Current news from Beckchoice 2012

 

March 2013

It's Springtime now, despite what the wintry weather would have you

believe and Beckchoice are all set to leap into the new season.Our first

move has been to take on Damian Harley.He is a keen and capable

customs clearance specialist joining us to add to our existing manpower

so that we can cope with the ever- increasing number of customs entries

we are handling. Welcome Damian !!

 

February 2013

This month has seen 2 new starters and we extend a warm welcome

to Kate Tunstall and Michelle Telfer. Kate and Michelle are valuable

additions to our team and I count myself lucky to have taken on two

more great freight professionals.

 

January 2013

The first announcement to make this year is that Simon Mullins is the proud

winner of the first Beckchoice Employee of the Year award for 2012 and now

has a very attractive trophy to adorn his cabinet at home. A great achievement Simon in the award's inaugural year !!!

In addition Paula Roast picked up the monthly award and puts herself in pole position for 2013.The race is on.

January saw a great start to the year as far as shipment volumes, despite the continuing difficult trading conditions. It really is down to hard work and good customer service. Long may it continue.

 

December 2012

Well, December was an extremely busy month but also an

enjoyable one with the Beckchoice Christmas party on Friday 7th

and the London Freight Club Christmas lunch on the 12th.They

were both really good fun ! Aside from the usual manic pre-Christmas rush to get shipments collected and delivered before the holiday began,quite a few of us were able to get out and see customers and say thanks for the loyal support, which we are so grateful for.That is always a great experience.

I am also very happy to announce that Gavin Richards took the

Employee of the Month award for December- Well Done Gavin !

November 2012

I am pleased to say that when Beckchoice attended the Global Freight Awards ceremony on 21st November, we certainly didn't disgrace ourselves. We were highly commended in the " Freight Forwarder of the Year " category and Alan, Lee and I were there

to enjoy the applause. It was a good night and we shall return next year I am sure !

Speaking of awards, Lee Mullins was the deserving winner of the Beckchoice Employee of the Month . Well done Lee ! That's 2 awards

for the Mullins family in 2 months.

 

October 2012

Hooray !! Our new offices are complete- photos

will follow They really add something special to our office

environment.

Simon Mullins was a very popular winner of the Employee of the Month award for October and his name is a welcome addition to the Beckchoice shield.

 

September 2012

Hot off the press - Beckchoice make the last 8 in the

Lloyds Loading List 2012 Global Awards, bidding to

become Freight Forwarder of the Year.

The other competitors left are :-

Bellville Rodair International
Chaucer Logistics Group
DST Lines
SBS Worldwide
Raaziq International
Hellmann Worldwide Logistics
ICAT Logistics

In other words- No competition really - just joking !

Let's hope the judges make the right decision in view of

all our hard work and effort !

 

Alison Clarke picked up the September award for Employee of the Month. Alison has continued to impress on import operations

coping with the challenges of still more shipments and consol containers.Well done Alison !!

August 2012

Beckchoice join the social networking community- yes ,we

now have our own Facebook and LinkedIn pages ! Please find

us and " like " us on Facebook and log into  LinkedIn to follow

us there as well.

 

Lisa Whitehead carries off the award for August. Lisa has done a great job on our ever- growing export department.

July 2012

 

July saw the departure of Wayne Amber, taking his skills to

a trading company, who remain a customer of ours.Wayne did

a great job for Beckchoice in the 2 years he was with us and

happily we will retain contact with him. Good luck Wayne !

Tracy Hayes picked up the July EOTM award and a well-deserved

winner she is too.

Beckchoice have entered the Lloyds Loading List Global Awards

this year for the first time. Fingers crossed all our hard work and

effort will be rewarded.

 

 

June 2012

Well, June was a special month this year for Beckchoice

as it saw hard fought competition for the first

Beckchoice Employee of the Month award.

The first winner of this prestigious prize was Phil Raven.

His is the first name to be engraved on the Beckchoice
Employee of the Month Shield.

May 2012

May saw the third CGL conference in Dubai and Chere

and I represented Beckchoice in the sweltering heat of

the Arabian Desert. We had a great time meeting

friends ( both old and new ) and, as well as participating

in the conference,were lucky enough to enjoy a Desert Safari

and a Cruise Dinner along Dubai Creek.

May was also the first month at Beckchoice for Karen

Lumsden, our latest addition to our export team.

Karen joins to handle export operations.Welcome Karen.

May also saw the departure of Lisa Reece, who has left to pursue

her career in a family business. Good Luck Lisa !

