Cape Town Fall 2006

Cape Town Conference, Fall 2006 – the GFG Members go to the ‘ends of the earth’ to meet each other…

CONFERENCE NEW – CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – FALL 2006

 

The GFG conference in Cape Town was sponsored by MSC, Mediterranean Shipping Company (Click logo to visit website)

 

Nestling between two famous landmarks – Table Mountain and Cape Town’s Victoria and Alfred Waterfront – the Commodore Hotel provided a stylish venue for the latest Global Freight Group conference…

GFG Group Administrator Rachel Marchant reports on events in Cape Town, South Africa, 10 – 13 September 2006.

 

The nautical themed Commodore Hotel welcomed GFG members with warm smiles and excellent service. The hotel’s central location, set just back from the Waterfront, enabled members to work hard but also play hard with activities and restaurants only a short walk away. The hotel’s standards of service and efficiency are to be recommended to all who visit Cape Town. (Visit their site at: www.legacyhotels.co.za)

 

Jumping Jazz at the Green Dolphin…

On Saturday evening, the Directors strolled down to the Green Dolphin Restaurant for their welcome dinner – a feast of jazz and fine cuisine. With culinary delicacies such as ostrich steaks, kingklip, super fresh calamari and seafood platters, the choice abounded. Meanwhile a hauntingly talented jazz quartet kept the atmosphere alive and kicking with fantastic music. The evening is a chance for the Directors – each of whom holds their post on a voluntary basis – to meet and catch up with each other’s news before their day long meeting on the Sunday.

The Green Dolphin provided the perfect setting for a relaxed, friendly evening and indeed several people returned for a second visit. (Visit: www.greendolphin.co.za).

 

Directors get down to work…

The Directors spent Sunday working through GFG issues as set by their agenda. These included a review of the recently introduced expulsion criteria for non-performing members, collection committee status and the possible expansion of the Operator of the Year Award. Voting matters under discussion were member advancements and changes within the Board of Directors. Ilan Fidler, Vice President, was due and willing to stand for re-election, Brigit Hamanaka was due for re-election but felt unable to commit the necessary time to a third term, and there was the introduction of a new Director, Emili Ventura of Airfarm SA in Spain. Airfarm is a longstanding and committed member, which has now also introduced Affiliate Members in Hungary and Uruguay, adding further to their commitment and involvement in the GFG.

After a full agenda and much discussion, the Directors closed the meeting with a little time to spare before the next event.

 

…while Members play…

During Sunday about ten members set off for the GFG South African Golf Tournament at the Steenberg Golf Club. Set amidst fantastic mountain views the fairways played host to a truly international golf game. With members from the USA, Sweden, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and South Africa, most continents were represented. Apparently there was some ‘foul’ play in the form of an unfortunate ‘ball meets duck’ incident but all was well and said duck recovered fully. A new golfing term was born – to add to the ‘birdie’, ‘eagle’, and ‘albatross’ scoring phrases – a ‘duck’!

Photo Credit: Magnus Ejdervall

Cocktails by the pool – rather cool…

The lead in conference event for the general membership was, true to form, the cocktail party. The weather stayed fine, although rather cool, for the event to go ahead on the patio by the pool of the hotel. While brightly coloured welcome cocktails were served and tempting canapes circulated, members met and updated each other on their news. Friends from one side of the world to the other greeted each other. Normally the GFG name badges enabled easy introductions but, thanks to DHL, they were stuck at customs so hastily prepared replacments sufficed.

Once members had settled into the party mood, musical voices and clapping were heard as the District Six Entertainers wove their way through the gardens to entertain the members with their high energy performance. As they sang and danced, their brightly coloured outfits flashed vibrantly. The District Six Entertainers are a classic sample of traditional Cape Town culture and they certainly put on a good show.

General Assembly tackles business…

With a set agenda to guide proceedings the President, Marina Marzani, led members through the discussions. Committee Chairmen such as Ilan Fidler, Brigit Hamanaka and Richard Cope dealt with issues such as collections, standards and finances for the group.

Mr David Kratt was invited to address the membership to introduce his company as the new member for Illinois. Cape Town was Mr Kratt’s first formal conference, having attended the casual conference and met approximately half the members in Los Angeles.

Mediterranean Shipping Company had kindly sponsored the GFG lunch on Monday and were present to address the membership. They informed the members of their company services throughout the world, recent developments and ability to cover all shipping needs with a vast knowledge and experience of the industry.

 

Voting Matters…

Several issues were put to vote including Membership Advancements, Director Re-election, New Director Election, Future Conference Location. The results were as follows:

1.Aspirant Status to Full Member Status
a.InfraNordic Shipping & Forwarding AB (Sweden)
b.World Air & Ocean Services, Inc (San Francisco, N. California)
Both companies were elected to advance their status and are now eligible to vote.

2.Observer To Aspirant Status
ACSA Srl (Argentina)
Cargo Plan (BD) Pvt Ltd (Bangladesh)
Both companies were elected to advance their status.

