Development through diversification
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Romanian Transport Company of the Year 2011 - Continental
The Romanian transport market is interesting also for the companies from the Western Europe. Founded in Germany, the company Ahead Logistics developed permanently its activity in the 5 years of presence in Romania.
It's interesting that, even though in Germany the company does only transport, in Romania it diversified its activity.
"In Romania, we tried to diversify our transport activity as much as possible. So, we are doing domestic and international transport, road transport for general goods, road transport under controlled temperature etc. We've also acquired a warehouse and we want to develop logistics operations. The logistics would help us to enlarge our customers' portfolio. In Germany, the company does only transport", showed Mircea Manescu, Managing Director Ahead Logistics.
Continuity through long term partnerships
Ahead Logistics focused on finding serious customers who desire long term cooperation and less on the spot sector.
"A constant volume of merchandise means a guarantee for trips for all year. We would like to avoid the significant variations and this is why we would like to have a customers' portfolio as constant as possible, which we are trying to expand. In order to expand it, we started a forwarding activity two years ago. This activity allowed us to sign contracts with companies for which maybe we wouldn't have enough trucks available from our own fleet. As average, 15-20% of our current activity is done with the support of the subcontractors", explained the manager of Ahead Logistics.
Otherwise, the intermediation activity met a significant development.
"The freight forwarding structure works under the roof of the same company, but we are evaluating it separately - we can say that it is a separate profit centre. This year, we hired more people to stimulate the activity more. There's still space on the market, because there were a lot of freight forwarders that weren't intent enough and this is why the transporters are afraid that they could be cheated", said Mircea Manescu.
The intermediation could lead also to certain problems, such as the attempt of some subcontractors to steal your customers.
"Some are showing a lack of loyalty. We invited them to discussions and we even closed written contracts with some of them, to prevent them to steal our customers", underlined Mircea Manescu.
The "reefer" - a more stable market
The fact that a big part of their activity is on the market of transports under controlled temperature helped Ahead Logistics to face the crisis easier.
"We started with the refrigerated transport in retail. This sector suffered less than the general goods sector. There are some variations and season changes here as well, but there is still a higher degree of constancy during the year and we were even able to face the crisis better than on the curtainsiders segment", declared the manager of Ahead Logistics.
Nevertheless, although the transport under controlled temperature seems to give more freedom (because you can also transport general goods), there are a series of limitations that you have to consider.
"It's an expensive equipment with higher maintenance costs , more sensitive than the curtainsiders and which imposes more limitations regarding the type of goods that you can transport. It obliges you to have a stricter organization, more careful drivers and closer monitoring. For us, the trucks represent the image of the company and we are making constant efforts to keep them in good technical state and very clean", showed Mircea Manescu.
Attention to the image
Ahead Logistics is one of the companies which are paying a great deal of attention to their own image, aspect neglected by a lot of Romanian companies. One of the instruments that are used is the website on internet.
"We are really monitoring who is viewing our website, from where; we have reports regarding the levels and zones of interest. The image of the company is important for us and also its promotion - even the logo of the company was made especially by a design centre in Germany", declared Mircea Manescu.
But the most important aspect regarding the company's image is made by the trucks and drivers. The company shows a great deal of attention in hiring the drivers.
"For a driver to be hired by our company, he has to have all the documents in order. We are asking for a criminal record and also we are testing them. Because of some people's character, we even started a closer monitoring. We have GPS systems on all the trucks and we did some tests also for installing cameras, for the fuel tanks and for the semi-trailers. We have an important nucleus of around 30 drivers - some of them wouldn't leave because, in addition to the professional side, they also value the sentimental side, being able to grow along with us. We have seven dispatchers who are working day and night in different locations all over the country - for over 40 trucks. In addition to our evaluation of the drivers, the titular drivers on the trucks have also an evaluation form for the crew", explained Mircea Manescu.
Unfortunately, a lot of the problems that the transporters are facing in Romania are connected with the authorities.
"We are strongly affected by the people who say it's wrong to do something and then just go ahead and do it. It would be ok if the law would be respected by everyone - and if it would be possible to respect it in any case, because the infrastructure has problems - and if the controllers would be able to understand each case. But the authorities are double-faced. We are making a great effort to comply with the times of schedule, we hired extra drivers, we invested a lot in order to be ok, but it's obvious that they want to apply fines at any risk to the autochthon transporters, while the foreign transporters are treated with indulgence", showed Mircea Manescu.
For the future, Ahead Logistics has as an object to further develop the freight forwarding activity and the logistics sector, being in negotiations to acquire a Class A warehouse with a special reefer zone.
Mircea Manescu, Managing Director Ahead Logistics:
"The State buys new cars for the control activity, but it'd better build 500 km of highway, civilized parking lots and belt roads. In the end, the transport means the circulation of the goods. It helps the economy, the export and the import and it is an important factor of the development of the contry."
Radu BORCESCU
radu.borcescu@ziuacargo.ro
Publicat in revista Ziua Cargo din September 2011
