Chesterfield-based KranLee Logistics has been shortlisted at the BIFA Freight Services Awards, hosted by the leading body representing the UK international freight services industry.
The business, founded by Karen Mosley and Lee Wells in 2020, is celebrating after being nominated for two accolades.
Firstly, ‘The Extra Mile’ award is for companies that can demonstrate innovation and customer care by adding value and exceeding customers’ expectations in relation to their international shipping requirements.
The second award is ‘Staff Development’ for businesses that can demonstrate comprehensive training programmes to keep abreast of changes in regulations, industry practices and general business matters. The emphasis is on how the business encourages and develops all personnel to be their best and contribute to the success and direction of the business.
The BIFA Freight Services awards is in its 25th year, and comprises of 9 business categories.
The ceremony will be hosted at The Brewery in London where the winners will be announced. The date of the ceremony is 18th January and will be hosted by Suzi Perry.
Karen said: “To be shortlisted for the awards for us is a significant achievement. We are a small business, so to be recognised and share the spotlight with some of the largest businesses in our industry is huge.
“We put effort into everything that we do, using our own internal tagline to ‘be deliberate.’ When we started the business in 2020, for both Lee and I, it was important to support our business community with their international trade and it goes much deeper than offering logistics services.
“We deliver international training and have recently signed a sponsorship with East Midlands Chamber and Fidelitas International for the flagship course, International Operations and Procedures qualification.”
She added: “We started the business in February 2020 following many years of experience in employed capacities, I have worked in international and logistics for 26 years, and Lee for 13.
“When we started, there were just the two of us based at home. We had a fabulous start with many companies and existing clients that we had worked with over the years joining us. It was then after only two weeks we employed two further people to join us, as the volume of work that we got was overwhelming.
“The day one of those joined us was the day that the UK went into its very first lockdown with the second person joining us a week later. The pandemic was obviously very challenging for us, especially as a six-week-old business but since we had set the business up as home-based we were able to adapt relatively quickly. The resilience of our clients was immense too with many businesses totally re-designing how they worked so that they could keep the manufacture of goods going.
“We are currently at year seven of our business plan, after only 3.5 years in terms of turnover and profitability. We have very ambitious plans for the next 10 years.
“Business in Chesterfield is very special for us, we were both born and still live in Chesterfield, and we support the local community and absolutely love to be involved. Our town is very special and we promote it at every opportunity.