 

April 2012

April has seen two more promotions in our line-up.

I am proud to advise that Lee Mullins is now our

Import Sales & Development Manager  and Lauren

Tilley is our Export Sales & Development Manager.

Congratulations to them both and I am certain that

they will undoubtedly excel at their new roles.

 

On a sadder note for us Jolanta Kasakaitis has decided to

move on in order to further her accouting career outside the

logistics sector so I have decided to upload a photo of our

accounts department just before she left and to take this

opportunity of wishing her every success in her new position.

 

 

From left to right- Lisa Robinson, Paul Edgar, Jolanta Kasakaitis,

Paula Roast and Faye Palmer

 

March 2012

 

Great News ! Beckchoice are now members of C5C !!

C5C stands for Connecting 5 Continents and is a consortium

that is currently represented by 183 members in 73 countries.

This will open new doors to Beckchoice and strengthen our

overseas partnerships and coverage considerably. We were accepted into C5C on 27th March and already we are reaping the rewards as well as making a strong contribution to the group.

Our second newsflash for March is the announcement of our new advertising campaign in Lloyds Loading List. We are now reaching out to an even wider audience and making people aware of the many export services we provide. Please check it out. Either see our quarter page advert on the inside back cover or find our lineage ads in many destination listings either in the paper publication or on the LLL website.

The third announcement that I am really pleased to make

is the promotion of Alan Day to Import Logistics Manager.

Alan has beavered away tirelessly since joining Beckchoice in March 2010 as a sales & development executive and has achieved great results. I am certain that Alan will really

prove outstanding in his new role and wish him every success.Well done Alan !

 

February 2012

 

Well, we don't stay still for long ! This month there are two new starters, who I am sure will impress :-

Tracy Hayes

Tracy is an experienced logistics operator and will really

strengthen our import logistics team.Welcome Tracy !

Faye Palmer

Faye is a welcome addition to our Accounts & Administration department and will work with Paul, Paula and Jolanta

to look after our ever-increasing customer and supplier numbers. Welcome Faye !

 

January 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

Yes, it's here.Let's hope it's a great one for all Beckchoice staff,customers and partners across the world.

January was a record month for Beckchoice in terms of shipments referenced and this really demonstrates how far we have come in the past few years. I am sure the record will not last long as we are putting in fantastic effort in all areas in extremely challenging economic times globally.

 

On a different note, we say farewell and good luck to Barry Drew , who is off to pastures new. Barry , I am sure, will

continue to put in every effort for his new employers.

 

December 2011

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our customers and suppliers. We thank you all for your support in 2011 and look forward positively to 2012.

In the past month there have been three new additions to the Beckchoice team:-

Louise Terry joins us as a logistics executive working on our Import Forwarding section, bringing with her a positive, go-ahead approach and good experience to this very busy part of the company.

Paula Roast is a welcome addition to the Accounts & Administration section and is enabling us to successfully increase the efficiency and coverage of this department.

Most recently David Woollaston joins our burgeoning Export

department to add even more experience and expertise to our already excellent team here.

I am also pleased to report that the Beckchoice Christmas party at the Park Inn at Thurrock was a great success with several of the Beckchoice team exhibiting their skills not only on the dance floor but also in the bar !

 

November 2011

We at Beckchoice are currently in the process of expanding

our export consolidation and FCL services to the Far East, Middle East and Africa and, to that end, we are very pleased to announce the arrival of Lauren Tilley (nee Pritchard).

Welcome aboard Lauren.

Lauren is joining us in a sales and development role and is working with Lisa Reece and Lisa Whitehead to   "beef up " our presence in the export marketplace.

October 2011

This month sees Lisa Robinson begin her maternity leave.

Lisa, we will all miss you while you deal with the demands of your new family member but send you congratulations on the birth of baby Adam.

This month also sees the installation of our own new integral kitchen. It looks great ! This new facility will make the working day easier and more enjoyable for Beckchoice staff.

 

September 2011

BECKCHOICE DOUBLES OFFICE SPACE !

This month we have taken on the licence for an additional

1647 square feet of office space at the Riverside Business Centre, giving us 3132 square feet in total.This is to enable us to continue our growth and provide an even better working environment for all our staff. Our new purpose-built

kitchen plans are being drawn up to further enhance our facilities and completion will be next month.

A WARM WELCOME TO SHIRLEY BEEVERS  

Shirley Beevers joins us in an administration and accounts capacity and will help us cope with the ever-incxreasing volumes we are seeing and the consequent rise in accounting

documentation processing. I am sure Shirley will rise

to the challenge.

