February 7, 2025
AGI News
2024 was another busy year here at AGI, and we wanted to reflect on the last 12 months. So welcome to our 2024 highlights!
Let’s kick off with some really exciting new appointments across the business…
Our Team
Throughout the year we made a number of key new appointments, beginning at our Folkestone and Trowbidge offices.
Steve Poole took up his new position as Commercial Director of our Folkestone and Trowbidge offices, and in September, Lisa Montague was appointed as the new Branch Manager of the Trowbridge office, having previously worked for us as a Business Development Manager.
There were also some changes at our Head Office. Jess White (pictured) was appointed as our Group Head of People, Steve Pritchard (pictured) took up the role of Group Head of Systems, and Michael Phillips was appointed our Finance Director.
In October we also welcomed Samantha Stockley and Joe Deeks to AGI. Samantha and Joe will to continue to provide our logistics solutions in Milton Keynes.
Congratulations to Steve, Lisa, Jess, Steve and Michael on your new positions, and welcome to the team, Samantha and Joe!
In addition to the colleague appointments, Phillip Hoare and our Southampton office also had some big news… they moved to a much larger office that is perfect for their long term growth plans!
Apprenticeships
2024 saw the continued success of our apprenticeship programme. 7 new apprentices joined the team, with 3 others successfully completing their apprenticeships.
Did you know that 8% of our team originally joined us through the apprenticeship programme, with a further 6% currently undertaking an apprenticeship with us!
If you are interested in learning more about our apprenticeship programme, you can contact our HR team at careers@agi.global, and don’t forget to keep an eye on our socials for updates on our apprentices later in the year.
New Logistics Services
Marine Cargo Insurance
Towards the end of 2024, we launched our new Marine Cargo Insurance website page!
Given some of the risks involved in shipping goods around the world, Marine Cargo Insurance offers essential protection, safeguarding against losses, and offering our customers peace of mind that their financial interests are covered.
Talk to us about a free, no obligation, quote!
Rail Freight Services
We also introduced our rail freight services as well as a specific China-UK rail freight solution through our London office.
Our rail freight solutions offer excellent flexibility with FCL & LCL loads available, as well as the ability to ship both containers and trailers, making it the perfect multimodal transport solution!
This new transport solution means we are able to offer our customers even more choice when transporting their goods and cargo with this faster transit offering, connecting the UK & Europe with the powerhouse of China.
Get in touch to discuss your rail freight requirements today!
New Partnership Announcements
In addition to new colleague appointments, the team were busy forming new business partnerships too!
In April we announced a new strategic partnership with Scandinavian Shipping & Logistics (SSL). The partnership complements our existing import and export specialism in Scandinavia, and partnering with SSL has opened up new routes and transport opportunities for our customers importing and exporting to the region.
In October we introduced Zenith Finance as our new partner for the sourcing and financing of assets and commercial vehicles.
Both partnerships are working incredibly well, and we can’t wait to see them develop further in 2025!
Our London office also continued to form new partnerships through their membership of WIFFA, the largest freight forwarding network in China. In November, Jay Lockett & Ross Faversham, the Directors of the London Gateway office, spent 6 nights in China exhibiting at the WIFFA Expo in Ningbo!
Lots of new and existing customer and supplier meetings were held, enhancing their existing relationships, and generating new contacts for the London team.
Following the success of the trip, attending this year’s show is already being discussed!
ISO 9001
In July we successfully passed our annual ISO 9001 audit without a single advisory!
Jill Tanner, our Procurement Manger, commented: “Successfully passing our annual ISO 9001 audit is something I am incredibly proud to announce; a massive well done to everyone involved!”
Watch this space for more ISO updates in 2025!
Customer Feedback
We’re always looking at ways to improve our service, and we collect customer feedback through Google and Trustpilot.
During 2024 we received 32 reviews on Trustpilot, 31 of which were 5*!
We are delighted to hold a TrustScore of 4.6 on Trustpilot… just take a look at some recent customer feedback.
And we’d love to hear from you too – simply click here to let us know how we’re doing!
Digital Improvements
The development of our website continued at pace during 2024. And with visitor numbers increasing by over 23% year on year, it’s certainly been time well spent!
All of our service pages were given a fresh look and feel, and did you read any of the blogs on our site last year? If not, you’re really missing out, as our news articles were viewed a staggering 85,999 times in 2024! Don’t delay… join the tens of thousands of people reading up on the latest freight and logistics news by clicking here!
And speaking of increases, following the growth of our Company LinkedIn page in 2023, we welcomed an additional 1,355 followers during 2024 – a 28% increase!
A huge thank you to all of our new followers! And if you’re not yet following us on LinkedIn, you can do so by clicking here.
So you can see it was quite the year. But we’re not done yet – it’s now time for the fun stuff!!
Charity Fundraising
Across the year, our team completed a series of challenges, raising money for good causes and charities.
Back in January, 14 colleagues completed a sponsored 5k run and walk, raising money to plant trees with Ecologi. The team raised enough money to plant 2,000 trees – 1,500 trees in Ethiopia, and 500 mangroves in Madagascar!
July saw a charity skydive organised by our Folkestone office, with the team raising a staggering £1,710 for the mental health charity, Mind!
The final charity event was Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day. Colleagues from across the business wore their Christmas jumpers with pride, raising over £100 for the charity.
And Finally…
In December we celebrated our 10 year anniversary in style, with our annual Christmas party, held at the De Vere Tortworth Court hotel.
Colleagues from across the UK joined us for a fantastic evening of excellent food and some slightly dodgy dancing!
The evening also saw us host our first ever awards ceremony. From the ‘Apprentice of the Year’ to a ‘Long Service Award’, and everything in between, it was a fantastic way to end 2024 on a high!
So how can we help you?
The shipping of goods all around the world can be a complicated process, and that’s where we come in! Here at AGI, we specialise in the safe transport of cargo, providing you with professional air freight, rail freight, road freight and sea freight solutions. To find out more about our logistics services, and how we can help your business, please get in touch. And for all of the latest AGI news, don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook!