The British International Freight Association (BIFA) has added a dedicated area on its website offering Good Practice guidelines for its members.

In the BIFA Good Practice Toolbox, BIFA company members will be able to access 10 PDF guides created to enable them to provide in-house training on some of the basics of freight forwarding, logistics and international trade.

The guides cover important topics relevant to a freight forwarder's daily business and include advice and guidance on: the use of BIFA Standard Trading Conditions; freight insurance; agreements with overseas freight agents; logistics agreements; documentary letters of credit; release of cargo documents; the use of cash on delivery and shipper's disbursements; dealing with personal effects; sub-contracting, as well as Incoterms.

They were produced in response to BIFA member companies asking for more material that can be used in their office to enable staff to be trained without the added time, expense and hassle of sending an employee to a training course, often many miles away.

The next stage will be for video presentations to be made which BIFA members will be able to access via the BIFA website. It is anticipated this can enhance the spread of good practice to all staff in BIFA member companies from their office computers and assist BIFA members in demonstrating staff development.

The tasks undertaken with a mentor can be logged in employee training files. BIFA is also planning a short test to accompany each guide for the mentor to use when developing staff.

BIFA Director General Peter Quantrill says: "BIFA is planning to provide more of its training material in a modular basis so the Good Practice Guides are just the beginning of a change in training methods that we hope to roll out over the coming months."

Source: British International Freight Association