Member Article

Jeff Jumps on Board as British Lead

Europa Showfreight Manager Jeff Broom has been elected to the International Exhibition Logistics Association (IELA) board and is the only UK representative amongst the members.

Europa Showfreight, a division of the UK’s largest independent freight forwarder Europa Worldwide Group, organises global delivery and collection to and from events and provides full on-site management for clients. A long-time member of the IELA, Jeff was voted into his new position and will join newly elected Chair Vicki Bedi from PSBedi Group India and Vice-Chairman and Treasurer Guido Fornelli of Expotrans SpA Italy for the 2018-2020 term.

IELA is a worldwide trade association dedicated to enhancing the professionalism of the transportation logistics and freight handling segments of the exhibition & event industry. The board of management was appointed at the IELA Congress 2018 event in San Francisco last month, that saw 241 people from 45 different countries come together to discuss digital transformation in the industry.

Jeff said, “It’s a great opportunity to be at the forefront of industry developments and to share expertise and knowledge with leaders in showfreight from all over the world. It’s clear from the conference that as an industry we’re facing an era of change brought about by the impact of digital technologies and as a board it is something we’ll be looking to harness so we can all benefit.”

Jeff’s appointment follows a period of record growth at Europa Showfreight with the business posting a 24% increase in turnover to £144m in the year ending 31st December 2017. The division is in its strongest position to date in its 50-year history, winning a number of high profile contracts to manage logistics at shows and exhibitions all over the world, including The Elite London, ExpoElectronica in Moscow, Toy Fair in New York, Routes Asia in Brisbane, Glassman Latin America in Mexico and COTTM in Beijing.

Prior to being appointed, Jeff was also involved with heading up a task force to re-evaluate the membership process for the IELA at meetings in Hong Kong, London and San Francisco. Europa Worldwide Director Angus Hind said, “Jeff’s appointment to the board is a fantastic achievement and testament to not only his deep-seated understanding of the industry, but the level of respect fellow members have for him. We’re proud to have Europa represented amongst other global leaders in showfreight and wish Jeff all the best in his new role.”

The next IELA board meeting will be held in Shanghai from October 15-18 and will coincide with IELA Connect, a new flagship event to drive local awareness and enhance relationships with the region’s key industry players.

As well as its specialist Showfreight division, Europa Worldwide Group provides services for Road, Air and Sea and Warehouse operations. The company employs 650 people across 12 sites in the UK plus Hong Kong and is represented in 100 countries.

www.europa-worldwide.com

ENDS

For further press information, additional photos or quotes contact Maryke Penman or Kathryn Greenwood at Eden Public Relations on 0115 958 8850 or email kathryn@edenpr.co.uk

Notes to editors

Europa Worldwide Group is a fast-growing privately-owned freight forwarder which is structured into 4 operating companies – Europa Road, Europa Air & Sea, Europa Warehouse and Europa Showfreight.

Europa Road operates the UK’s largest European groupage hub which is situated in Dartford. It’s network of 10 UK branches trunk into Dartford from where freight connects with daily, direct services to 30 continental hubs.

Europa Air & Sea’s team provide bespoke services to its clients from its branches in the UK and Hong Kong.

Europa Warehouse offers 3rd party logistics services to clients, from its 3 substantial warehouses in Dartford, Northampton and Birmingham.

Europa Showfreight provides logistics services for goods going to and from exhibitions. Following an ambitious front-end restructuring of the business after Andrew Baxter acquired it in 2013, turnover has grown from £76m to £171m in 2018, organic volume growth across the business is running at 20 per cent and its presence in the market is stronger than ever before. The company employs more than 750 people across the UK, Hong Kong and Belgium.

The business has succeeded through a combination of friendly people management and investing heavily in IT and physical infrastructure.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Maryke Penman .