Shortlist Revealed for 2025 Freight Service Awards

The British International Freight Association (BIFA) has announced the shortlist for its 2025 Freight Service Awards, naming 33 companies as finalists across nine service categories. Now in their 37th year, the awards highlight excellence and innovation in UK freight forwarding, with seven companies appearing in more than one category.

This year’s shortlist reflects strong performance across air, sea and European forwarding, customs compliance, sustainability, staff development and value-added services. The Extra Mile and Project Forwarding categories again drew particular interest, acknowledging organisations that have demonstrated exceptional problem-solving and specialist capability.

Alongside the company awards, BIFA has also confirmed the finalists for its two individual honours: Apprentice of the Year and Young Freight Forwarder of the Year, both designed to spotlight emerging talent and encourage long-term career development within the sector.

The final round of judging is now underway, with winners to be revealed at the annual BIFA Freight Service Awards Ceremony on Thursday 15 January 2026. The event will be hosted by TV presenter and adventurer Steve Backshall, who will present trophies alongside category sponsors.

Tickets are now on sale, with the ceremony once again expected to provide a valuable networking opportunity, as well as a chance to recognise exceptional performance across the freight forwarding industry.

Read more and discover the finalists here: 2025 Finalists – BIFA Awards

Ecommerce Retailer Boosts Order Fulfilment

Eco-friendly gardening ecommerce firm Gardening Naturally has transformed its operations with Forterro’s Orderwise, achieving a 3,500% increase in fulfilment speed and tripling revenue since deploying the ERP and warehouse management system (WMS).

Founded in 2007 and now employing more than 20 staff, the family-run business operates seven ecommerce websites and supplies more than 60 garden centres across the UK. Its highly seasonal sales cycle – 70% of annual turnover takes place between April and July – makes warehouse efficiency and logistics coordination critical. The company manages a complex multi-channel setup spanning its own websites, Amazon, eBay, and other online marketplaces, all now integrated through Orderwise.

“Before Orderwise, it could take three hours to pick and process 200 orders. We can now do that in just five minutes,” said Scott Brandreth, Managing Director, Gardening Naturally. “At our busiest, we’re dispatching up to 5,000 orders a day. Without Orderwise, there’s absolutely no way we could have scaled to meet that demand or grown from £2.7 million to £8 million turnover in just two years.”

Since adopting Orderwise eight years ago, Gardening Naturally has unified its ecommerce and warehouse management processes, automated key fulfilment workflows, and integrated with automatic packing machinery to dramatically speed up despatch. Advanced delivery rules ensure 99% of orders are automatically assigned the correct courier method, while real-time visibility across channels helps the team hit same-day shipping targets and Amazon Prime KPIs.

“The reliability and scalability of Orderwise make it invaluable to us,” Brandreth added. “It’s robust, efficient, and continues to evolve with our needs. The system gives us confidence that we can keep growing, even during our busiest seasons.”

Tom Price, Director, Forterro, said: “Gardening Naturally is an outstanding example of how a modern, integrated ERP and WMS can unlock performance and scalability. Orderwise has helped them turn seasonal pressure into a competitive advantage and build a foundation for sustained growth.”

Built on decades of ERP expertise, Orderwise helps distributors, manufacturers, and retailers simplify complexity, connect operations, and scale confidently.

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