FORWARDERS faced challenges both at home and abroad during 2019, the Australian Federation of International Forwarders annual meeting has heard.

AFIF hast just held its annual meeting at Bonnie Doon Golf Club in Pagewood, Sydney.

Chief executive Brian Lovell said the past year had delivered “mixed statistics”.

“The Australian dollar gradually dropped against the US$ and against many other major currencies during the year,” Mr Lovell said.

ADVERTISEMENT  

“Further afield, the UK / EU ‘Brexit’ landing will be a big talking point for the next calendar year.

“As the movers of trade related goods, our members are always directly affected by changing economic conditions.”

Mr Lovell said forwarders had been overall “amazingly resilient”.

“In general terms, the year has brought another round of seemingly endless increased regulation confronting our industry, some of which is not unexpected in terms of security, together with the usual variety of new and emerging challenges, which we cover in this report,” he said.   

Mr Lovell said AFIF remained “financially sound”. 

“We continue to be involved in many areas relevant to our members’ businesses,” he said.