A Message from Rod Flegenheimer

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At Flegenheimer International, we like to make it a point to get out of the office and do things that help us better our knowledge so we can provide the best service possible to our clients. We are involved with many organizations and attend many conferences and conventions that help us to attain this knowledge.

A few of the conferences and conventions we attend each year are:
-Seafood Expo North America in Boston sponsored by National Fisheries Institute (NFI)
-Fresh Summit sponsored by Produce Marketing Association
-WESCCON(Western Cargo Conference) sponsored by the Pacific Coast Counsel
-National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America annual conference

Some of the organizations we are involved with are:

-Los Angeles Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association (LACBFFA)
-National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA)
-Foreign Trade Association (FTA)
-National Fisheries Institute (NFI)
-California Fisheries and Seafood Institute (CFSI)

In addition to attending these events, we also like to get out and meet our clients face to face and relay the knowledge that we gain, talk about any issues they may be having and discuss upcoming trends in the industry. As part of this thirst for knowledge, I recently took a trip to South America to meet with freight forwarders, cold storage facilities and airlines in Lima Peru, Bogota Colombia, Guayaquil Ecuador, Sao Paulo Brazil, Buenos Aires Argentina, Santiago and Puerto Montt Chile to see how the handling of perishable cargo works.

It was great to meet people that we have been talking to and receiving emails from for years. It’s always good to put a face to the name. We discussed with the freight forwarders the issues they have at different times of the year, changes that are happening and how they handle perishable cargo. We toured the cold storage facilities at the airports. In some countries, they are privately owned and run, and in some countries they are owned and run by the government. All are located on the actual airport. In addition I was able to tour an asparagus farm and packing/processing plant in Ica Peru and a salmon packing/processing plant in Puerto Montt Chile. It was great to see how these places operate and how the cold chain works. The cleanliness and attention to detail at these plants was all top notch. There were some cold chain challenges once the freight got to the airline in some countries that should be addressed and it seems like the forwarders are working on it.

If you have any questions about how perishable cargo is handled in any of these places, please feel free to get in touch with me at rflegenheimer@flegenheimer.com.

Regards,

Rod Flegenheimer