On 1 April 2018, a new player arrived on the market for logistical services. Etienne Vennink decided to continue independently after gaining experience in the sector, and he founded VGK Cool Logistics with Rob van Opzeeland of Kivits Drunen. Twan Bregman and Maurice Buren, who Etienne had worked with for years, soon joined them.
“In cooperation with Rob van Opzeeland, we complement each other well with this service in logistics,” Etienne says. “Because of the earlier experience from the logistical sector, I also had the necessary experience for this new company, and I immediately had a major network at my disposal as well. It’s our ambition to grow with our company in the sector, and to add value to the entire supply chain.”
Maurice van Buren, Etienne Vennink and Twan Bregman of VGK Cool Logistics.
“For now, however, we’re mostly doing what we’re good at: providing services for logistics. We do storage and transfer, packing and repacking products, transporting containers and sanitary and quality inspections of the products we receive and all necessary customs clearances. We’ve noticed customers already know how to find us. Transparency and trust are the two most important things in our sector to bind customers to your company. We offer transparency by communicating clearly with our customers, and by keeping them up to date of all information. We can offer this thanks to new innovations such as smart containers and track-and-trace for containers. Our business is mostly based on trust. We might be a new company, but we already have a firm network because of our experience, and we also managed to build a firm basis of trust with our customers, and can therefore offer them what they’re used to from us.”
Sustainability and intermodal transport
At the moment, the logistic sector is faced by a few major challenges. These include the reducing of emissions, transparency towards customers, the construction of cooling clusters and the continued development of intermodal transport in Europe. “In the past, I once participated in a number of pilots in and around Rotterdam for the development of intermodal transport, and that’s definitely an idea that I keep in the back of my mind for the future. For example, we’re currently still at a temporary location, and in future we want to have our own new and modern building constructed for us. Its location could play a part in whether we’d be able to also offer intermodal transport or not. Because Barendrecht, our current location, is close to the Waalhaven, this could already be used to our advantage by deploying barges towards the Waalhaven.”
“As logistic service provider, we play somewhat of a role in organising transports where possible. In future, we’d definitely have to put work into the sector to implement all of our ideas and innovations in logistics. A change in the mindsets of those involved is most important in that. Most people still have the idea that lorries are the fastest mode of transport in the sector, even with any congestion that might occur on the roads.”
“We therefore still have quite a few challenges in our way. My goal is mostly to set up a good, healthy, flexible and customer-oriented company in logistical services. Because our services will always be needed in this little world, despite the many developments on the market at the moment, such as more transparency, new innovations and shortening the supply chain. After all, someone has to receive and unload these containers, pack and label the products, free them for the customers, and subject the contents to any necessary quality inspections.”
For more information:
Etienne Vennink
VGK Cool Logistics BV
Handelscentrum ZHZ 55 - 60
2991 LD Barendrecht, the Netherlands
Tel: +31 6 30 27 35 10
etienne@vgkcoollogistics.nl
www.vgkcoollogistics.com