Fruit transfer company Seabrex re-established itself under the name of Rotterdam Fruit Wharf (RFW) in the middle of 2010. The safe umbrella of the Belgian Sea-Invest Group is much appreciated, according to general manager Fred Krijnen and commercial manager Peter van de Laar. "Sea Invest now has large fruit terminals in the six most important ports in Europe."
According to Fred clients appreciate the unique location or Rotterdam Fruit Wharf. "On one side water and at the other the A20. The position at the water offers us the possibility to receive conventional shipping direct from the southern hemisphere. Transfer is less than 2 minutes from reefer to cold store."
"The waterfront is also used daily to receive containers from inland navigation from sea terminals, both in town and on the Maasvlakte. With this we are quick, reliable, cheaper and more environmentally friendly" Fred enumerates. "Another additional advantage is the container yard, which we run together with shipowner MSC. In case of need, hundreds of empty MSC containers can be parked. This results in an important cost saving for clients of RFW and MSC, because an empty reefer is not to be returned to the Maasvlakte or Waalhaven immediately."
AEO
“Of course we also have possibilities for supply by road in close cooperation with a number of selected transporters. Therefore we are very flexible" Peter van de Laar agrees. "We are also AEO-certified and have monthly reporting because of ourCustoms-E status. Importers and companies trust this and are very satisfied. Automation is of the utmost importance for us. Therefore this year we invest a few hundred thousand Euro in a very modern automation system."
"We have at our disposal an independent cold storage for 22,000 pallets, divided over more than 30 separate cells, each of which can be set up at temperatures between -2 and +15C. We also attend to all customs formalities including final representation, we are a known VWA inspection station and together with our partner ERP offer more and more often services such as re-packing and order picking" the commercial manager tells.
Increasing congestion
Of course the logistic service provider has various problems as well. In this respect Fred mentions the increasing congestion at the sea terminals and the volume pressure when exporters sell to other countries. "Rotterdam Fruit Wharf can really offer multi-layer solutions, which is a big advantage in the increasing congestion in the ring of Rotterdam. Luckily the large sea terminals also realise, that reefer cargo is always pressed for time and is to be in transit again quickly to cold storage and clients all over Europe. Therefore our Coolbarge has priority when loading reefer containers."
"The challenge is together with our clients to adjust to changes in the supply chain and to the continuously changing wishes of the supermarkets. Finally we can answer those questions by offering even more service and made-to-measure solutions," Peter concludes.
For more information:
Fred M. Krijnen MBA
Rotterdam Fruit Wharf B.V.
Tel: +31 10 2215000
Email: [email protected]
www.sea-invest.be
