The well-documented challenges of both inter and intra supply chain operations presented by Latin America demand a different approach to the usual solutions a 21st century forwarder can rely upon.
Differing inter country compliance and customs regulations, fragmented track-and-trace visibility, cross-border delays, bureaucracy, and red tape combine to a forwarder’s already slim net margins targets across the globe. Added to this list is the challenging geography comprising jungles, mountains, deserts, and high altitudes coupled with years of under investment in infrastructure by successive governments across nations.
With a growing global network of independent freight forwarders, The WACO System’s tried-and-tested solution based on business through established relationships and local knowledge offers a clear path forward. Co-operation agreements with Latin America based forwarders in a bid to benefit from local bureaucracy know-how and local language skills are a part solution to the challenge. The WACO System provides high quality-assured collaboration with in-country experts that handle these chains and geographies daily.
An independent freight forwarder based in Poland may not have a regular need to export to Chile but being able to collaborate with a likeminded business in Santiago or Viña del Mar as and when needed makes a region that was off-limits immediately accessible. Furthermore, the favour is returned when the Chile-based operator needs to export to Poland and needs an in-country expert to move the cargo economically and efficiently. The limitations of this approach are reached when cargo needs to cross borders within Latin America. Each border presents different legislative and bureaucratic requirements, demanding the more flexible benefits of a network.
WACO’s global network boasts 121 members in 116 countries with a combined network of more than 400 locations, employing over 21,000 freight professionals. In Latin America, The WACO System is growing and is already represented in 12 countries including Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and Peru amounting to a network covering over half of the continent. This presents a well-established solution to the difficulties of moving trade between Latin American countries. Like-minded forwarders, already WACO members, collaborate on behalf of Europe based forwarders, for example, to expedite the movement of goods using local languages and colloquial tongues, avoiding bureaucratic bottlenecks, and lessening the chance of cross-border delays.
Nations across Latin America are poised for constant growth across 2022 and 2023, with the World Bank predicting 2.3 percent and 2.7 percent growth respectively across the continent. As Latin America continues to thrive, grow, and gain momentum, it will fall to local expertise and knowledge to make a success of supply chains that have been woefully neglected. The quality of business provided by local, independent forwarders can seldom be matched and the immediacy of The WACO System, with members already rooted in countries within Latin America, means it offers a dependable route today into what is set to be a growing market tomorrow.