Insights from Mary Ann Chua, Shipco's Director, Regional Accounts, Asia Pacific & India Subcontinent (APAC & ISC)
Not all forwarders operate the same way. While some focus on airfreight and others on ocean, the real differences often lie deeper: in how they scale, where they operate, and how they respond to shifting demands. As these businesses evolve, standardized solutions fall short. What forwarders need instead are freight strategies tailored to their specific structure and goals.
Why forwarders should never receive copy-paste solutions
Mary Ann Chua, Director of Regional Accounts for APAC and ISC, approaches each customer conversation with one assumption: that their business model is unique. She stresses that even among freight forwarders, the differences can be substantial.
“There are forwarders who are strong in airfreight, forwarders who are strong in sea freight, forwarders that are strong in both, or forwarders who are just starting out,” she explains.
She begins by listening. Understanding the forwarder’s structure, scale, and operational focus helps her determine how Shipco should engage. As she puts it, “Each company is different and comes in a different size.”
That knowledge-gathering phase is essential before offering any recommendations. “So, once I have gathered all this information, then that’s the time that I can come up with a potential solution,” Mary Ann adds.
What works for one customer rarely applies to the next. Repeating a plan might save time, but it undermines performance. As she notes, “Solutions cannot be exactly the same. I cannot copy what I offer customer A to customer B.”
When fast transit times becomes the challenge to solve
One customer came to Mary Ann with a specific issue: the supplier was ready to ship immediately, but the buyer at the destination did not have space to accept the cargo. Their warehouse was full, and any early delivery would have created disruption. “My supplier wants to ship the cargo as soon as possible,” she recalls, “but then the buyer at the destination does not want to receive the goods immediately because their warehouse is full.”
This type of timing conflict is not unusual. What matters is how quickly it can be resolved. In this case, Shipco’s global gateway network provided the flexibility needed to hold the cargo in transit without incurring unnecessary storage fees. “With the availability of multiple hubs that we have globally and also the number of offices that we have, we came up with a solution to transship their cargo to another gateway before it reached the final destination,” she explains.
The shipment paused at an intermediate location which gave the buyer at destination extra time to free up warehouse space and avoid extra costs. “That was pretty helpful for the client. They don’t need to pay for additional storage fees,” Mary Ann says.
From there, the cargo continued to its destination in a second container, completing the journey once the buyer was ready to receive it. “Their goods are in container A, going through our gateway. And then from the gateway, we transfer it to container B to the final destination,” she explains.
Freight solutions start with operational awareness
Mary Ann believes that flexibility is earned before the shipment moves—during the planning stage when the details are still being gathered. As she describes it, her role is to connect the customer’s business model with the solution they need: “It’s about knowing how to achieve your goal at the end of the day, which is for me to get all the information that I need in order for me to come up with a solution.”
That process only works when the service provider is focused on the right input. For Shipco, that means asking the right questions early, so the solution that follows is relevant and executable.
When the proper structure is in place, supported by global gateways, routing flexibility, and careful communication, forwarders are better equipped to deliver on expectations, even when plans change.
