Since as far back as in early 1983, Transuniverse Forwarding has been active in groupage traffic to and from Greece. With an average of twenty lorry departures per week, our company can present itself as the market leader in groupage between Belgium and that country. We owe this position not only to the short transit times, but also to the excellent service we have been able to develop with two strong agents.

“Groupage traffic to Greece is very export-oriented: as much as 90% of our volumes are exports and only 10% are imports. Most destinations are in Athens and the surrounding area, where most industry is located. They represent approximately 80% of our traffic. The remaining 20% departs for Thessaloniki and other destinations in the north of the country”, says Pascal Willaert, Manager Greece & Maghreb at Transuniverse.

“The goods we transport are extremely diverse, which is typical of groupage: palletised goods, furniture, chemicals, ADR products, textiles – you name it. Depending on the season, between 18 and 25 trucks per week leave for Greece. So, thanks to the large volumes and extensive clientele, we are able to provide three to six departures a day and offer a transit time of only seven days, which is exceptional in that country”, he adds.

Although the Greek economy was hit hard by the credit crisis during the past decade (see below), Transuniverse’s shipping activities held up well. Since regaining stability, the country is once again on the rise. “This was partly due to the excellent cooperation with our agents GR Samson in Thessaloniki and Logika in Athens. The latter company, Logika, in particular gives us a competitive advantage in such an important traffic sector. That company – like Transuniverse – is in the process of digitalisation under the impetus of its young CEO. He has a very dynamic vision of transport and logistics and sees the growth opportunities offered by investment in IT. Logika also has an excellent distribution network within a 150 km radius of Athens, where most economic activity is located”, adds Pascal Willaert.

Emerging stronger from the credit crisis

Exactly 12 years ago, in May 2010, the Greek sovereign debt crisis erupted. This severe crisis, which incidentally affected the rest of the euro area, threatened to bankrupt Greece. The EU and the IMF came to the country’s aid with loans, but in return was forced to drastically reduce its budget deficit and speed up the modernisation of its economy. It was not until 2018 that the crisis was overcome and Greece was able to stand on its own two feet again. But the toll was great: in those years, the economy shrank by a quarter, while the purchasing power of the Greeks almost halved due, among other things, to the sharp increase in taxes and the reduction of pensions.

However, the timid recovery (with growth of 1.9% in 2019) was thwarted by the pandemic. This was partly because one of the strongholds of the Greek economy, tourism, was hit straight in its heart by the coronavirus pandemic. The result: GDP fell by as much as 9% in 2020.

Transformation plan works

In 2021, the tide has already turned, with growth of over 8%. From the beginning of the pandemic, Greece was indeed characterised by effective policy, also supported by the rapid digital transformation of the public and private sectors that had started at the end of the crisis. The Greek transformation plan drawn up after the crisis to revitalise the country and make its economy more resilient comprises four pillars: in addition to digitalisation, these are the green transition, the modernisation of employment and the stimulation of private investment through the transformation of the economy.

Originally, the growth forecast for this year was 4.5% to 4.9%, but due to the increase in energy prices and the war in Ukraine, these expectations have been revised downwards. The Greek government is now assuming economic growth of 3.1% in 2022.

Still, despite the recent uncertainties, the Greek economy seems to be holding up well: the structural reforms after the financial crisis and the transformation plan have effectively made the country more resilient. Greece is now even considered credible on the international markets and has also become an attractive investment country for certain sectors.

Greece in a nutshell

• Official name: Hellenic Republic
• Capital: Athens (population: 3.1 million)
• Population: 10.7 million residents
• Surface area: 131,957 km² (4.3 times the size of Belgium)
• Head of state: President Katerina Sakellaropoulou
• Head of government: Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis
• Language: Greek
• Currency: Euro
• Important cities: Thessaloniki (812,000 residents), Patras (214,580 residents)
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP): 189 billion USD (522 billion USD in Belgium)
• GDP/capita: 17,647 USD (45,205 USD in Belgium)

(Source: Flanders Investment & Trade)

At Transuniverse, we like to invest in the well-being of our employees. Happy employees not only feel more committed to the company, they are also the best ambassadors for us as an organisation and as an employer! That is why we organised the Employee Day at the end of April in cooperation with ‘serious happiness’ company Hallelujah.

