I started my career in shipping as a trainee operations clerk with very little knowledge of the industry I was about to find myself in. Little did I know that it would become the start of a fascinating journey within the industry for me.
My career started with multinational freight forwarder UTi Worldwide in June 2006, just before my 18th birthday.
In the beginning, I was the young apprentice of the air import team; however, the goal for me personally was to learn and develop, and I gained experience eventually within all of the operations teams. Over the next few years, this continued to be the case, and I learned many aspects of the business, from airfreight and sea freight imports and exports to road transport and customs warehousing.
These multimodal skills that I developed were a rarity within the company and led to several secondments to other offices to help with various projects and office rebuilds.
During my last few months at UTi, they were going through a takeover by DSV, and I helped manage the transition between the two companies before joining the team at KC Group Shipping in 2016.
My position was senior logistics coordinator, and I quickly got to know many of our existing customers and helped build new relationships. Managing varied KC Group Shipping import customers saw me integrated into the agency side in the form of Yang Ming.
After a couple of years in imports and some operational changes, a new client opportunity was presented in the ocean export department that I was keen to explore. Ocean export probably was the one area where I had the least experience, but I was determined to learn and develop further. It was a steep learning curve, but David Milne's support and the wider team and KC Group Shipping was instrumental to my development.
Subsequently, I took on the import team leader position for six months until an opportunity, in 2019, just three and a half years after joining the business, was presented to head up the KC Group Shipping Operations Team. Along with Head of Agency operations, this continues to be my role, working closely with the Senior Leadership team at KC Group Shipping.
Today, I am Head of Operations for KC Group Shipping and the Yang Ming agency. With the support of my team leaders, I oversee the day-to-day operations for all modes of transport in the business and help support any issues or queries faced by either colleagues or customers.
As well as supporting operationally, I have been active in developing and implementing new processes, especially post-Brexit, including Transit and Excise procedures which have a vital role in the way we move goods now.
The shipping and transport industry has experienced challenges lately, including Covid-19 and Brexit. Still, with my operational background, leadership team and colleague support, we've seamlessly addressed issues and grown during this time.
No two days are the same is such a cliché, but it is true in the shipping industry. The people at KC Group Shipping make this such a great place to work, as it literally would be nothing without them. It is such a great team from operator to director level, and it helps make those days with challenges a little less challenging. Our BeKC company initiative continually guides and brings us together as a team.
As someone relatively new to management, it is a pleasure to learn daily from a great leadership team around me. I am continually looking to improve myself and my knowledge and regularly join in training with the operations team to ensure I am of the latest processes and procedures.
When it comes to customer care, KC Group Shipping excels. From operator to director level, we deliver exceptional customer service even when we face challenges.
My hope for the industry in the future from an operations perspective is that we start to see some stability to the challenges faced in the last couple of years regarding transport, container availability and transport rates. With these challenges and Brexit, the whole industry has managed to pull together. Everyone involved in supply chain management should be proud of their achievements.
Our new offices are just the first step in the ongoing development of KC Group Shipping in the future. This year, we have seen the opportunities out there with the introduction of our European department. As things stabilise with shipping lines and equipment, we will be looking at a potential boom in container imports and exports. We know substantial growth in the business is forthcoming, which is exciting for me, our business and the wider industry.
