Market Focus: Freighting

FREIGHTING

An overview of some of the leading forces working within the world of freighting.

EFM

Next year marks EFM’s 20th anniversary and to celebrate, the company is heading out once again with Rammstein, it’s very first customer from the year 2000. This year alone, EFM has worked with a diverse range of artists from The 1975, Twenty One Pilots and Lizzo, to The Eagles, Whitesnake and Christina Aguilera. Within the company’s first year of opening, EFM was responsible for freighting all the backline and production equipment for the first Western band to perform in Cuba – the Manic Street Preachers – and since then, the company has always relished a challenge. Being the pioneers of the Middle East touring logistics industry, this July, the EFM team were engaged by the production team for Jeddah World Fest, to handle the logistics for all the backline and equipment for the ground-breaking festival – the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia. Aside from artists venturing into more logistically complex destinations, the transport of lithium batteries is becoming an increasing challenge, with one of the major airlines refusing to transport them at all, from this month onwards. The company has grown significantly since its inception, now with offices located in the UK, Germany, USA, Australia and the Middle East, supported by a comprehensive network of likeminded local partners worldwide. www.efm.global

CHARLES KENDALL

In 1945, former army officer Charles Kendall established the company that still bears his name. The company’s global head office remains in its original position, in an elegant setting near the Royal Albert Hall, London, to this day. Throughout the 1940s, Kendall grew a procurement business between the Middle East and the UK, slowly building trusted relationships with government ministries. During the 1950s, the company acquired its own in-house freight forwarding, which furthered into an export packing bu siness in the 1960s. Growth in freight and logistics continued through the ’70s and ’80s, with onward global expansion into Europe, America and the Middle East handling imports and exports by air, ocean and land around the world. By the ’90s, the brand was forming into the divisions which today cover full

supply services, including procurement, export packing, freight forwarding and compliance. At the turn of the millennium, Charles Kendall focussed on organic growth, opening offices in the Far East, starting with Hong Kong and Shanghai. The company then gained its AEO status and further diversified into new value-added services for customers, including contract packing, product logistics, event logistics, FBA and aerospace. Today it is an £80m-turnover private freight forwarder operating globally with locations in nine countries. Specifically, on the entertainment arm of the company, Charles Kendall has worked on a number of both indoor and outdoor lighting and rigging projects. The company has also worked on a number of museum tours, which can involve a selection of interesting cargo, from animatronic dinosaurs to delicate science exhibits. Key to these specific moves are the company’s specialist inhouse packing team, which creates specially designed and built packing crates. Th e company endeavours to help clients by advising on planning at the earliest stage. It answers questions such as what the items are made of, how to protect them and if they need to be insulated. All of these factors need to be considered for a successful move. www.charleskendall.com

ETL

With a team boasting over 20 years’ worth of collective experience, ETL is one of the latest names in the event logistics marketplace. Quickly rising up the ranks in the entertainment world and becoming the go-to logistics company for a number AV, rigging, lighting and sound professionals, ETL has already been nominated for Favourite Freight company at the TPi Awards in only in its second year of trading.

As it grows, the team is looking to continue to build on its reputation for reliable, on-time logistics and build long-lasting relationships. Its first touring projects started within the theatre world and more recently have expanded to include music tours. One such example has seen ETL handle logistics for Jess Glynne’s touring production team within the UK and Europe. “As ETL has its own trucks and provides air and ocean freight services, the biggest challenge facing international freighting for tours in 2019 and 2020 will be Brexit and how it will affect us all,” commented Jermaine Alsharif, ETL’s Live Event Logistics Director. “This still remains a mystery, but I am positive for the future.” www.etl-logistics.com

ROCK-IT CARGO

With its humble beginnings in a portacabin at London Heathrow Airport in 1978, Rock-It Cargo has gone on to have offices across the globe, with over 300 employees worldwide. Ro ck-It Cargo continues to grow and expand into different markets, taking expertise from the highly demanding time-sensitive nature of music touring and putting that to good use in other markets that weren’t aware such companies existed. Th e company’s early roster of artists is certainly impressive, with some of its first tours including Led Zeppelin, Rush, Fleetwood Mac, P!nk Floyd, Genesis and Uriah Heep. Keeping pace with the times, the freighting specialist has worked with the likes of Shawn Mendes, Queen & Adam

Lambert, Ellie Goulding, Iron Maiden, Björk and Ariana Grande. “Security continues to become more and more prevalent in today’s tour planning,” commented Rock-It Cargo’s Business Development Director, Matthew Wright. “On the larger scale productions where we’re chartering planes to carry the equipment, we now have to factor in time to make the cargo safe to fly. In days gone by, we would arrive at the airport and load the plane. Not so today. The time to screen cargo can be consuming and adds precious hours to the already tight schedule.” Wright went on to discuss some of the other challenges on the logistics side of some of these latest live tours. “As technology continues to grow, so to does the demand for power,” he stated. “The batteries used for these productions are becoming more and more powerful, which is great for the consumer, but it’s not so great for the airlines. These powerful batteries are becoming a thorn in the side for some airlines due to some safety concerns surrounding them. This means we have to be far more aware of any batteries that are being carried as part of a touring package, which again can add time and processes to an already tight schedule.” www.rockitcargo.com