After two turbulent years, when teleworking and limited social contact were often the norm, it was time to bring everyone in the company back together in person. “Together with Hallelujah, we organised an event with the theme: ‘I want to break free’. With this concept, people within an organisation get to know each other better in a fun and accessible way. All the employees and workers were placed in front of a green screen and were presented with a number of propositions in a fun way. Their responses allowed them to see a different side of each other in a completely unique way,” says Elfi Van Goethem, HR Officer at Transuniverse Forwarding.

“With this type of micro event lasting approximately one hour, we break down the fictitious borders between the employees and look for what connects them. It is amazing what the connection can be between people with completely different positions or functions within the company,” she adds. “Very quickly, the foundations were laid for a new group dynamic. Allowing colleagues to get to know each other better more easily creates a sense of family.”

Transuniverse Forwarding’s new customer portal is up and running. Customers can now input their orders directly. This new step in the automation of communication between Transuniverse and its customers will significantly reduce the error rate in bookings. It also brings benefits such as efficient track and trace and easy downloading of the Proof of Delivery and customs and other documents.

With the new portal, Transuniverse has expanded its order intake options. Many customers – not just larger enterprises but also small and medium-sized enterprises with an efficient IT infrastructure – book their orders by EDI, but others do so by e-mail. “At first glance, it seems like a simple and quick way to book a transport order. But if any data is missing or inaccurate, e-mails have to be sent back and forth, which wastes time for both the customer and the Transuniverse staff. That is why we are setting up this higher level of automation,” says IT manager Kevin Demeyer.

The new portal will thus become central to improving the quality of service and reducing the error rate. “The latter is crucial, because if something goes wrong at the beginning of the chain, it will go wrong in the rest of it. That means even billing can go wrong,” he adds.

Four options

“From now on, the customer has four options for placing an order: via EDI, via the customer portal, via an Excel template that is e-mailed to booking@transuniverse.be or via an e-mail. Using a template reduces the risk of errors, but doesn’t eliminate them. And this method is not interactive. E-mails require a lot of administrative work. Therefore, from now on we will charge 5 euro per order for handling. So the preferred booking methods are EDI and the customer portal,” says Griet Gyselinck, Customer Service & Business Development Manager.

Additional benefits

“Booking an order via the customer portal offers the customer many additional benefits, such as the ability to attach documents and monitor the status of the shipment. It is also possible to request invoices and other documents, such as a Proof of Delivery (PoD) for each invoice. That is certainly also a plus for the customer,” she says.

“Meanwhile, we continue to work on refining our tools on the supplier side. We will be able to receive and process information on shipments even faster and this will allow us to notify our customers more quickly. For example, the Delivery Confirmation Tool, a proactive notification of departure and arrival, will lead to greatly improved track and trace for our customers,” adds Kevin.

“The customer portal also allows us to send a link, the e-tracker, to the recipient to track the shipment. You can compare it to what we have become accustomed to nowadays with e-commerce. And after the delivery, the customer can download not only the PoD but also customs and other documents,” says Kevin.

Operational advantages

In operational terms, too, a booking through the customer portal offers great advantages. “It is easier to draw up the loading list, which enables the shipper’s warehouse keeper to prepare the shipment for departure more efficiently. It can also generate labels in Transuniverse format and stick them on the goods itself. This also reduces the error burden, especially when goods are being collected for different destination countries,” he continues.

Win-win

“We expect booking through the new customer portal to eliminate many problems at source. It’s a win-win, as it enables efficiency gains for both the customer and Transuniverse,” concludes Griet.

Logistics TV is a Transportmedia programme broadcast on Kanaal Z. Four times a year, it puts the logistics sector in the spotlight. The Logistics TV crew asked Transuniverse Forwarding if we would like to be a guest for the February episode. Naturally, we were happy to join them.

“In each Logistics TV broadcast, we visit a transport and logistics company. That visit is the main theme of the broadcast. We highlight some interesting aspects of that company and in between we bring you various news items about the sector,” explains creator Yannick Haesevoets.

The programme is presented by former Miss Belgium Virginie Claes, who has also now become very knowledgeable about the sector. She had fascinating conversations with Frank Adins, Olivia Adins and HR manager Ellen De Cock.

Various aspects of Transuniverse were discussed during the broadcast, such as our vision for groupage, the expansion of our cross-dock centre in Wondelgem, our sustainable vehicle fleet and our continuous search for motivated and quality employees.

If you would you like to watch the broadcast, you can. Just click here.

Just over a year ago, Transuniverse Forwarding and Italmondo concluded a strategic cooperation agreement. Since then, this Italian groupage specialist has been taking care of the distribution of our shipments to Italy and vice versa. “The partnership is going smoothly. Capacity to and from Italy is under pressure, but the partnership enables us to keep it high,” says Jeroen Menschaert, Italy specialist at Transuniverse.

Italy is one of Transuniverse’s core markets. “Since Italmondo became the exclusive agent, we have been able to improve the service. The company has transshipment platforms all over Italy, which allowed us to set up direct scheduled services from Wondelgem (Ghent) to the largest cities and industrial centres. With our previous agent, groupage shipments always had to be transshipped to a cross-dock centre in Milan. These direct lines have enabled us to cut down on transshipment and reduce transit times to all destinations in Italy. We now also have more opportunities to pick up and deliver goods throughout Italy,” Jeroen is keen to point out.

“Some 30 to 40 trucks leave for Italy every week, and we can usually reduce transit times to a week. Since the cooperation with Italmondo, traffic from Italy has increased considerably. We receive about 35 import trucks per week. These additional services not only give us more opportunities to serve Italian cities directly, but also ensure more capacity,” he adds.

“Capacity is much more of an issue than it used to be. The shortage – everywhere in Europe – is due, among other things, to the driver shortage and the entry into force of the Mobility Package. Because traffic is more balanced, these trucks allow us to maintain our capacity at an acceptable price, which is quite a challenge these days,” Jeroen emphasises.

The goods transported are very diverse, on both the export and import side. “Italy has a lot of small and medium-sized enterprises, as we can tell from the type of shipments transported,” he continues.

SMEs have an impact on the economy

Indeed, the Italian economy is largely driven by the production of high-quality consumer goods by small and medium-sized enterprises, many of which are family-owned.

Another characteristic of the Italian economy is the big difference in wealth and development between the industrialised north and the still predominantly agricultural south. Despite a very active subsidy policy, this imbalance remains.

Italy’s foreign trade bears the hallmark of the ‘4 As’, especially in terms of exports: Alimentari (food), Abbigliamento (fashion), Arredo (furniture and design) and Automazione (automation, mechanisation and plastics industry). This last sector is experiencing a sharp increase in exports. Tourism is also a stronghold of the Italian economy.

Too little investment

Italy’s economy, which is creaking under a heavy burden of public debt, has been on a sluggish trajectory for a long time. Investments were growing too slowly (even before the corona crisis), partly because the country is not very stable politically. Governments change all the time, so structural problems are not sufficiently addressed, which deters investors, especially foreign investors. The considerable shadow economy also plays a deterrent role. An additional problem is that the Italian economy runs at two speeds. There is, of course, the difference between the north and the south, but there is also the difference between the large companies that tend to perform well and the small SMEs that find it more difficult to operate within the euro area.

But there is improvement to come

However, there seems to be improvement to come. During the 2020 corona year – when Italy became the first EU country to be hit hard by the virus outbreak – the economy contracted by some 9%. According to Italy’s central bank, the country is set for 5.1% growth in 2021. It has become more optimistic about the recovery and an increase in investment. In 2022 and 2023, the economy will continue to grow by 4.4% and 2.3% respectively, according to the Banca d’Italia. It expects the economy to return to pre-corona crisis levels by the middle of this year.

This optimism is driven, among other things, by the expected effects of the government’s recovery plan and the continuing low interest rates, which are fuelling investment – by both companies and individuals. Of course, rising inflation and the conflict in Ukraine could throw a spanner in the works.

