News / BIFA announces Freight Service Award winners 

A crowd of more than 550 gathered yesterday at the British International Freight Association’s (BIFA) 2023 Freight Service Awards, which took place at the Brewery in London. 

Across 11 categories of the awards, nine companies and two individuals were recognised as winners.  

In the Air Cargo Services category, deugro triumphed over fellow finalists cargo-partner, Hogg Global Logistics and Killick Martin & Co.

The winner of the Ocean Services Award was Woodland Global, which overcame strong challenges from fellow finalists FS Mackenzie, Hemisphere Freight Services and World Cargo Logistics.

Hemisphere Freight Services took first place in the Project Forwarding category, ahead of fellow finalists Brunel Shipping & Liner Services, Peters & May and Ucargo, which was highly commended by the judges.

In the Specialist Services category, the winner was Seafast Logistics. The other finalists were Cardinal Global Logistics, Metro Shipping and Ucargo.

Kerry Logistics was revealed as the winner of the Supply Chain Management award. Fellow finalists were Atlantic Pacific Global Logistics, Ligentia UK, Noatum Logistics UK and Uniserve.

This year’s awards saw the introduction of the new Sustainable Logistics and the Environment Award. The winner was Woodland Group, with Maersk Logistics and Services UK highly commended by the judges. Other finalists were Metro Shipping, DHL Global Forwarding and Geodis.

Hogg Global Logistics took the category name quite literally to win the Extra Mile Award, ahead of the entries from fellow finalists Cardinal Global Logistics, Cargo Overseas and Kranlee Logistics.

OIA Global triumphed in the Staff Development category, victorious over fellow finalists DHL Global Forwarding, Kranlee Logistics, Uniserve Holdings and Unsworth UK.

In the European Logistics category, sponsored by TT Club, the winner was Atlantic Pacific Global Logistics, with the other finalists being Baxter Freight, Brunel European, Espace Europe and Uniserve.

The Apprentice of the Year was Cameron Smith, from Ligentia. He beat off strong competition from Jacob Swift of Avocet Clearance; Samuel Barrett of Charles Kendall Freight; Leanne Read of Neon Freight; Kieran Elkin of Dachser; and Richard Smith of Ziegler UK.

Christopher Carter, from Peterson, impressed the judges with his commitment and was named Young Freight Forwarder of the Year. Fellow finalists were Amelia Mulhern of Kuehne+Nagel; Emily Howard of Westbound Logistics; Georgia Gibson of cargo-partner, who was highly commended by the judges; Michael Shiels of DHL Global Forwarding; and Nicola Hall of Edge Worldwide Logistics.

Congratulating all the companies and individuals that won, BIFA director general Steve Parker acknowledged all 29 freight forwarding companies that made the final shortlist in the nine service categories, and the 12 finalists for the two individual awards.

Mr Parker said: “Once again, BIFA was delighted with the number and range of entries received and it was great to meet in person to celebrate excellence across the freight forwarding industry, with awards that are now in their 35th year and justifiably regarded as the most prestigious in the sector.

“I would also like to recognise the support and contribution of all the sponsors. Representatives from the category sponsors gave their time to carry out judging and the selection of winners for each award.” 

The awards were presented by TV’s ‘Queen of the Pit Lane’, Suzi Perry.