Why Join PCNFAQs?2020

PCN Frequently Asked Questions • 20202

The capped exclusivity makesa good compromise between onlyhaving one option for a serviceprovider in any market versushaving a multitude of competitorsfighting for the same piece ofbusiness, and made it one of thedeciding factors for WilhelmsenShips Service to join.

Flemming Andersen,Wilhelmsen Ship Services

Frequently Asked

QuestionsContentsHow long has theNetwork been running? ................................... 3

Where is yourHead Office based? .............................................. 3

How do you ensure ahigh standard of Members? .....................3

Can I see a currentlist of Members? .............................................................3

How do you selectyour Members? .............................................................3

What are theapplication requirements? ..........................3

Where will yournext Meeting be held? .......................................4

Do you offer any trainingprogrammes for our staff? .............................5

Do you have aSmartphone Site? .........................................................5

Do you offer PaymentProtection and/or Insurance? .............5

Will I have to terminatecurrent relations with agents? ...............5

Do you pass onQuote Requests? ..........................................................5

Do you have anyMembership Rules? ..................................................6

What is your RaisingThe Standard scheme? ......................................6

Do you have acompany video? ...........................................................6

Can I promote officesin other countries? ....................................................6

Do you publish a Newsletter? .................. 7

Can I list more thanone office in a country? ................................... 7

Do you offerMarketing & News services? ..................... 7

Do you provide salesand marketing material? ............................... 8

How much businesswill I receive? ...................................................................... 8

How many members doyou allow in each country? ........................ 8

Do you have a financialmonitoring system? ................................................. 8

I am already committedto other networks ........................................................ 9

Can I have a free trial? ..................................... 9

How can I join?................................................................ 9

What is the costof membership? ............................................................ 9

How long has theNetwork been running?

Project Cargo Networkwas established in August2010. However, our Founderhas been involved in thedevelopment and

management of internationalforwarder networks since 1998.Read more.

Without doubt,a veryprofessional network, whosemembers are experts in theirfield. The relationships we havebuilt within PCN continue toprovide a positive commercialbenefit to our company. It isa pleasure to deal with suchan ethical, efficient andfriendly group of partners.

Alun Powell,Sadleirs Global Logistics

PCN Frequently Asked Questions • 2020 3

Photo credit: CEA

How do you selectyour Members?Members are selected due to theirexcellent reputations within theindustry, their accreditation byinternational authorities and havepassed a strict entry procedure.Recommendations from existingMembers are preferred due to thevaluable prior trading experience.However, we also search forsuitable companies in vacantlocations. Our Recruitment Teambring a huge amount ofexperience in how to select theright companies who will becomeactive and valuable Members ofour organisation.

What are theapplicationrequirements?Full completion of our ApplicationForm together with 2 referencesfrom forwarders or break bulkspecialists who have acted asagents within the past yearspecifically on heavy lift/projectcargo.As PCN is only open tocompanies who have thecapacity and experience tohandle these specialist shipments,each applicant is required tosubmit a case study which shouldinclude photos and a descriptionincluding the commodity; anoutline of the steps taken and themode of transport; challengesand how they were overcome;and a sentence on the finalresults.We also require a copy ofthe Bill of Lading and/or Notice ofArrival and other supportingdocuments (names andaddresses redacted if preferred)but showing your company nameand your role in the movementalong with dates.

Where is your Head Office based?Project Cargo Network is a Limited company (Reg # 7334156) based in theUK.The company is VAT registered (175457578) and has the followingcertifications: ISO 9001 Reg No 204480 and ISO 14001 Reg No 205343.

How do you ensure ahigh standard of Members?We continually monitor the quality of service of our Members to ensure thatwe have recruited companies who perform in a conscientious, diligent andprofessional manner via our annual Quality Control Survey. Poor performancerecords are not tolerated.

As membership is only open to companies who are active within theproject cargo and heavy lift industry, we also carry out an Evidence Auditevery 12 months.

