Forwarders are more resilient to sudden fall-offs in business brought on by economic recessions because they do not have high fixed costs in the form of aircraft or trucking fleets, but they still have to look at cost reductions and economies.
"There is one simple piece of advice for the forwarder in today's conditions, and that is to stay on top of the cash-flow," says Peter Quantrill, director general of the British International Freight Association.
"Customers will want to take more credit and run the risk of pushing the forwarder into greater debt. Debt has a habit of morphing into bad debt."
The other firm piece of advice from Quantrill is for forwarders to stay very close to their customers.
"Don't wait for them to come to you with their problems. Go to them with your solutions first."
Source: Air Cargo World