BIFAlink


Profile


www.bifa.org


turning point for her; in her first experience of the time-critical market, she had to organise a charter plane to New York the week after the closing ceremony to move the broadcast kit to its next destination – her first experience offering this level of time-critical service. In the wake of that project, she was promoted to air freight supervisor. She has also been involved in getting


equipment in place for coverage of the royal wedding, Wimbledon, The Open Golf and NBA at the 02 Arena, some of which are yearly events, as well as the 2016 Rio Olympics. “We also ship a lot of cosmetics and


Cool under pressure


A dynamic career girl, Young Freight Forwarder finalist Katie Town has grown to love time-critical projects – especially when the results are televised, writes Megan Ramsay


At the age of 17, Katie Town was part-way through an apprenticeship in accounting, but had decided that was not the right career path for her. Intrigued by the idea of logistics, she joined


TPS Global Logistics (then known by its former name, CRM Logistics), also as an apprentice. Her path in the industry has led to her becoming a finalist in the Young Freight Forwarder category of the 2017 BIFA Awards. She outlined: “When I first started [at TPS] I


worked in a variety of roles from warehousing to sea freight to air freight, so there was always something new. I decided that air freight was the one for me and I was given three accounts that all turned out to be very interesting. The speed of work has kept me interested and driven.”


Thriving under pressure Katie thrives under the pressure of time-critical shipments, especially those pertaining to the world of broadcasting. She explained: “With other shipments you


have to get them delivered by the deadline and that is it. But when you are working on something for an event, you get to see the end result – like seeing the Rio Olympics on TV, and knowing that I helped to get the broadcast equipment out there so everyone could watch it.” It was the London 2012 Olympics that were a


14


perfumes for Christmas and Mother’s Day, and there again you are involved in something for a certain reason,” she continued. “That gives you an extra drive to push, work out of hours, check manifests and get clearances to meet deadlines,” she said. Having begun working at TPS not long after it


was established (as CRM), Katie has seen the company grow and been part of that development. “It is a hands-on company so we all do a bit of everything,” she said, adding: “Training is provided and you get a lot of support to develop.”


Apprentices For instance, TPS has four apprentices at the moment – one each in sales and marketing, air freight, sea freight and warehousing – and Katie, who began her career in logistics as the company’s first-ever apprentice, has come full circle. “It is great to have an opportunity to pass on


your knowledge and mould younger people,” she considered, pointing out that this sharing of expertise is a two-way street; younger people have plenty of new ideas to offer, especially in terms of IT and social media, for example. Looking ahead: “I would like to get more


involved in the business side of things but I would not want to stop working in operations, so perhaps a 50:50 mix would be ideal. I also want to grow the air freight team,” she said. Katie makes sure she keeps up to date with


relevant legislation, political situations and other factors that could affect the movement of freight for her customers. “Especially in management, you need to retain a lot more information than I first thought,” she observed. Specifically: “With Brexit things are still up in


the air. It could be good because extra clearances would mean more revenue for forwarders. But it could make simple jobs into and out of the EU take longer, with delays at ports and so on. Hopefully we will get some more information soon – and then we can plan.”


May 2018


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20