Can i see a current list of Members?Yes, a full list of our Members can be found through our website.

On Monday evening, we will regroup at 19:00 for afantastic Gala Dinner with a live band and will hold our2020 Award Ceremony. We will enjoy a Chinese/Western buffet dinner with an open bar of wine, beer,orange juice and soft drinks. We look forward tocelebrating our organisation’s 10th Anniversary (PCNwas born on 3 August 2010) with our valued Members.

Beijing10th Anniversary Annual Summit

We are delighted to announce that next year’s meeting will be held from 22-24 November 2020 at theInterContinental Beijing Sanlitun, just 22 km from the international airport and with the best of Beijing’swestern-style dining, bars and nightlife literally on its doorstep.

22-24 November 2020

We have an exciting schedule planned with an optional tour on Sundaymorning to the Mutianyu Great Wall, which has breath-taking scenery butless tourists – perfect! Once there you can take a ride in a cable car,chairlift or toboggan. We will arrive back at the hotel at 13:00 so that youcan have lunch at your leisure.

Sunday 22 November 202007:30 – 13:00 Mutianyu Great Wall Tour

16:50 – 21.30 Golden Mask Show & Dinner

Monday 23 November 202009:30 – 17:00 1-2-1 Meetings

19:00 – 22:00 Gala Dinner with Band

Tuesday 24 November 202009:30 – 17:00 1-2-1 Meetings

On Monday, we will open the meeting doors at 09:00 for a prompt09:30 start. Our 1-2-1 meetings provide an opportunity to review currentand upcoming government and private projects in the manufacturing,oil and gas, infrastructure, construction, power and energy sectorsamong others.

We will all meet at 16:45 on Sunday and leave the hotel together to watchthe famous Golden Mask Dynasty Show from the best seats in the theatre.Then we will go to Si Ji Min Fu, a highly acclaimed Peking duck restaurant.

PCN Frequently Asked Questions • 20204

Where will your nextMeeting be held?Full details of upcoming meetingscan be found through our website.This year we are in...

PCN Frequently Asked Questions • 2020 5

PCN gave us the possibilityto translate our local projectexpertise and knowhow into atruly global service scope. Thenetwork gives us access tospecialists for project and heavylift cargo around the globe.

Franco Ravazzolo,Gebrüder Weiss GmbH

Do you offer PaymentProtection and/orInsurance?

Unfortunately, we are unable tooffer Member-to-Member paymentprotection and/or insurance. OurMembers are privately owned,

independent companies thatare more than capable of

using their own normalcommercial caution

andpractices to

reduce risks.

Do you offer any trainingprogrammes for our staff?Our clear and highly effective video based training includesnarration, graphs, diagrams, video footage and photographs.When completed, the user will understand the practical,operational and engineering aspects of heavy transport andlifting projects.The training is ideal for staff who are at thebeginning of their career in heavy transport, offeringemployers a time saving and low-cost alternative toworkshops and seminars. However, as the training iscomprehensive, senior level professionals will also benefitfrom the practical, scenario and video based course as it willencourage reflection on current practices. Each user receivesa personal log-in so they can train at their own pace.For more details, see pcntraining.com.

Do you pass on Quote Requests?Due to our continued efforts with search engineoptimisation, our regular full-page advert in HLPFI androtating top leader board web banner with Breakbulk, weaim to drive new business to our Members. Our website is notonly visited by forwarders looking for project cargo specialists,but also for customers looking for quotes.All leads receivedfrom our Quote Request facility are forwarded directly toour Members.

Yes, we acknowledge the growth in mobile devices butconnection speeds can sometimes be slow so navigatingthrough websites to get to the required page can befrustrating! We want PCN Members to have a greatexperience with our website, whether on a largePC screen or on their mobile device.Therefore, weprovide a password protected Smartphone Service(m.projectcargonetwork.com), which enables the contactdetails of fellow partners to be found quicklyon mobile devices

Do you have a Smartphone site?

