Feature -- by Mark Sproxton

Lifting a mountain bike carefully onto the car's bike rack the cyclist rests the cycle in place just as a cell phone rings. It's a hot, sunny Sunday afternoon and the thought of a hard ride in the mountains may have to wait. A trucker is on the line after having been stopped by Canada Customs officials at the border near Lethbridge.

Cliff Tyler says phones are key to freight forwarders.

"You can have a truck stuck at the border for whatever reason," explains Amtroline Transportation Group's Cliff Tyler. "This could happen night or day or on the weekends. The trucker or broker may call and say the paperwork isn't right or whatever. There's a million reasons."

Working as a freight forwarder the cyclist must use his knowledge of customs regulations, trucking and the special documentation required for this load to decide immediately whether it's worth contacting a customs broker to look into the issue, or to pay a bond for the truck to be able to drive to Calgary and be checked by customs officials here.

"It's a pretty interesting field for a young kid starting out," Tyler said. "There's lots of variety. Every country has rules and regulations that are different. You can decide you want to be a master of it all or be specific and learn one thing. You could specialize into being a freight forwarder on the export end or an importer of materials."

Tyler, who is president of Amtroline, oversees freight forwarders who work in seeing products transported by air, boats, trucks and rail. Freight forwarders are the people who receive calls from customers, such as a pipeline manufacturer, who have a product needing to be transported somewhere. Once they receive the details from the manufacturer, such as the load's weight and location of delivery, the freight forwarder contacts the appropriate transport company to get a price on how much the shipment will cost. The quote is then relayed to the manufacturer. If the manufacturer likes the price, the freight forwarder calls the transport company back and begins the lengthy paperwork process.

"They're basically on the phone all day long," said Tyler who worked as a traffic manager before starting Amtroline 15 years ago. A traffic manager does similar work to a freight forwarder, but works for a manufacturing company. While talking on the phone may be an easy task, the amount of knowledge required for the work can be astounding. Courses are available to familiarize people with the industry, but Tyler said hands-on work is the best way to learn freight forwarding.

"There's lots of education available now related to transport whereas years ago there didn't used to be," he said. "You can take a number of different courses, I've taken some, but to learn (this) you really have to get in and do it and you'll learn it from there." That's how he got his start over 40 years ago. "I came out of high school and decided I really didn't want to go to university at the time. By accident I fell into transportation."

It may have been luck that landed him in the business, but it has been the variety that has kept him. "It's different everyday," Tyler said. "There's virtually nothing that's repetition. Something changes everyday." Those constant changes may be hard to deal with for some, but a successful freight forwarder adapts to changes. In addition, Tyler said those with excellent communication and computer skills make good freight forwarders.

Working regular business hours, pay for freight forwarders will vary greatly, depending on experience and how much volume they move, how many types of loads they move and the size and weight of the material they move. "If you could handle all the material, about $80,000 a year," Tyler said. "If starting someone off with no experience, he might be able to get $2,000 a month to start. With a bit of experience it wouldn't take long to get to $3,000."

While job vacancies are generally low at smaller companies like Amtroline, Tyler said there are many jobs available industry-wide. "There is a demand for good people," he said. "As we grow - Calgary is expanding - there's more demand for this type of personnel." And it's an industry he believes holds many opportunities for today's youth.

"Everything in our daily lives has to be moved and it doesn't matter whether it's a boat or food we're talking about. It's an industry you can get into without having a university degree. In the long run you can earn a good dollar at it and you don't have to be a rocket scientist. Any young girl or guy who didn't want to go to university could make a good living at it."