession has hit the transportation industry very hard indeed. In order to keep our staff gainfully employed and maintain our revenue stream, more now than ever before has it become vital for our survival that we look at every opportunity with wide open eyes. For an anachronistic old salt like me, I have been thrown into the 21st century world of freight forwarding kicking and screaming. But I am here thanks to a dedicated team of colleagues who base their principles on that famous British author/poet George Bernard Shaw’s much quoted line, “Some men see things as they are and say why; Others dream things that never were and say why not!”

Tags: CII, FMC, NVOCC, Peter Lamy, south pacific