FPS revises membership rules for forwarders

Dec 18, 2015: FPS Group , one of the largest and longest-established forwarding groups in the world is to change its constitution to allow multiple memberships in each territory.

The decision was reached at this year’s AGM and Conference, which took place in Jakarta, Indonesia, attended by representatives of the network’s global membership.

Advisory Board Chairman Sam Aparo, co-owner of one of the network’s founding members, told delegates that the original FPS Group policy of one member per country was no longer the best model. Although it had been very successful since its launch in 1998, “The strength we once had is now our weakness,” he said.

“If we have multiple members in each market, it means we all have multiple choices. It’s not just more members, it’s also about quality and additional opportunities. We should not be afraid of competition,” he continued.

“In Australia, for example, I cannot put focus into every market we would like to.” Having additional agents in each country could allow them to complement each other, he added, so that they could jointly exploit more opportunities in more markets.

Existing members were supportive of the move, which will open up their options for partner agents and therefore help to keep business inside the network membership. The change in policy has been written into the constitution, and will become effective immediately.

FPS will also embark on an aggressive expansion programme in 2016, to fill gaps in its existing geographic coverage. Speaking after the conference, Sam Aparo added: “2016 is the year of expansion for our network. We have a tremendous and unrivalled asset in the quality, size, reputation and business base of FPS Group. New members will immediately benefit from this, as well as opening up new opportunities for the whole group.”

Aparo added that there had never been a better time for agents to join a quality network, enabling them to counteract falling margins with increased reciprocal sales and more professional marketing. “There is strength in numbers; both more effective marketing, and the opportunity to share its costs over a larger number of participants.”

He concluded, “With the new FPS structure, we are ready to welcome any well-established, reputable agent worldwide to our family - to our mutual benefit.”