Freight haulage and carriage is one of the world’s largest industries that support’s commerce globally. As the freight industry grew dramatically and more companies became involved associations were formed to start regulating them.

There are over 1000 members of the BIFA at the moment and to become a member each company must comply with strict requirements. That is why it is beneficial for companies to be a part of an association because the customers can then see that the companies have met these criteria to become a member.

Some of these criteria include:

• They must adhere to a set code of conduct for freight trading set by the association.
• They need to make sure they have the correct type of insurance cover for the goods they are transporting.
• The association has a set number of efficient management skills they expect the companies to accept and adopt with in their company.
• The company should ensure that all their staff are fully trained and have the knowledge and ability that will be required to complete the tasks expected of them.
• They need to submit their annual financial returns to the association.

The BIFA is involved with representing all those involved with the freight industry no matter the form of transport they are using to distribute the goods. The members of the BIFA will have to provide one or more of the services listed below:

• Rail and road distribution through out Europe.
• Sea freight distributions services.
• Freight forwarding and distribution via air.
• Preparing goods for transport, providing correct packaging etc.
• Warehouse storage and distribution of goods.
• Logistics and supply chain management.
• Providing customs consultations.

Members of this association provide a great range of services with in the freight industry and also follow the trading guidelines set out for them by the association they work both for the benefit of the members and their customers.

Membership to this association is open to all companies in the UK that deal with the exporting of goods. There are of course benefits to being part of the association and they not only provide services for the freight companies they also provide the service for those involved with the industry such as export credit insurers, export warehouses and manufacturers so each member from one sector will be able to get detailed information of issues surrounding other areas of freight distribution via there news forum available to members.

Their aim is to make sure that the companies that are members will be able to use the most modern and efficient forms of distribution and also like to help with their management skills, not only with regards to the business but their staff as well.

They have over 20,000 members and each one benefits from their service in the various ways but one of the main benefits is their support for Professional Development and Qualifications – They like to make sure that the staff employed by their members have qualifications from either a basic level right through to MSc. As well as having these qualifications they can provide mentoring from experienced professionals in your area and training courses which can include the Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC).