For almost a decade Dan March has been at the helm of the WCAworld — the world’s largest network of independent freight forwarders. A lot has happened during the period and March talks about the challenges and solutions (and the growth) the forwarder network has experienced.

WCAworld — A Very Brief History. When it comes to the business of moving freight internationally, the WCAworld is a unique organization on a number of different levels. For starters, when Chairman David Yokeum founded the WCA (the “world” came later) in 1998 it was the world’s first non-exclusive, neutrally managed freight forwarding network. It was a new spin on how the independent freight forwarders might be able to collaborate to compete with the multinational intermediaries that were dominating the freight forwarding business.

The independent freight forwarders that composed the WCAworld membership traditionally had to battle out of class against multinational intermediary companies for freight. But with the ground-breaking business model, WCAworld network grew fast and helped level the playing field and staying power for the smaller independent freight forwarders. And it wasn’t long before the collective logistics power of the network equaled or exceeded many of the multinationals the members were competing with. And the parity through networking not only enabled the smaller freight forwarders to compete, but in many cases, survive and thrive.

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