The Challenge
MELLOHAWK Logistics ships cargo of every size and kind by air, ocean and land, as well as provides supporting services such as logistics consulting, customs brokerage, and documentation. During MELLOHAWK’s early days, co-owner Arnon Melo was working with clients he’d known—and trusted—for years through his former employment in the industry. But as his client base grew to more than 150 agents, he began to have reservations about the risks he was taking. The crux came when a new agent required a last-minute, airfreight shipment involving $35,000. “I asked for 50 per cent upfront,” says Melo. “But of course they couldn’t do that, because the wired money wouldn’t arrive in time before the shipment had to take off. We were about to lose the deal.”
How EDC Helped
Although Melo had heard of EDC, he was under the impression its services were for long-term contracts or much larger transactions. Still, with a $35,000 deal on the line, he called his local representative to see if there was anything EDC could do to help. “She told me I could go on the EDC website and get Trade Protect to insure as little as $5,000 or less for $30, and it could be done in about ten minutes. I was skeptical, but she walked me through it and sure enough, in less than ten minutes, I had created an account, entered the agent’s information and had the approval for insurance. Then we could breathe, because we had that guarantee we would be paid.”
The Result
Melo says Trade Protect is now enabling MELLOHAWK Logistics to be more aggressive about taking on new deals, and will help them to expand. “Recently we had a $50,000 shipment to Pakistan, and I told them without hesitation we could do it, no problem. I simply insured the shipment through Trade Protect on the EDC website without the customer even knowing.”
Read more about how MELLOHAWK Logistics is expanding their business through exports on exportwise.ca.