Italy in a nutshell

• Official name: Italian Republic
• Capital city: Rome (2.8 million inhabitants)
• Surface area: 301,277 km² (= 9.9 x Belgium)
• Number of inhabitants: 60.5 million
• Head of state: President Sergio Mattarella
• Head of government: Mario Draghi
• Currency: Euro
• Major cities: Milan (1.34 million), Naples (990,000), Turin (900,000), Palermo (680,000), Genoa (600,000), Bologna (390,000), Florence (380,000)
• GDP: USD 1,889 billion (USD 522 billion in Belgium)
• GDP/capita: USD 31,714 (USD 45,159 in Belgium)

At Transuniverse, we attach great importance to the quality of our services. As Quality Manager and Company Lawyer, Britt Vorst plays an important role in this. Prevention is better than cure, is her motto. That is why she also took on the task of prevention advisor. “Most problems can be avoided at source. Even legal disputes can be avoided, for example by correctly completing the transport documents,” she says.

You are both quality manager and company lawyer within Transuniverse. Why these two hats?

I started about seven years ago as a company lawyer, responsible for legal matters such as contracts, insurance, disputes, advice and so on. In addition, I had to manage the implementation of ISO and SQAS certificates. Many of the cases I followed up were claims or problems with incorrect deliveries. By being more proactive, we can avoid many of these problems. So the link to quality management was quickly made. By putting a lot of effort into quality optimisation with a team that has the necessary expertise, we can tackle the problems at the source.

Obviously, we also involve customer service in this. They are responsible for improving the service to customers. By working with them, we can further improve quality. After all, disputes are not only about damage to the goods, but also, for example, about shipments that arrive too late or too early. This cooperation allows us to deal with any complaints more efficiently and quickly.

So the focus is on preventing problems?

That’s right. That’s why, six months ago, I also became a prevention advisor within Transuniverse after about two years of specific training. This task includes not only aspects of health and safety, but also the prevention of accidents in the cross-dock centre and the warehouse, which is closely linked to the prevention of damage. These efforts involve not only our staff, but also our suppliers and subcontractors. We advise them on how to act inside our facilities, how to avoid damage themselves and so on.

Analysis is also an important role of the prevention advisor. If something does happen, we must learn from it. We do this in conjunction with the operations manager and the warehouse manager. On the basis of this analysis, we refine the instructions and set up training to prevent the problems from recurring.

Does the customer also have a role to play in improving quality?

Yes, in the sense that they too can help avoid disputes by paying closer attention to the transport documents. Damage can always occur. If the consignee signs the CMR upon receipt without mentioning the problem, it will be much more difficult to handle the file correctly.

Customers can therefore avoid disputes by making their receiving staff aware of the fact that inspection of the goods upon delivery and correct completion of the transport document are absolutely essential.

Incidentally, damage reporting is necessary at every step in the chain, from collection to delivery via transshipment in the depots. If damage reporting is overlooked, it is extremely difficult to determine where the damage occurred and who is responsible for it. And it also makes it difficult to learn the lessons from it.

This year, the bi-annual Transport & Logistics Antwerp trade fair is able to go ahead, thanks to the relaxing of Covid restrictions.  Make a note of the dates in your diary now: 19, 20 and 21 October. The team from Transuniverse Forwarding will be on our stand, ready to welcome you.

Transport & Logistics Antwerp is the first logistics fair to be going ahead live since the Covid crisis. After a year and a half of mainly digital and telephone contact we are all aware that human contact is particularly important to consolidating the relationship between the company and the customer. That’s why Transuniverse is taking part in the trade fair this year, as it has done previously. You will find our stand in the usual place in Hall 4 (number 4.100).

To avoid the stand getting too busy and to spread out the visits, we are not planning a special event on the stand this year. You can choose when to come along: our whole team will be there and they will be happy to welcome you.

This trade fair is certainly worth visiting: alongside the exhibitors, it hosts dozens of experts and keynote speakers who shed light on the sector and its future, in conferences, seminars, debates and live interviews over the three days. The conference programme is very varied.

Safety first

Everyone must register at the event with the Covid Safe Ticket. Wearing a mask is not compulsory, but the organiser Easy Fairs strongly advises visitors and those attending to wear one in enclosed or crowded spaces. Where possible, the 1.5 metre distance must be respected.

A CO2 measuring system will monitor the air quality in the halls; Easy Fairs has developed an action plan to ensure sufficient ventilation.

Advance registration

It is important that you register in advance and that you are in possession of the following documents in order to gain entry to the trade fair:

• A valid Covid Safe Ticket
• Proof of ID
• A valid entry ticket

Follow this link to get your free entry ticket