INTELLIGENT LOGISTICS SOLUTION: GROUPAGE SHIPMENTS

Since our core business is the export of high quality Italian food all over the world, a well-functioning supply chain has always been essential to us. As if to say, there is no excellence without a timely delivery. This is the reason why, for the past twenty years, we have always improved our logistics management with the intent of constantly ensuring a perfect service. Many years ago we introduced in our range of services the sea freight groupage shipment: we chose it because it is a cost-effective, eco-friendly way of transporting goods and at the same time it allowed us to anticipate the needs of an ever-changing market.

As a matter of fact, recent studies show how the demand for LCL (less-than-container load) services has been rapidly growing in the past five years: so much so that nowadays – despite stagnating figures in TEU handling – customs authorities report increased numbers in clearance. This does not come as a surprise if we consider that the ever-increasing competition due to the globalization and the subsequent success of e-commerce are forcing more and more companies to reassess their overall performances, especially with regards to the optimization of their logistics management. In this sense, sea freight groupage has proved to be a valid alternative to air freight as it allows larger senders to counterbalance the seasonal fluctuations in volume by splitting their shipments into smaller ones when necessary.

As far as we are concerned, groupage and consolidation make it possible for us to supply diverse types of Italian food produced by different local companies to all our clients worldwide, minimizing the shipping costs while maintaining the high standards that the market demands. As many of our clients started appreciating the advantages of minimum inventories and a more rational stock management, having such a service already in place allowed us to be prompt in adapting to their requests and be fully operative when the demand for this service increased due to the outbreak of Covid-19. The pandemic in fact not only impacted air traffic but it also called for a new system to better manage decreased orders while still keeping trading alive.

Since we deal with many different local producers, the biggest challenge for us was consolidation; thanks to the cooperative relationship we have with our suppliers and to the innovation of some of our internal processes, we managed to coordinate them in a way that they could all supply their products to us at the same time. Moreover, the advantage of having opted for groupage shipments before many other companies was the creation and implementation of a solid logistics network that is now fully efficient as all the processes are constantly monitored by our staff and managed as an integrated and unique company strategy.