Will I have to terminate currentrelations with agents?Our Members are not required to annul establishedagency relationships.We simply ask that all new businessis first offered to fellow PCN Members for quoting, it is thenup to them to provide excellent rates and service to winthe business.

PCN Frequently Asked Questions • 20206

We had been looking for a network with adifferent attitude and approach. After severaltalks with the management of PCN, we realizedthat the organization perfectly matched ourvision of what a network needs to offer itsmembers; a dedicated team of professionalsthat simply help to bring together the bestexperts in shipping project cargo.

Abraham Van Olphen,Central Oceans

Can I promote officesin other countries?Rule #3 of our Membership Rules states “Membersmay not promote offices in countries where they do nothave official PCN representation”. This rule is strictlyenforced to protect Member’s representations and toavoid any hostility within our friendly group.

Do you have acompany video?Yes, our video combines footagefrom our Members with animationto give viewers a clear visualmessage of the quality, scale andspecialist services that our 230+Members offer.The presentationis available online and viewers inChina can use this link.

Do you have anyMembership Rules?Abidance of our Membership Rules is essential forthe professional and efficient operation of PCN andits Members.Any official complaints are reviewed byPCN Management in accordance with our ISO 9001and ISO 14001 approved procedures and all finaldecisions are reached fairly and consistently,without bias or prejudice, in representing theinterests of PCN and its Members.

What is your Raising The Standard scheme?This scheme is a focusedapproach to support Membersin achieving the optimumbenefits of belonging to ourorganisation in a practical,logical way. Our experience isthat the most active Membersare often working at the highestlevel and reaping the mostbenefits of membership.We

want to encourage allcompanies to work to thisstandard as this will result inmore business andopportunities. Members areprovided with clear criteria onhow to either maintain their Goldstatus or how to work up fromBronze and Silver to Gold.

PCN Frequently Asked Questions • 2020 7

It is a wonderfulexperience to be a part ofPCN. Recently we finished aproject for a drillingcompany with a fellowMember, it has been anexcellent opportunity todemonstrate we haveexperience and ability tomanage different size projectsand likewise to interchangeprofessional experience whichgives confidence in futurebusiness. Also our sinceregratitude for all fellowMembers for their associationwith us and we expect tocontinue growing anddeveloping more businesswithin the group. They will betreated like important clientsnot only like partners.

Elena Zapata,Integral Chile SA

Yes, we offer a dedicated news service. Upon request,we prepare an online article which is appears in thenewsfeed on our Network News and our SmartphoneService. It is also published via our Blog, DigitalNewsletter, LinkedIn and Twitter. News articles relatedto each company are also linked on their individualprofile page and their

PCN Marketing Website as well as distributed to ourPress List.This PR service provides fantastic promotionand is included in our Annual Fee.And it works! As adirect result of the exposure provided by our newsservice, Brunel Project Cargo were interviewed bymainstream media including CNN, Reuters, BBC,Bloomberg and ITV (read more).

Do you offer marketing & news services?

Yes, our colourfulbi-monthly Digital Newsletteris provided free ofcharge and no payment ismade for any articles.We are incredibly proudto regularly boast over35 pages of news fromour Members.We also allowexternal parties to subscribeand currently over 300 industryexecutives have asked to regularlyreceive a copy.

Do you publish a Newsletter?

Can I list more than one office in a country?Yes, the profile pages in our Members Area enable companies to list as manybranch offices and staff within same country as they wish at no extra charge.

PCN Frequently Asked Questions • 20208

PCN was the network made up of trueprofessionals that I was looking for to expand myexpertise and confidence towards my customers.We all talk the same language ... project cargo,heavy lift and specialist shipments.

Philippe Coadou,Philco International

How many Membersdo you allow in eachCountry?It is PCN policy to allow no morethan 3 companies in each country(5 in Australia, Brazil, Canada,China, India,Turkey, UAE & USA).

