“We will push on with our efforts to serve the International Freight Forwarders in 2010”

The Global economic downturn which started in late 2008 has continued to affect the business in 2009.
More than 10% of the ships are still lying idle in the anchorages, with more newbuilts waiting to join the service. With the controlled supply of shipping capacity, shipping lines managed to impose GRIs in most of the trade lanes but still came out short in turning around the company due to reduced trade. As a result, most if not all the shipping lines continue to suffer great losses. A number of governments needed to inject funds to keep their national carriers from going under. The situation is not really optimistic in 2010 in view of the uncertain recovery of trade and the threat of newbuilts joining the fleet.


Towards the end of 2009, China took a lead in announcing the recovery of economy. The US is still suffering from high unemployment rates although some companies, especially the bigger banks, have reported reasonable good performance. Europe has mixed report but the recovery seems to be slower. When things began to look better, Dubai World made the announcements which sent chills through the fragile market. With Abu Dhabi finally stepping in, fortunately the concerns are managed for the moment. In short, although there are signs of recovery, there are still a lot of uncertainties in the horizon. The rates of recovery would be slow and unlikely to return to the pre-crisis level in the near future.

We will continue to face many challenges in 2010. Shipping lines will continue attempting to manage their capacity and imposing GRIs. Fuel costs may continue to increase and add on to the shipping cost. Trade volume should pick up but there are serious concerns over the sustainability of the recovery as the fundamentals remain weak. Unfortunately, the LCL selling rates will continue to be suppressed despite the increases in carrier rates.

In 2009, Globelink group managed to make good headways with the International Freight Forwarder accounts. Together with our partners and agents, we are also moving on with the newly formed Global Consolidator Alliance to provide our customers with a global coordinated solution. We will push on with our efforts to serve the International Freight Forwarders in 2010.

We have also established a new office in Kuwait, expanding the presence of the Globelink group to over 80 offices in 14 countries. We will continue to build strengths in the network and expand our capabilities.

Despite the various challenges and uncertainties on the global economy, Globelink is optimistic to grow the business further by riding on the strong network of offices and agents. This is only possible with the support and dedication from every member of the Globelink family and agency network.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your unwavering support and I wish all of you a prosperous, happy and healthy 2010.