Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/785757
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 12 FEBRUARY 2017 Shipping & Logistics III What services do you offer? We currently offer a wide range of services relating to transport and logistics. We are though mainly trailer operators offering the best rates and services on the island where groupage cargo is concerned. To compliment this, we also offer door-to-door service including customs clearance and/or intrastat preparations. We can also offer third-party insurance coverage when needed. Recently we have also managed to reduce greatly our Full Trailer rates and are managing to load such cargo regularly. Besides all this, we also act as freight forwarders where we offer Full Container services to/from all over the world and have a courier service that is second to none where express and economical options are both available. The company first opened its doors in 1995. How has it adapted to the changing needs of the market? When the company was estab- lished in 1995, its main (and almost exclusive) focus was on groupage container service from Italy. Although the Italian market still is a very important part of our busi- ness, over the years we learned to adapt according to the needs of the market and many times have even anticipated such needs. We have in the past changed strategy from groupage containers to trailers which eventually led in us investing in them and now we own 22. We then expanded our network to include all European countries which proved to be very successful and we intend to keep expand- ing it. Lately we have introduced new auxiliary services such as the courier service and the IKEA Sicily deliveries. You have recently announced that the company will be starting its own export service from Malta to all Europe. Will groupage export rates differ from import rates? Yes indeed, this is our latest venture. The local groupage export market is quite small and over the years we have noticed a lack of competitive rates and a below standard service to go with them by the existing operators. It is a well-known fact locally that groupage export rates are more expensive than import rates and it is our intention to be the first operator to break this trend and make it as competitive as the import rates. We are currently finalising the last details to start this operation and we will be announcing the commencement of this service in the coming weeks. We want it to be perfect as it is not just the rates we will be aiming to improve but both the transit times and the tracking system need to be the best on the island. The maritime industry has seen continuous growth, however it holds a very low profile in Malta. What are the main developments in this industry that one might not be aware of? It is indeed quite surprising that the maritime industry holds very little interest to the people that are not directly involved with it. This in spite of us being a very small island in the middle of what is historically a very important maritime route. One must consider that when talking about the maritime indus- try, one has to include a vast array of industries from Tourism to Ship Building, Freight Forwarding to Yacht Chartering, Ship Chandlery to Sea Ports. The income of an in- credible number of families depend directly on these industries to do well and luckily things have been going well on many fronts. We live in a globalised world and the maritime industry can only grow over the next years as it has been over the last ones. Us Maltese need to continue working hard and smart to keep on improving in areas where we are still lacking such as in the Logistics Industry. What do you envision for your company in the next five years? Where to start from? In the near future, we have three projects: to make our systems as paperless as possible; to bring our local deliveries into the digital world where our cli- ents would receive constant updates on when and at what time their shipments will be delivered; and to move into the new office which will be state-of-the-art to take us into the next level. Soon after that, it is my intention to bring the company in a posi- tion to be able to start offering a 360 degrees transport and logistics service to the local community. This will include temperature-controlled and local warehousing and logistical services. We have other projects which might not necessarily involve the local market but these are still some way off. Whatever the case, our aim at EuroBridge will always be to keep our customers our number one priority and for all of them to know they can count on us! A company in motion : Envisioning a paperless future for a transport and logistics company David Abela, Managing Director of EuroBridge Shipping Services Ltd talks to MaltaToday about the company's history and plans for future expansion David Abela