REGIONAL REPORTAUSTRIA & SWITZERLAND


Fracht is an approved vendor for GE.


Fracht transported the drive motor of a 200-tonne tunnel boring machine with five other 100-tonne plus units from Schwanau, Germany, up to Switzerland.


Dominik Keller said: “Luckily, we were [already] entered into the GE world. It is difficult if you are not registered with companies such as GE or ABB. It is a particular problem for smaller companies that did not have the right set-up or apply for registration three-or-four years ago – because now they want to downsize the number of suppliers and you have to go through extensive audits, compliance, HSE, etc. “Companies like GE and ABB want to


A market in transition


Alstom concluded the sale of its energy activities to General Electric in November 2015, leaving Alstom entirely refocused on rail transport. For Swiss forwarders, there was clear concern about the impact, reports Felicity Landon.


GE is seen as “absolutely anonymous” with the former Alstom power division only reachable via GE’s internet platform.


C 92


onversations with forwarders active in Switzerland often lead to one theme – where previously forwarders were able to negotiate face-to-face with Alstom people,


“You cannot talk face-to-face and explain


the advantages of your solution – the only thing GE wants to see is price,” said one source. “It is almost impossible to talk with them directly. It makes it really difficult to explain an especially complicated destination where it would be really important to talk about more than just price.”


work with global players, not local players. It was not like that five years ago – smaller forwarders could work for these companies then. But now, with the contracts you have to sign and the insurance coverage you have to give them, it is not possible. Perhaps in five years they will go back to working more with local players because they have local expertise.”


Different approach The whole logistics set-up at GE takes a different approach to that of Alstom previously, he said. “The main difference in project-related business is probably that GE does not award complete projects. They have their own ocean freight sourcing team for heavy lift equipment and divide the different transportation legs in parts (pre-carriage, ocean freight, on-carriage, Customs clearance). For Fracht, another area keeping the


Swiss operation busy is moving rolling stock from companies such as Stadler Rail. Keller also highlighted the renewable energy sector, in particular the construction of waste-to-energy incinerator plants in the UK. Fracht also hopes to secure work on a


major hydroelectric plant in Valais canton, and is also bidding for work on the new Obervermunt hydropower plant in Austria. “My overall view for 2017 is that I am not


January/February 2017


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