3.New Director Election
Emili Ventura was successfully elected to the Board of Directors

4.Director Re-election
Ilan Fidler was successfully re-relected to act as both Director and Vice President

5. Fall 2008 Conference Location
Argentina was the chosen location with local member, ACSA Srl as host member for the event.

 

Sales Meetings and Smart Shirts

Tuesday was a full day of sales meetings with just over 750 individual face-to-face meeting scheduled and many more ad hoc meetings amongst members. These meetings are clearly the main benefit of attending the bi-annual conferences, as it is the only feasible method of meeting over 60 agents whilst incurring only one cost with regard to your time and travel expenses. The Global Freight Group also benefits from a strong sense of loyalty to the group and other members with many personal friendships developing within the group.

During Tuesday, the members created a red wave of move around the tables as most of them were sporting the red polo shirts bearing the logos of the GFG and the host company Heneways International, along with the South African flag to commemorate the Cape Town conference. Designed specifically for the GFG event and produced by ‘November 1’ in South Africa, they were very popular amongst the members.

From Waterfront to Wine Country

With the hard work over, it was time for the closing dinner – a chance to unwind, relax and socialise. Dolphin Tours coaches transported members from the V&A Waterfront to the wine country that is home to the Spiers Estate, home of Moyo. Moyo offers not only wonderful dining with a buffet diverse enough to cater for all tastes, but also music, dance, entertainment and beautiful gardens filled with tree houses, water features and falls, sculptures and flowers. Whether visiting in daylight or darkness Moyo is an inviting attraction, an African experience rather than just a dinner venue. (Visit: www.moyo.co.za).

The GFG members were made to feel native to Moyo with the face painting in white with designs ranging from dots and dashes to flowers and stars. Each design was individual but some more so than others as Jimmy had GFG painted on his face!

Florida and Swiss GFG Members at Moyo Photo Credit: Joshua Paul		Right: One of the musical groups at Moyo Photo Credit: Corinne Dalloz

Wednesday brings adventure…

The reliable Dolphin Tours coach arrived again on Wednesday to take 25 GFG members for a day of discovery around the Cape Peninsula. Guided by the very friendly and capable Gavin Green, members visited the penguins at Boulders Beach, Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, Cape Point via the Funicular, Chapman’s Peak Drive, Simon’s Town and False Bay. Even lunch was a treat as, having expected a simple meal at the top of the peak, the Two Oceans Restaurant surprised us all with an excellent and very generous three course meal.

Sadly the weather was against us with regard to going up Table Mountain and the majority of members voted to abandon hope of the cable car opening before the end of the day and instead take our time visiting other locations. It was a superb day with wonderful sights and great company.

Global Freight Group Members at the tip of the African continent.
Photo Credit: Richard Ming

 

Post Conference the GFG members go wild…

By popular demand, the GFG Group Administrator had organised safaris for those who wanted to make the most of their trip to South Africa. There were groups going to Aquila near Cape Town, to Pilansberg near Sun City and to Kruger NP. Each location has something different to offer and enabled everyone to choose an option which suited their timescale and needs.

While some members were happy to view the wildlife from a safe distance, others chose to share their personal space with some of South Africa’s most famous predators – Great White Sharks. At least three GFG members pushed their adrenalin limits to cage dive with the notorious sharks. It was described as ‘liberating’ by one, ‘leg shaking’ by another and definitely a great experience.

Above: Getting close to a Great White Shark
Photo Credit: Magnus Ejdervall

Below: Wildlife at a safe distance in Kruger National Park
Photo Credit: Rachel Marchant

Credits…

Our thanks go to all those who helped make the Global Freight Group’s Cape Town conference the great success that it was:

Local Host Company: Heneways International Forwarders, Johannesburg and Cape Town: Ivor, Ebrahim, Donovan, Shamiela, John, Mark, Ryan and Chrissie. www.heneways.co.za
Hotel and Conference Events: The Commodore Hotel, Cape Town: Samantha Charles and her team. www.legacyhotels.co.za
Sponsorship: MSC – Mediterranean Shipping Company www.mscgva.ch
Sports Shirts: Darryn Potgieter at November 1, Johannesburg. November 1
Agenda book production: The Edge, Sedgefield: Jem Webb. editor.edge@mweb.co.za
Day Excursion and Transport: Dolphin Tours, Cape Town: Liezl Eksteen and Graham Green. www.dolphintours.co.za
Minstrel Show: District Six Entertainers, Cape Town. www.districtsixentertainers.com
Closing Dinner Venue: Moyo at Spiers: Rochall Daniels and her team. www.moyo.co.za
Safaris: Aquila – Benita and Shakirah, www.aquilasafari.com. Pilansberg / Sun City – Ernest Lopes at Wildlife Africa, www.wildlifeafrica.co.za. Kruger NP – David Malan at Call of Africa, www.callofafricatours.com

Look out for more news from the next conference in Atlanta, Georgia, USA in April 2007…

 

 

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