The British International Freight Association (BIFA) is gearing up for the first ever virtual ceremony of its well respected Freight Service Awards, allowing finalists and winners to be celebrated by industry during the week starting Monday 25th January 2021.

In Autumn last year, 21 freight forwarding companies were shortlisted as finalists for the eight service categories, with 12 individuals making the finalists shortlist in the Apprentice of the Year and Young Freight Forwarder categories and they will be keen to find out if they have clinched a prestigious BIFA Freight Service Awards trophy.

Robert Keen, BIFA’s Director General, commented: “2020 was a year like no other and one that we will all remember, although may prefer to forget! COVID-19 brought changes to all aspects of our lives but did not stop the BIFA Freight Service Awards 2020 competition from going ahead.

“BIFA Members responded to the Call for Entries with enthusiasm and by the closing date the judges had a range of entries before them. Final judging has now taken place with winners due to be announced in the week commencing 25th January 2021.

“We would have been delighted to see finalists and guests in person at our usual well attended awards luncheon, but are pleased that we can come together virtually to celebrate some of the sector’s biggest achievements. We hope that the innovation and ingenuity shown by the winners will help inspire others as the freight industry enters a period of recovery.”

“I am pleased that the hard work of all the entrants, judges, and organising team is still going to come to fruition, and I am very much looking forward to hearing about all the achievements of the finalists and winners during the week.”

BIFA is producing a quartet of presentation videos to be released at 1pm each day as follows: 

Monday 25th January

• Air Cargo Services Award - sponsored by ASM UK
• Ocean Services Award - sponsored by Port Express

Tuesday 26th January

• Project Forwarding Award - sponsored by Peter Lole Insurance Brokers
• Specialist Services Award - presented by Transaid
• Supply Chain Management Award - sponsored by BoxTop Technologies

Wednesday 27th January

• Extra Mile Award - sponsored by Descartes
• Cool & Special Cargoes Award - sponsored by TT Club

Thursday 28th January

• Apprentice of the Year Award - sponsored by Seetec Outsource
• Young Freight Forwarder of the Year Award - sponsored by Virgin Atlantic Cargo
• Staff Development Award - sponsored by Albacore Systems

Keen concludes: “The BIFA Freight Service Awards is now in its fourth decade and rightly seen as the blue riband event for the UK's freight forwarding and logistics sector. 

“I congratulate all the companies that have been shortlisted and look forward to watching the videos revealing the winners.”

Source BIFA