UKWA – the United Kingdom Warehousing Association - has announced that it has adopted Transaid as its official charity.

Transaid works to save lives and reduce poverty for rural communities across Africa by providing them with better transport solutions, and UKWA has pledged to raise significant funding in support of various key Transaid projects.

A number of money-generating initiatives are planned. For example, UKWA hopes to field teams in a number of upcoming Transaid fundraising events - including cycle rides from London to Amsterdam and, for the more adventurous, through the changing terrain of Uganda.

Roger Williams, UKWA’s chief executive officer, commented: “Transaid is the logistics industry’s charity and, as such, is perfect for UKWA. It has done and continues to do an excellent job in building local skills and knowledge to make transport safer, cheaper, cleaner and more effective, ensuring better access to the essentials for everyday life across the African continent.”

In addition to financial support UKWA will seek to encourage its member companies – who include some of the leading businesses in the UK logistics and transport sector - to contribute directly towards Transaid’s work by providing volunteers to take part in technical secondments overseas.

Transaid’s CEO Gary Foster, said: “Transaid is determined to make a significant difference in the developing world. We are delighted to see the UKWA joining a strong group of our long term supporters who believe in our cause. This partnership will help us expand projects which include developing driver training programmes to improve driver competence and road safety, and introducing innovative forms of transport for remote communities where conventional forms of transport are not available or affordable.”

Transaid was founded over 25 years ago by Save the Children and The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and its Patron is HRH The Princess Royal.

About The United Kingdom Warehousing Association
With over 600 member companies, the United Kingdom Warehousing Association (UKWA) is the UK’s only trade association dedicated to serving the vitally important warehousing and logistics sector. Established in 1944, the Association’s members control nearly 100 million square feet of warehousing space from nearly 1300 locations across the UK. Although originally established as a trade body for the third party warehousing sector, the Association now embraces all companies that operate a warehousing or distribution facility. Membership is not restricted to those companies based within the borders  of the United Kingdom.