How much business will I receive?It is difficult to determine how much business joining PCN would bring to yourcompany.Also, we want to avoid recruiting companies that are solely looking forincreased incoming business. We want new Members to become activeparticipants in our network and to promote their company and services toincrease inter-trade.

Do you provide Sales and Marketing Material?Yes, PCN has created many convenient sales tools.Together with our Marketing Websites which are customised to each ofour members and based on a company specific URL, we also provide a Marketing Brochure, which is edited with eachMember’s company details and emailed in PDF format ready for printing.We also provide customised World Maps, designedfor Members to take to sales meetings to show their customers where their fellow specialist partners are located.

Do you have a financial monitoring system?Our bespoke Invoice Monitoring System has been developed to ensuresmooth cash flow between PCN Members and to prevent late payments.Once logged in, each Member can add, view and edit details of outstandinginvoices within our network.The system sends a ‘Statement of Accounts’ toeach Member every 2 weeks highlighting due dates.We are proud to say thatwe have an excellent payment record within PCN. Our Members understandthat paying on time and operating in a professional manner results in repeatbusiness and excellent relations with their overseas offices.

PCN Frequently Asked Questions • 2020 9

We are very aware of the factthat a project shipment can only besuccessfully completed if the peopleworking on it show enoughconfidence and experience and arepassionate about what they do. Inorder to achieve this, it is more thanimportant to be part of a strong,worldwide network of freight

forwarders who are professionaland reliable at the sametime. We are convincedthat being a member of

PCN allows us to achievethese goals together with ourfellow members.

Ramona Duckstein,Gruber Logistics (PAO) GmbH

I am already committed to other networks.Our Members are not required to annul established agency relationships.We simply ask thatall new business is first offered to fellow PCN Members for quoting, it is then up to them toprovide quick replies and excellent service to win the business.

Can I have a free trial?We are a professionally run ISO

certified organisationand unable to offer free or trialmemberships.

How can I join?Please read our MembershipRules and complete all the

questions on our onlineApplication Form.

What is the cost ofMembership?Members simply pay an AnnualFee of GBP £1050 with a one-offJoining Fee of GBP £200.We donot charge a fee for additionalbranch offices within the samecountry.

Registered in the UK. Company No 7334156.ISO 9001 Reg No 204480; ISO 14001 Reg No 205343

Head OfficeLiss Business Centre, Station Road,Liss, Hampshire, GU33 7AW.United Kingdom

Tel: + 44 2392 425204Fax: + 44 2392 356281

headoffice@projectcargonetwork.com

www.projectcargonetwork.com

It is awonderful experience to be apart of PCN. Recently wefinished a project for a drillingcompany with a fellowMember, it has been anexcellent opportunity todemonstrate we haveexperience and ability tomanage different size projectsand likewise to interchangeprofessional experience whichgives confidence in futurebusiness. Also our sinceregratitude for all fellow Membersfor their association with us andwe expect to continue growingand developing more businesswithin the group. They will betreated like important clientsnot only like partners.

Luz Mery Daza,Anker Logistica Y Carga SAS

I have been in the transport and logisticsbusiness for almost 40 years. It took time but FINALLYI found the network I was looking for. It is not onlybecause this network is dedicated to a specificsector (project cargo) but also because of the highprofessionality of the management ensuring that weare getting the very best results from thecooperation with many other members!

Paolo Federici,Fortune International Transport

The Brunel Group has beentrading for over 20 years and as part ofour expansion we wanted to join aprofessional well run organisation toraise the profile of Brunel Project Cargo -we have found the perfect partner inthe PCN network. We are receivingreciprocal business as a result of givingour own routed business to partners ofthe PCN network. We particularly likethe feeling that this network is onlysupported by good strong agents thathave been personally vetted by Racheland her team. It gives a good feeling ofa team effort throughout the networkwhich is very important to us

Mike White A. Inst. F.F,Brunel Shipping& Liner Services (London) Ltd