 

June 2011

This month sees the arrival of Phil Raven,

another welcome addition to our great team

here in Tilbury.

Phil brings with him a wealth of Customs

experience as well as forwarding knowledge and

has a great future ahead of him with us.

Welcome onboard Phil !

 

May 2011

May sees the acceptance of Beckchoice into

the Combined Global Lines consortium. This will

open many more doors for us and enable us to

look after imports and exports for some new areas

of the world. It is an important move for us

and is another positive development in 2011

 

April 2011

This month sees a further fall in oceanfreight

rates on the Far East trade lanes, with its inevitably

damaging effect on profit margins but Beckchoice is

continuing to grow volumes both lcl/lcl and fcl/fcl

with a big sales push and the results of our

continuing hard work are evident in our increased

turnover.

Bechcoice now has many inbound consolidation

services from the Far East utilising both Felixstowe

and Southampton for devanning.

Contact us now ,whether you are an importer or a

forwarding agent. We have a competitive deal ready

for you in either case.

March 2011

 

Beckchoice increases US representation

 

This month has seen a new venture for us with

the appointment of an agency in Chicago. We are happy to announce that we are now the proud UK partners of Gulfstream Global Logistics Inc, Des Plaines, Illinois.

This complements our existing network , which includes

Intermodal Exports in New York and U S Worldwide

Logistics Inc in Kentucky.

 

February 2011

 

A warm welcome to Simon Mullins . Simon has great experience in many areas including chartering and customs clearance and is also due to take over responsibility

for handling our services from the Indian sub-continent.

January 2011

 

What a wonderful start to 2011 !

More great news from the Far East. Panda Global and

Beckchoice launch a new import consolidation service from Taiwan to Felixstowe.

 

Beckchoice are also very happy to announce that

our team is further strengthened by the arrival of

Lisa Reece. Lisa brings to us expertise and experience in the Crosstrade arena and also new links in the African market as well as responsibilities for some of our import consol services.

 

November 2010

Beckchoice joins forces with Awards Shipping

in Hong Kong. New consolidation service launched into Southampton. This venture also opens doors to transhipment services from Japan, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam amongst other areas.Please contact us for more details.

 

 

October 2010

A great month for Beckchoice.

We now have two great new partners in the Indian Sub-Continent.

We have now teamed up with :-

ALLTRANS MOVERS PVT LTD

INDIA

Offices at Mumbai, New Delhi,

Associate offices at Chennai, Kolkatta, Ahmadabad,

Kanpur, Tuticorin and Jaipur

Kanpur, Tuticorin , Jaipur

Alltrans are a go ahead company handling all aspects of shipping and forwarding and can look after airfreight and seafreight into and out of India as well as operating consolidation containers to the UK and other destinations worldwide.

Our first consolidated container is arriving at port 3/11/2010

and with:-

ICM

KARACHI, PAKISTAN

ICM operate consolidation services worldwide as well as providing many other services in the logistics and freight forwarding sector.

ICM will provide an important presence for Beckchoice in Pakistan and we look forward to receiving the first consolidation containers within the next weeks.

 

Good things can also come in threes !!

 

Lisa Robinson joins our Administration & Accounts section and brings with her a wealth of experience and expertise in dealing with all aspects of Accounting and administration.

Lisa has joined to us to help look after the ever growing volumes we are experiencing. Lisa will be an essential member of our team. Welcome Lisa !

 

September 2010

Lisa Whitehead joins our export team. Lisa has a good deal of experience in both lcl and fcl shipping operations and sales and development. Lisa will be a grea asset to our growing export department. Welcome on board Lisa !

 

August 2010

 

A Big Welcome to Lee

This month we welcome Lee Mullins as our latest Logistics Executive. Lee is skilled in many areas and provides us

with years of experience and expertise. As Autumn approaches we are now extremely well-placed to, not only extend our usual excellent service to our existing customers, but also continue our sales and marketing push.

 

June 2010

Beckchoice's growth continues

Our volumes are increasing fast and so this month sees another new team member for Beckchoice. Barry Drew joins us after several years at ACC and comes on board as a forwarding clerk. Barry will be a great assistance to us in managing our increasing volumes.

 

March 2010

 

Beckchoice Spring Forward

March heralds the arrival of Wayne Amber, the latest addition to our team. Wayne has developed his skills at Vanguard Logistics and then John Good Shipping and is a valuable asset. Wayne is an experienced customs entry and forwarding clerk and is also highly motivated and we have no doubts that Wayne will play an important role in expanding our customer base.

