"Considerable cost reduction"
"You don't have to travel though France any more and this cuts back on maintenance, fines and toll. Shipping is also more reliable. You know when the ship will leave and arrive", says Eric. "The passage between Spain and Belgium takes 38 hours. We take 12 drivers and 195 unaccompanied trailers. In the special container space we can fit 90 45ft containers, which can be double stacked. In total there are 104 reefer plugs spread out over the ship. We can take anything really. It doesn't matter whether containers are supplied loose. The process is simple: Take a right in Belgium to Zeebrugge, get on the boat, then dock, unload and reload in Bilbao."He says that the cost reduction per shipment is big. "All together you're on a day longer at most than with road transport. This is a lot cheaper, 500 Euro or more."To transport from well known citrus regions like Valencia to Bilbao, Transfennics collaborates with numerous Spanish transport companies. Even when the load has arrived in Zeebrugge, Transfennica can arrange transport to all destinations. "We supply connections and take all transport out of the hands from the growers to the importer", says the transporter.
"Increase in interest is a matter of time"
In the fruit and vegetable sector Transfennica mainly works with citrus importers. Due to the Spanish crisis importers are complaining about the increasing transport costs. "It's logical for the prices to go up. There is less going to Spain, so the imbalance is larger", he explains. "To get material to Spain we offer companies a favourable rate to ship empty. This makes the 'return ticket' cheaper." Eric indicates that there's not much interest from the rest of the fruit and vegetable sector. "We mainly transport citrus, but not many products that need more speed. Carriers don't want to do it yet, but I think it's only a matter of time. People have to look for alternatives due to the increasing costs and bad economic situation. We hope importers see this. We offer a good alternative to ensure transport in an efficient and cheap way between Spain and the North.""Our largest threat is that the transport sector is switching too slowly. First they switched to cheaper drivers, now they have to switch to boats. It's actually so logical to use a ship, that we don't understand why people still go by road. Besides the advantages of saving kilometres there are also other reason why people should choose to transport by ship. One of our examples is a transporter who saves 300,000 Euro per year on tyres. This adds up. Many transporters do sums and look at the costs per kilometre and the costs of the drivers and don't think of the long term savings and advantages."
"Growing towards a situation in which the road is only used in emergencies"
Transfennica transports on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Two ships from Bibao to Zeebrugge and back on the same days. "Since the start of 2004 96% of our ships have been on time", says Eric. "Since January we have had two of our own ships. So I expect this reliability to increase more. It should be able to go to 99% with these ships." He emphasizes that there is still enough space for shipments from the fruit and vegetables sector. "Let the bookings come. We would like to sail every day and grow, together with our customers, towards a situation in which the road is only taken in emergencies".For more information:
Eric de Wit
Transfennica
Radarweg 36
1042 AA Amsterdam
Tel: +31-(0)204487609
Fax: +31-(0)204487626
www.transfennica.com