ITALY\\\


Issue 3 2019 - Freight Business Journal


Italy is a 24-hour aff air for Europa


Italy is a round-the-clock operation for Europa Worldwide Group. Operations director Dan Cook explains that the UK-based groupage operator runs three round-trips to Italy every 24 hours six days a week completing each leg in 21 hours depot to depot, “a hugely efficient model. I believe no other company is operating a product like this to and from


Italy,” he says. He adds: “Italy is our third


biggest market by country, behind Germany and France, but it is our biggest in terms of sole partner representation. We have more cargo on our Italian route than with any other single partner – 8.3% of our export traffic goes to Italy.” Europa’s partner in Como is the Bianchi Group. “It’s a


long-established partnership and we have a very good relationship with them. They have structured their operation much like our 1Hub in Dartford. They have a trunking operation in and out of Padova, Bologna and Florence, connecting each day to their principle hub in Como. They are a Swiss origin company and as such are well-versed in all aspects


Dachser goes daily as demand surges


Dachser has increased its direct departures from the UK to Italy to daily in response to continued growth in export demand. Sales manager for the Midlands,


Peter Vickers, says: “Italy has always been a major trading partner with the UK and although GDP took a downward trend in 2011, this has been reversed and maintained since 2014. Any interference from the eff ects of Brexit should not provide more obstacles we believe, as UK exports of textiles, automobile parts, metals, engineering products, plastics and chemicals will remain part of the logistics


supply chain.” The German-owned forwarder been


has cooperating with


privately-owned Fercam in Italy since 2003. With over 60 branches throughout Italy and the recent integration of domestic carrier Artoni, all the diverse regions of Italy are well covered. Groupage services to Turin, Padova and Bologna complement the daily departures from Rochdale, Northampton and Dartford to Dachser’s northern Italian hub in Milan. Dachser takes its role in the


export and import of dangerous goods very seriously and has


Ekol sees online upsurge


There is an increase in deliveries of small shipments directly to individuals in Italy as result of online purchases and the average weight per shipment is decreasing continuously, reports Marco Montrasi, commercial manager of Ekol Italy. The other development


in recent years has been the emergence of specialist operators, he adds particularly those dealing with goods on pallets. This has seen the birth of several networks similar to German model. Track and trace technology is


constantly evolving and is now much simpler (and cheaper) than in the recent past. Ekol has its own research and


development department, with more than 100 people working on over 120 projects with an annual budget of €6 million. It is also developing Ekol’s own IT programs. Ekol saw a 3.8% increase in traffic


international exports


in the first 11 months of 2018 compared to 2017 while imports were up 5.9% in the first ten months of 2018, though from November there has been a slowdown in both directions. In contrast, the domestic


market has stagnated and could even be in decline, says Montrasi. However, he adds: “The trade balance with other countries remains very positive although declining in absolute terms if compared to 2017.”


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a specialized Chem Logistics division to manage such commodities. Personnel are highly trained and qualifi ed to handle dangerous goods from the initial sales order through to the fi nal delivery. With a number Dangerous Goods Safety Advisors (DGSA) in each Dachser location, they advise on loading capabilities and packaging to Channel crossing regulations and restrictions applying to the Alpine tunnels en route to Northern Italy.


of the customs clearance side of the business, particularly helpful given the current Brexit scenario facing us.” Bianchi has made major


investments in its depot, terminal and infrastructure in the time the two companies have been working together “which has improved our service a great deal,” Cook explains. “The intra country trunking wasn’t there initially but they brought it all together in one place in Como with structured connecting links throughout Italy, which made it logical for us to replace existing direct but


infrequent


arrangements in different parts of Italy, and consolidate volume and efficiency of service to and from one platform.” He adds that Europa’s


consignment numbers for 2018 were 11% up on 2017, and between them the two partners moved over 35,000 groupage consignments between the UK and Italy: “The natural balance is that the UK receives far more imports than exports, but actually on our traffic we have a relatively balanced trade in each direction. Even the traditional dips we used to see in August are now far less pronounced in the last few years, with volume dropping by less than 25%, whereas years


19


ago it would be almost nothing. From our perspective the Italian market seems to be quite strong at present.” Dangerous goods do however


pose a few problems. Europa’s market manager for Italy Ken Archer says: “Not only do they have the possibility to extend the transit times by slowing the speed of the truck down, there are also the issues of the tunnels between France and Italy that have restrictions for dangerous goods. There is quite a chunk of extra cost to add for dangerous goods to and from Italy, and I don’t think the market correctly represents this. Dangerous goods are not


something


that we go out of our way to sell in the UK, but a lot of our European partners require us to transport them so we restrict those to only a small number of the departures in order not to compromise the other cargo.”


Brexit is the other cloud on


the horizon, Cook continues: “As explained, we make three round trips per day, to and from Italy, six days per week, this is pretty tight in terms of time, and is built on the smoothness of passage from the origin to destination. If something happens to slow down the border crossing, which Brexit is almost guaranteed to do, then it will have an effect in terms of transit time and utilisation of the vehicles. This will mean a slower service that costs more to produce. With our longer routes, where trucks must take breaks within the journey leg, there are already huge issues with a shortage of secure parking and vehicle crime. So anything restricting the smooth flow, and creating a need to take more rest breaks is further introducing another challenge into the mix.”


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