 

February 2010

Beckchoice team grows

We have enjoyed a cracking start to 2010 despite

the current challenging space and freight issues

that beset the logistics sector and have, therefore,

decided to increase our staffing levels so we can build on this success.

Beckchoice welcome Paul Medhurst to our operational team.

Paul has years of extensive experience at AEI Danzas, Votainer and Staley Radford and is a valuable addition to our Tilbury office.

This week also sees the arrival of our two excellent new Sales & Development executives,Alan Day and Alex Maxwell-Scott. I have every confidence that Alan and Alex will help us continue to grow and further expand our services and customer base.

 

This month also sees the promotion of Gavin Shutz to

Import Entry Team Leader. Gavin has been an important cog in the Beckchoice wheel since 2004 and fully deserves this upward move. Well done Gavin!

March will see more good news on the personnel front with another valuable new addition- Watch This Space!

 

 

 

October 2009

Pakistan- FMC & Marine Logistic Services

We are pleased to announce a new venture in Pakistan as form 1st November 2009 in conjunction with FMC Logistics, who have offices in Lahore, Karachi, Sialkot and Faisalabad.

This will improve and increase our coverage in Pakistan building on the foundations set down through our partnership

with Marine Logistic Services in Lahore.We can handle imports and expoorts via air or sea. Please give us a call.

Please feel free to check the website for FMC at www.fmclogistics.com and for Marine Logistic Services at

www.marinelogisticspk.com

Should you have any enquiries, please contact Ian Palmer

or David Glover at Tilbury, who will be only too pleased to assist.

 

July 2009

Dear Customer

 

We are publishing this information to keep you informed and up to date with the general situation as regards freight rates from the Far East in view of the fact that many carriers and shipping lines are introducing new surcharges and attempting to increase revenues for sailings from July forwards.

 

There has been a great deal of confusion over exactly what increases the carriers will be able to make stick. July has seen a rise in the base ocean freights generally in the region of USD  100-200 per teu, although some carriers have increased their tariffs by as much as USD 350 per teu.

 

You will all, I am sure , have now grown used to the Suez Canal and Gulf of Aden surcharges that are in force. However, in addition ,shipping lines have introduced an emergency bunker surcharge  of around USD 50-80 per teu at the start of July, rising to US 161 per teu from the middle of this month.

 

Announcements have also recently been made of a Peak Season Surcharge of USD 200 per teu applicable to sailings from 1 st August.

 

Rest assured we shall try and minimise any increases in freight rates to our customers and , of course, should you have any queries on any aspect of pricing , please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.

 

The last year has been challenging for all of us in many respects but Beckchoice continue to put our utmost efforts into providing you with the best of service in all respects.

 

March 2009

LOFA- Beckchoice appointed as approved freight forwarders

We are proud to announce that Beckchoice are now approved freight forwarders for LOFA,the Leisure and Outdoor Furniture Association.

If you are a LOFA member, please don't hesitate to contact us to find out the benefits and discounted fees you can enjoy.

March 2009

Beckchoice join forces with Cherry Logistics in Shanghai !

We are pleased to announce that we are now operating

a weekly consolidation service from Shanghai to both Felixstowe and Southampton in conjunction with Cherry Logistics Co., Ltd.

This further strengthens Beckchoice's importance in the

China/ UK trade lanes and enables us to provide even better coverage.

Cherry Logistics was established as a joint venture on 1st June 2006. Cherry's headquarters is based in Shanghai with in excess of 140 staff. Cherry also have eight branches located in Dalian, Xingang, Qingdao, Ningbo, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

Cherry handle both airfreight and seafreight worldwide and provide an excellent all round service. Their slogan is

"Experience Matters" and we heartily endorse this sentiment.

Together Cherry and Beckchoice make a great team sharing mutual goals of excellent customer service and

providing efficient competitively priced logistics.

Should you wish to make a booking or have any enquiries please contact us in Tilbury - see our contact page for full details.

 

 

 

 

 

23rd September 2008

 

Jack Palmer

 

It is with sincere regret that we announce that Jack Palmer passed away on Monday 15th September at the age of 86 as a result of an infection, having fought bravely against the effects of Lewy Bodies syndrome for many months.

Jack worked in the Freight Forwarding Sector from the age of 14 through to his retirement save for his time spent fighting for his country in the Royal Navy in World War II.

