Logistics Platforms Support and Strengthen Forwarders Digitally

Web-based logistics platforms are gaining significant importance in the course of digitalization. During the Corona pandemic and the crisis in shipping, with a lack of space on cargo ships and a shortage of containers, these platforms are being overwhelmed. There is still a lot of distrust, but the platforms carefully check their carriers and certify them as well.

Loginfo24 spoke with Peter Bauer, Head of Sales DACH Region at Trans.eu, about the challenges and opportunities:

Trans.eu advertises with 25,000 listed carriers and 9,000 forwarders. What criteria must a carrier meet at Trans.eu?

Peter Bauer: Our carriers initially upload a number of documents, such as the business registration, the VAT identification number, a possible extract from the commercial register, and a current confirmation of transport insurance. For a fleet with vehicles over 3.5 tons total weight, the EU license is, of course, also required. And if we cannot confirm a company’s phone number through database research, we additionally require a phone bill. This is not uploaded to the account and is only for our internal security checks.

What about forwarders?

For forwarders with their own fleet, we expect a confirmation of the forwarding liability insurance. However, for forwarders without their own fleet, this is not a mandatory requirement for activation, unless it is a very young company or the respective forwarder is aiming for a TCF Elite certificate.

What does TCF mean?

TCF stands for Trans Certified Forwarder. The TCF Elite certificate is a quality feature for forwarders on our platform. Companies awarded this certificate are particularly reliable and punctual. Although we grant it for free, it is not easy to obtain the certificate. The company profile must be completely filled out for this. In addition, there are a number of key criteria.

For example?

For forwarders, we pay attention to payment reliability, the duration of the company’s existence, as well as customer ratings on the platform. In this context, we often request references from other companies. The uploaded documents are regularly checked. For carriers, we also have a quality certificate – the TCC (Trans Certified Carrier) where we require that vehicles must be equipped with GPS systems to provide position data.

What about other certificates from other organizations?

All other certificates can be stored in the account upon request.

How do you check the quality of your carriers?

Here we primarily work with user ratings on the platform. The working method, such as punctuality or handling of goods, is rated by customers and business partners.

What are the biggest differences between Eastern and Western European carriers?

Aside from the geographical focus of freight routes and the native language of the dispatchers, I see no differences here. The quality awareness and the equipment used are at a high level in all cases.

Primarily, Polish carriers drive for German clients. Are there other Eastern European countries with carriers that meet Western European quality standards?

The quality level of Eastern European carriers has nothing to do with their nationality. Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, or Bulgaria… all these countries have excellent transport companies.

What about recruiting carriers in Eastern Europe?

Here we support our clients with Simple Tenders. This service enables collaboration with new, verified carriers in a very short time when forwarders lack carriers on certain routes, for example. The majority of the processes are handled by us, so the workload for forwarders is very low. The entire process takes a maximum of 15 working days.

On what contractual basis does the resulting collaboration operate?

It is a hybrid between a fixed contract and an assignment on the spot market. This combines the advantages of both types of cooperation. This reflects a high degree of flexibility and thus represents an excellent solution for volatile market conditions.

How do you ensure that carriers receive their money after an assignment?

Due to our rating system and our quality management, there are almost never problems with freight payment. But in case of emergencies, we work with our partner company Transcash.

Recently, you mentioned that forwarders or carriers are increasingly delivering to end consumers and that price transparency is playing an increasingly important role. What other challenges exist in the B2C sector?

Forwarders and carriers must plan a precise delivery time when delivering to private customers and notify them in advance. One of the biggest challenges here is that the recipient must be at home. The specified time windows must not be larger than three or a maximum of four hours. We also want to support and strengthen forwarders digitally in this area.

www.trans.eu

Photo: © Trans.eu / Image caption: Peter Bauer, Head of Sales DACH Region, Trans.eu