In March of this year, our team members attended the IFLN 29th Worldwide Membership Conference in Bangkok, Thailand. The event was packed with great conversations, networking opportunities, and relationship building. Plus, TOC Logistics was thrilled to sponsor coffee for attendees throughout the day.
TOC Logistics is one of over 300 specialist freight companies from more than 100 countries that participate in the IFLN Network. These events give us the chance to form in-person connections, discuss the industry, and develop solutions that benefit our customers in the long run. We always look forward to attending their events.
Here are some of the biggest takeaways from this year’s conference and how our time there benefits our customers.
Changes in the Market
The logistics industry has seen significant changes over the past few years. Spending time with industry peers allows us to give and share feedback on ways to overcome obstacles. Since attendees came from all over the world, we were able to gain global perspectives on how changes in the market are affecting the industry as a whole.
Discussions revolved around blank sailings, the current state of the market, rate changes, and more. At TOC Logistics, we prioritize keeping our customers informed about market conditions that may impact their businesses. Through these discussions and fostered relationships, we have better access to on-the-ground sources worldwide who can provide insights and real-time information. This helps us provide accurate, updated information to TOC Logistics customers when conditions change.
Relationships Lead to Solutions
Strong industry relationships can lead to amazing solutions for our clients. That’s one of the key reasons we love attending the IFLN Annual Conference. It’s an opportunity to meet face-to-face with agents that would otherwise be on opposite sides of the globe. In fact, this was the first time since the pandemic that the TOC Logistics team was able to meet with many of our partners in Asia.
This year’s conference included 20-minute back-to-back appointments between members, allowing the TOC Logistics team to speak with agents from all around the world. Since we spent meals together, we were able to solidify relationships we started through these meetings and develop new connections with those we hadn’t met before.
What does that mean for our customers? A whole lot! When the people on both ends of an email know each other and have met in person, it’s easier for our team to negotiate better rates or conditions for customer cargo. That means we can deliver more time and cost savings for our customers in the long run.
TOC Logistics had 55 meetings during IFLN, spending a whopping 18 hours and 20 minutes talking to connections and potential partners around the world! We left IFLN with valuable relationships and future ways to benefit our customers. Plus, we enjoyed some amazing coffee throughout the conference. All in all, we consider it a success and look forward to next year, making even more connections to benefit supply chains for the organizations we serve.