Jack joined British Commercial Transport Co Ltd in 1935 and rose from his initial role as a filing clerk through the ranks to become Joint Managing Director of BCT in the late 1970s.

This was followed by a long successful spell as a Director of Beckchoice Ltd until 1990 and Jack was still acting for Beckchoice in a consultancy role as recently as 2007.

Many people involved in International Freight Forwarding have benefited from Jack's extensive knowledge and experience and will no doubt fondly remember the time and trouble he took in passing his skills onto them.

Jack was a kind and generous man, who, in addition to putting every effort into his work over and above the call of  duty, was also devoted to his wife and family. He was a gentleman in every way.

Jack leaves behind Joyce, his beloved wife for 56 years and three children, Ray, Joanne and Ian and will be sorely missed.

 

 

 

13th August 2008

 

Newsflash.

Beckchoice have now been appointed UK agents for the

Cosfresz and Wellton Express networks in China.

WELLTON EXPRESS are multi national which gives Beckchoice more flexibility to arrange cargo at very keen rates with WELLTON EXPRESS offices located in SHANGHAI, NINGBO, HONGKONG, LOS ANGELES, NEW YORK, MONTREAL, TORONTO and VANCOUVER.

 

COSFRESZ  are linked to the Chinese state owned ship line carrier and again provides Beckchoice with preferential rates/on board vessel space availability. Also, we have very low internal China collection costs due to extensive network of offices located in SHENZHEN, XIAMEN, YANTIAN, GUANGZHOU AND SHEKOU.

Beckchoice operate regular consolidations from Shenzhen, Shanghai and Xiamen. Please call us to discuss further.

1st April 2008

Beckchoice have joined forces with Qingdao Pengxing International to provide lcl/lcl and fcl/fcl services to and from China and UK.Beckchoice's strength in the Far East is going from strength to strength.

28th February 2008

 

Beckchoice's Track and Trace System goes live !!

We now have a fully operational Track & Trace facility that allows you to check on your consignments via our website.

To use this service please call us on 01375 489840 so that we can set you up with a User ID and password.

 

10th January 2008

WE ARE MOVING !!!!!

Yes, we are relocating to larger premises over the coming weekend and, as from Monday 14th January 2008, our new details will be as follows:-

Beckchoice Limited.

Studio 5, Riverside Business Centre,

Fort Road,

Tilbury,

Essex

RM18 7ND

Tel: +44  (0) 1375 489840

Fax: +44  (0) 1375 489841

E-mail: info@beckchoice.co.uk

Web: www.beckchoice.co.uk

All staff e-mail addresses remain unchanged.

 

Industry News

15th November 2007

U.K. Port Congestion Charge – Westbound

The Far Eastern Freight Conference has decided to implement

a U.K. Port Congestion Charge of U S Dollars 145.00 per teu which will be applicable to all westbound cargo that is loaded, or has a Bill of Lading date on or after 1st December 2007.

The reason for this charge, according to the FEFC website is as follows :-

"The growth in cargo carried by the FEFC into the U.K. for the first eight months of 2007 has increased by almost 15% over the same period in 2006, and has averaged 485 TEUs per day for the year to date.

Together with substantial growth seen in other trades, this level of increase has created congestion not only at the major U.K. terminals, but has also caused congestion of the inland transport and delivery systems. On occasions, Lines have found it necessary to by-pass U.K. ports and feed cargo to the United Kingdom, and in some cases divert their vessels to non-scheduled ports and equalise the costs from these ports. This has created even more congestion for an infrastructure that is already overloaded. The infrastructure congestion has also made it very difficult to repatriate much needed empty containers to Asia.

In meeting these, and other operational problems, FEFC members have incurred substantial extra costs in supplying their liner services to customers.

The study undertaken by the Lines has identified major cost increases in vessel operations, transhipment of cargo and port equalisation. The aggregated increased costs identified by the study amount to an extra cost of USD 145.00/TEU.

The costs will be reviewed after 60 days and adjusted as necessary "

E & O.E.

Beckchoice Ltd. will pass this charge on at cost in all cases and will continue to monitor the situation on behalf of our customers and advise accordingly.

 

April 2007

Our new web site is here! Launched at the end of March this year we have completely re-branded and launched our new site to coincide with a new look and feel to the Beckchoice Brand. We've used top design agency 7media to create all this for us and we hope you like it

We hope that you all find the site full of relevant information and easy to use - let us know here

Hot on the heels of our new site is our new brochure detailing all of our services - watch this space for more detail on our new brochure launch