It has been no secret that the freight forwarding community in the UK has struggled to recruit new and experienced staff since Brexit and the pandemic restrictions.

One solution has been offered by recruitment agency Manpower which has placed a number of experienced staff from Hong Kong at UK based companies, a move that has proved popular with at least one employer.

Shortage of staff in many sectors has meant rising costs, but while labour costs are critical, for many in the freight forwarding sector another major requirement is experience, and that has been lacking.

Family run UK forwarder Southampton Freight Services (SFS) found the solution by employing new staff from Hong Kong.

MD Ross Negus said: “I could backfill the company with people with no experience, but I needed people who already understood the business.”

SFS had taken on inexperienced junior staff and had applications from very experienced others “who had managed larger companies with 30 or 40 staff,” he explained, adding: “But they were not what we were looking for.”

SFS has a history of committed staff, some having been with the firm for up to 20 years and Mr Negus wanted more experienced staff who were willing to stay. His search ended in autumn last year when Manpower found Lesley and David, both from Hong Kong and with 10 and 16 years’ forwarding experience, respectively.

“Lesley started in our import department, handling air, ocean, road and courier shipments, and David joined our air export team.  They both settled very quickly and their work ethic was clear for all to see,” said Mr Negus.

The two had entered the UK on the British National Overseas (BNO) scheme for Hong Kong citizens wanting to leave the Chinese territory following recent political changes. The BNO visas meant they already had the right to remain and work in the UK.

One drawback for them, however, was that they had not had customs clearance experience in HK.

“We needed to teach them how to cover this work and, of course, they needed to learn the local market conditions. But anyone would need to do that, working in Edinburgh would be different to working at Heathrow, but they were keen to learn,” said Mr Negus.