NEC, Birmingham – 1st May 2012
Multimodal 2012, the only UK and Irish event for all sectors of the freight and transport industries, opened today 1st May 2012 at Birmingham’s NEC with a record number of exhibitors. The organisers say that the show has grown by 20% in this, its fifth year, and offers visitors a wider range of suppliers, modes and transport routes to choose from than ever before.
The feedback from exhibitors on the first day of the show was that the quality of visitors and the contacts they were making was of a very high calibre. First-time exhibitors at Multimodal, Hamburg-based Hapag-Lloyd, said they had already made a number of highly valuable contacts in the first two hours of the show. “This is certainly one of the most well-organised and best looking shows we’ve attended”, said Susana Schmidt-Papenheim of Hapag-Lloyd. “It is an excellent place to showcase our services, as very many of our most important customers are here.”
Another first-time exhibitor at Multimodal was the UK’s Network Rail. “We’ve been making significant improvements to the rail network over recent years, and we saw Multimodal as an excellent opportunity to demonstrate what we are doing to encourage freight to switch to rail”, said their spokesman. “We have close links with freight operators and ports, so it made sense for us to be here – the missing piece in the jigsaw if you like!”
Also at Multimodal for the first time were Europe’s largest independent wagon-hiring company, VTG from Germany, who were exhibiting their Ecofret container wagon – the first time it had been shown to the public. This new concept in rail-based container transport enables the optimum number of containers to be loaded onto a train, by using wagons of 40 and 20 foot lengths, rather than the normal 60. This increases train container capacity, and reduces gaps between containers, resulting in less turbulence and consequent savings in fuel.
Packaging specialists All Seas Global Logistics were also newcomers to Multimodal, and their Project Manager David Christie was impressed. “We had already picked up some very good new contacts before 12 o’clock”, he remarks. “We’d been visiting the show ever since it first started, and as it seemed just to keep on growing, we thought now was the right moment for us to be part of the action as exhibitors. There’s a good reason why companies large and small invest in Multimodal, and that’s because we can see it brings tangible results.”
Regular exhibitors at Multimodal Invest in Doncaster were also pleased with the numbers and calibre of visitors, whom they welcomed to their stand with portions of Huntsman’s Pie – a local speciality. “We’ve had a lot of interest from firms looking to set up business in the Doncaster area” said Invest in Doncaster’s Tim Hazeltine. “We always come to Multimodal, and I can say that this year’s show is an improvement even on the two previous ones.”
Shippers’ Voice Seminars on the first day proved immensely popular, with the Seminar Theatre packed to capacity. Subjects covered by the series included SuperPort Centric Logistics from the retailer’s perspective; a panel of experts explaining the uses of cloud software as a service to the supply chain; customs and trade compliance; and a look at maintaining Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) status.
At the same time, Trade Extensions offered a series of briefings, starting after lunch with “From CO2 to CO3” – a look by Dr Andrew Palmer of Heriott-Watt University at ways of reducing empty running and maximising vehicle fill. This was followed by a presentation by Garry Mansell of Trade Extensions on the buying processes associated with sourcing complex categories such as logistics, entitled “Sourcing Optimisation – Extracting Value from Complexity”.
Multimodal Director Robert Jervis thanked the exhibitors for their vote of confidence in the event. “Not only have we more exhibitors than ever before, it’s clear from what they say that Multimodal 2012 has got off to a flying start. I’d like to thank all those who have returned to the event this year, and welcome the many new exhibitors we have too. I am confident that Multimodal will once again prove the year’s most important event for the UK and Irish transport and logistics industries.”
ENDS
To register and find out more about Multimodal 2012 please visit www.multimodal.org.uk
Join Multimodal on the Twitter site at http://twitter.com/multimodal
Also read the latest Blogs and News at http://www.multimodallive.org.uk/
About Multimodal:
Multimodal is taking place from 1st to 3rd May, 2012 at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Multimodal has attracted a large group of exhibitors and visitors from across the whole spectrum of freight transport, logistics and supply chain service providers than it ever has before.
Multimodal 2012 is the only UK event that brings together all sectors of freight transport under a single roof. The Seminars and Briefings which are an integral part of the event, have scheduled an enlightening and thought-provoking range of topics, tackled in an interactive fashion by panels of experts or as briefings presented by representatives from centres of excellence. Topics range from insight into the media, customs, container shipping trends, container swaps, security, reducing empty loads and ports’ role in adding value, to e-sourcing, collaborative logistics, supply chain optimisation, key performance indices (KPIs) and logistics data analytics.
Media Contact:
Robert Jervis, Event Director,
Clarion Events Limited
Tel: +44 (0) 207 370 8373
E-mail: robert.jervis@clarionevents.com
