Notwithstanding geopolitical uncertainty, a global pandemic, and rising costs associated with modern-day freight forwarding and logistics, Freight Minds has grown from strength to strength since its formation in 2021. With the live entertainment sector as active as ever, 2024 saw the firm collaborate with the production teams powering Adele, Billie Eilish, David Gilmour, Def Leppard, Jeff Lynne’s ELO, Liam and Noel Gallagher, Sleep Token, and Squeeze’s latest live offerings, among many other projects – spanning multiple industries.
As the dust settled on a successful calendar year, TPi sat down with Freight Minds’ Matt Wright, a second-generation freight forwarder, to reflect on the origins, evolution, and what the future holds for Freight Minds.
What are the founding principles behind the creation of Freight Minds?
“To offer a credible, viable, and sustainable option to the already established companies in the freighting arena; always being contactable no matter what time of day or night; being pro-active instead of reactive, approachable, and budget-conscious, due to the massively inflated air and sea rates being offered by all the carriers. In addition, flexible to work with very last-minute schedule changes enforced on tours due to COVID-19 pandemic regulations. Futhermore, to grow organically and not force the growth through borrowing, which only adds a certain weight to our shoulders.
“Key to our operation is offering competitive pricing without the need or desire to undercut competition to the point of doing the tour or move at a loss – this is not in our interest. Fundamentally, we are here to build a long-term future for ourselves as a team and to build the business. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that doing work at a loss is a surefire way to guarantee it’s not sustainable in the long term, and why should other clients in our roster subsidise that loss? It’s down to us as a business to make sure we control our costs and overheads so that we can remain competitive within this niche sector.”
How has the company evolved in recent years since establishing in 2021?
“When we first started, there were three of us in an office barely big enough for four desks with a 2,000 sq ft warehouse space. Four years later, we have grown to 28 people in London, one operative in Sydney, and 10 in the US, with more people coming on board over the next few months. Since October 2022, a move that we hadn’t planned was ‘fortuitously’ forced upon us. Since then, we have taken on our own lease for a 24,500 sq ft warehouse and 3,500 sq ft office space, which has allowed us the organic growth that we set out in our initial plans. Due to the growth we’ve experienced, we are currently in the process of installing an 8,000 sq ft mezzanine, which will be finished and ready to use by the end of January. This will be used for dedicated storage cages.”
What challenges have you faced when providing logistical solutions for touring camps in 2024?
“One of the major issues for the freighting community are the geopolitical situations arising around the world – a prime example being the issues in the Suez Canal, which have led to most shipping lines now avoiding that area, meaning they are now going around the Cape of Good Hope to get to and from Asia and the Middle East. This not only adds precious time to the schedule but also increases costs.
“With the stress and strain being put on shipping schedules, the ability to plan ocean moves is proving riskier. Unless there are no deadlines with the shipment, taking a shipping line’s published schedule at face value is an unwise idea. In our opinion, they simply can’t be relied upon based on a single ‘rotation’, so with our clients’ schedules in mind, we always recommend they have a plan B, as there is a probable chance that plan A will change due to the shipping line’s schedule being delayed.”
What industry-related misnomers would you like to set the record straight on?
“Since we started Freight Minds, there have been a few undertones from some quarters suggesting we don’t have the experience of other well-established freight companies, which is clearly wrong in our opinion. The group of people here in London and the US have all been operating in this increasingly high-pressured freight environment for decades. Ultimately, every freight company uses the same international airlines and shipping lines; all with very similar rates. It’s these relationships that we have built over many years throughout our collective careers that really come into play when the going gets tough due to circumstances outside our control. Our client list speaks for itself; if these calibre of production teams didn’t have confidence in us, they wouldn’t trust us with their freight.”
Are you exploring other territories, following recent operations in India and Australia?
“If the client wants to visit a territory, we will go there. We will always find a way for the move to work. Given our decades of working with hundreds of people around the globe, there is always someone in a territory who knows someone reputable if we don’t directly know someone ourselves.”
How is the touring season shaping up?
“We never like to count our chickens before they have hatched, but if the initial calendar overview for 2025 is anything to go by, it should be another very good year for us. I always get nervous at this time of year, not knowing where the work is coming from for the following year. This is not a new thought process since starting Freight Minds – I’ve always had this feeling, you just never know what’s around the corner, but I guess this is what drives us as a business, by never being complacent. We have a saying in the office: ‘Until the freight is on the dock, it’s not confirmed.’ Even then, we’ve seen shows cancelled when the freight is in the air on the way.”
Given recent successes, are you anticipating further growth and expansion?
“We are in the process of expanding operations in the US and UK through our organic growth. Furthermore, we are looking at key strategic areas to either form partnerships or open wholly owned Freight Minds offices to cater for the growth in those key areas.”
