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NETHERLANdS


Long-established Rotterdam shipping and logistics specialist Broekman tends to specialise in niche areas that the large multinationals prefer to leave alone. Not only does it offer a very diverse range of services, ranging from metals handling through chemical storage to logistics, but it also gets more deeply involved in its customers’ supply chains, including manufacturing operations. Broekman may not be


the south of Holland in Limburg, close to the Belgian and German borders. Not only does it operate the main European distribution point for Japanese-owned mini- digger maker Kubota, but it also assembles machines from knock-down kits. “That makes us almost a manufacturer as well as a logistics operator,” says Helwegen. Limburg is a strategic location,


ISSUE 1 2011


Men of steel – and much more Automotive specialist on the move


the world’s largest logistics organisation, but it still employs 850 people worldwide and has several offices outside the country including India, Singapore, Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. It grew from being a shipping agency – still an important part of the business - in the 1960s to include a wide range of logistics activities. For instance, it operates


the Broekman DistriPort in Rotterdam’s Brittanniehaven in the Rozenburg area of the port, which specialises in steel and other metals, providing a multimodal hub linking ocean transportation with Europe. There is a covered all-weather ship terminal for shortsea vessels up to 9.000 tonnes and, at the open quays, vessels of up to 50,000 tonnes and 12 metres draught can be handled simultaneously. Broekman has invested heavily to build the terminal, and this is now beginning to pay off, says managing director of the special products division, Frank van der Gevel: “Steel is moving again. It has been very slow, but since the middle of last year it has picked up and traders are buying again.” Volumes through the terminal have risen from a low of around 1m tonnes to a more normal 2m tonnes. Steel coils, along with sheets


and plates are the biggest flow, and there is also a growing amount of non-ferrous metals – copper, zinc and aluminium – and the facility is London Metal Exchange-approved. Antwerp was traditionally Europe’s main steel port, but


State-of-the-art safety at Store-Ship


shifts in the market have helped Rotterdam gain a larger share of the trade, van der Gevel explains. “Steel sheet often moves in containers and this has tended to help Rotterdam. Only being able to offer handling of conventional vessels is impossible now in this trade.” Rotterdam’s opening of a


slab steel terminal was also an important factor in attracting much bigger steel ships into Rotterdam and this has helped spawn other flows, including those handled by Broekman. The Broekman DistriPort


is completely multimodal, benefiting from its proximity to the Bertschi intermodal container facility. Once the deepsea ship has unloaded, quantities can be sent out by truck, rail, barge or short-sea ship to receivers all over Europe. It is possible to discharge the main line ship directly into a short sea vessel. Broekman also has a heavylift terminal based on the unique facilities available in a former shipyard in Rotterdam. The project business went into recession later than the steel trade and consequently has taken longer to recover, but the lull has allowed the company to renovate buildings, including the former assembly hall, equipped with cranes of up to 750-tonne lifting capacity. But there is more to project shipping than simply lugging heavy items about. Components for complex structures all have to be meticulously assembled, labelled and packed before being loaded


onto the vessel. Broekman has also moved


into logistics. This has its roots in Broekman’s agency and carrier haulage work and was initially a non-asset-owning business. However, explains managing director of the division, Joost Helwegen, “we decided we wanted to get a better grip on warehousing and distribution so in late 2007 we bought a company called Store-Ship in Europort, which operates 40,000sq m of specialist dangerous goods (DG) warehousing.” This multimodal facility is fitted


with high capacity sprinklers and foam fire extinguishers and the whole complex is in a basin, which prevents any polluted


fire-extinguishing


water from flowing into the sewers or into the ground. The whole facility is also divided into 16 compartments capable of withstanding a fire for an hour, so one area can easily be sealed off should a fire break out. (A major fire at a chemical packing plant in Moerdijk about 25 miles from Rotterdam in early January has put chemical storage under the spotlight in the Netherlands.) The Store-Ship facility can


store, pick and pack, label and distribute all types of products apart from explosives and nuclear material. Some non-DG storage was recently moved out of the facility to another nearby to create more space. But perhaps the best example


of Broekman’s ability to offer a niche service lies in its facility in


being so close to the main German conurbations and also with the Born barge terminal close by, with a direct daily connection by 250teu capacity barge to Rotterdam port. “That makes it very interesting, especially with the port of Rotterdam’s plans to shift much more traffic onto barge and rail,” says Helwegen. “It’s also a very good spot to reload inbound containers with exports and this is something we’re focussing on more and more through our Rotterdam forwarding office.” Other manufacturers in the


area include motor manufacturer Nedcar (the future of which is in some doubt) and major chemical firms.


Not many Rotterdammers who have spent time working in Amsterdam will admit to enjoying the experience, but Jan Willlem Drent of global forwarders WE Deane Europe is one of the few exceptions. Even so, he found he missed


the buzz of working in Europe’s largest port and it was this that ultimately drew him back to his native city. He is now pushing ahead with


plans to develop the Rotterdam office, which functions as the mainland EU hub for WE Deane whose UK office is in Barking, East London. There is also a small warehouse and office at Hoofddorp, near Schiphol airport and an office in Switzerland. Drent has plans to move the


office to a new location from the existing building on Waalhaven and take on new staff including two forwarding experts. A new warehouse is also needed, but WE Deane will probably not be acquiring any vehicles of its own for the foreseeable future. “There are so many cheap truckers available both here and in Germany and in Poland at the moment,” he explains. Rotterdam serves as the clearance hub for the whole of mainland Europe thanks to its liberal customs regime, and is


the ideal location for this, Drent explains. “You would think that, as we are all in the EU, the customs systems would be pretty much the same everywhere, but in practice it isn’t.” Under the Netherlands’ regime, it is possible for an an importer based in another EU country to sign a declaration allowing WE Deane to handle its VAT affairs. At the same time, the VAT does not actually have to be paid on import; there must simply be a monthly exchange of information. “It is quite complex and there is some element of risk for us as a forwarder,” Drent explains. “But at least it can be done. If you tried it in almost any other EU country, there would be a lot of hiccups.” WE Deane Europe does a lot


of automotive related business – around 50% of the its total. “Automotive can be quite a complex operation. It’s often urgent and consignments need to be in-plant within hours,” says Drent. Recently, the company has been importing electric scooters from the US, which promises to be a major source of business given the Dutch predilection for all things green. “This can be quite complex. Consignments need to be delivered in the middle of cities very often.”


Haulage: you have to specialise to accumulate


Is there such a thing as a typical Dutch haulier? Possibly not – they all seem to have their particular specialisms. Rotterdam- and Antwerp-based Overmeer Transport, for instance, not only operates a fleet of around 55 trucks, but it also offers flexitanks and tanktainers – including pick-up, delivery, fitting in the container and final disposal - as well as order picking from its small warehouse. (It handles the Kikkerland business, for which Dynasty operates the freight forwarding.) Like all hauliers, Overmeer has been through


tough times, says owner Hans Michels. “Everyone says it was tough, but at least we had our specialisms, which helped us.” He adds that while 2008 was “a real struggle”, business revived in 2009. However, there are still concerns over the 14% increase in diesel prices – fuel accounts for around a quarter of the costs of trucking – and recent agreements with trade unions will push up wage costs. However, Overmeer has many customers in the chemical sector, and here at least there is an acceptance of the need for price increases. “People know that there is going to be a shortage of drivers in a few years’ time and they know that it is not so easy to attract people into this industry as it was 20-30 years ago.” He adds that Overmeer is fortunate in that many of its drivers are very loyal, having worked for the company for decades in some cases.


For its future expansion, Overmeer may look to develop traffic to and from Eastern Europe.


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