Why have we formed the Pacific Global Association?
In this cyber century, acquisitions and mergers are taking place everywhere, in order for companies to maximize their service coverage and profit, and minimize their operating costs. This evolution is taking place among shipping companies, through joint services and the sharing of space, and extends to the forwarding industry, the evolution of what is now being called the "integrated carrie".

We are beginning to see that these companies are targeting the 'heavy'freight forwarders and customs house brokerage markets, which are our bread and butter. As small and medium-sized forwarder /customs brokers, we are facing difficulties in remaining competitive in the market.

The biggest problems most of us face are:

* Our existing volume is not big enough to sign competitive contracts, to compete with the big/heavy/international forwarders in the market.

* Our profit margins are declining, eaten up by the high cost of operations and overhead. We incur high travel expenditure and time, visiting our agents world wide in our efforts to build a strong network, an essential element for success in the forwarding industry.

* Working with different agents results in the operations department having to deal with many different document formats and procedures, which wastes time and leads to the need for extra manpower, thus increasing operating costs.

* Inexperience in marketing and a lack of international relationships means that we face difficulties in exploring new potential markets.

* It is difficult to find aggressive, reliable working partners.

* Accounts receivable build up due to the unstable financial situation of agents. There are high costs of filing bonded house bills of lading in the USA or some required areas in S.C. America, especially for those forwarders who move limited traffic to these areas.