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Interview with Erik Janse of Frigo Breda and Teun Messemaker of Easy Fresh

“Logistics cover from A to B with all the links in between; what matters is what you can offer all those links"

International alliances often open doors for companies to increase their market share and revenue. That is no different in the transportation industry in general, particularly the ocean freight industry. Logistics companies from countries that play a prominent role in the import and export of overseas food products benefit from these kinds of collaborations.

For example, in 2011, the Dutch company Frigo Breda became a member of Easy Fresh. This network is originally from Spain and specializes in refrigerated transport. It has major expansion plans in, especially, South America.

Frigo Breda
“Frigo Breda, founded in 200, used to be a warehouse for frozen french fries storage," begins Business Development Director Erik Janse. "Gradually, the service was expanded to all kinds of food products. That included several storage modalities with chilled, frozen, and ambient storage and order picking. In 2010, Frigo Forwarding was established to transport and distribute full or groupage loads. We, therefore, offer the total package."

The company employs 95 people and has five warehouses in the Dutch town of Breda. These can house 32,000 pallets. Some of these warehouses will soon be closing down. Not because Frigo Breda is scaling down; it is expanding. A new refrigeration/frozen storage and distribution center is being built in nearby Moerdijk. It has the capacity for 42,000 pallets, so some of the current activities will be relocated and centralized. "We'll retain two or three warehouses in Breda," says Erik.

Frigo Breda specializes in frozen food logistics but also does fresh fruit and vegetables at the International Agro Business Center in Breda. The company is arranging logistics for importer, Special Tom, too. This business is moving into an office at Frigo Breda's premises. 

Easy Fresh
And in 2011, Frigo Breda partnered with Easy Fresh. "Easy Fresh is a network specialized in refrigerated and frozen transport," explains Teun Messemaker, Easy Fresh Netherlands' Seafreight Global Manager. "Frigo Breda joined that network. You become exactly that - someone with exclusive access to all Easy Fresh network's tools." Rafael Lierena, who founded the company, was looking for several partners for his maritime logistics business in the 1990s.

After Tramaco took over TPG, those shares were transferred to Frigo. Frigo's offices in Breda, Dublin, Valencia, and Chile are under the Easyfresh name. And this year, Easy Fresh added a branch in Brazil. Teun, who is currently in Brazil, is working on that. "We offer customers a solution from A to Z, thanks to the cooperation between Valencia, Dublin, Breda, Chile, and soon, Brazil."

"We relieve importers and exporters of all their worries by organizing maritime transport and the local logistics, from door to door, including the paperwork. We can do that in many ways. Naturally, we always opt for the most efficient solution. For example, we can deliver a container directly to Dutch importers. But if the goods have to go to, say, Germany, we can cross-dock in Frigo Breda and transport the goods, by road, to the German client from there," says Teun.

All links
Erik adds, "Only ten percent of our current turnover is directly related to the frozen goods warehouse activities' for goods that reach us via Easy Fresh. That will undoubtedly increase soon with our location in Moerdijk. Easy Fresh takes care of the deep-sea supply, and in Breda, we ensure that buyers have direct access to refrigerated or frozen storage on the European mainland."

"And because the cargo can arrive directly at our site in Moerdijk, there are many possibilities for meat, fish, fruit, and vegetable importers. We'll also have a Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority office so we can offer inspection options. Logistics is moving goods from A to B with all the links in between. What matters is what we can offer all those links."

Barendrecht versus Moerdijk
Does Breda not lie outside the Netherlands' primary fruit and vegetable region, with Barendrecht and Ridderkerk as its hubs? "Every disadvantage has its advantage," says Erik. "Barendrecht remains the heart of the fruit and vegetable sector. But our Moerdijk site's strength is that we can receive containers on the quay. You can't do that in Barendrecht."

"There aren't many logistics companies with such a direct connection, refrigeration facilities, and a distribution center, all in one. There is good road access to Moerdijk, too, with direct access to the A17 and A16. You can go practically in any direction, and it's away from Rotterdam's hustle and bustle. So, we don't have to use the A15 and A16 freeways."

"That reduces CO2 emissions which also benefits the environment," says Erik, who points out that Frigo Breda will soon need 30 to 40 extra employees for their new Moerdijk facility. "Consider the market capacity, especially carrier availability in the U.K. Our biggest upcoming challenge will, therefore, be finding enough good workers for our expanding business."

Onboard space
“Our biggest challenge is rising costs and struggling to find room aboard ships," Teun continues. "As soon as you find space, you take it, whether it's fast conventional reefer ships or container ships. After all, transit times are most important. But sooner or later, we'll have to pass on these high prices to the customer, something that's only happening to a limited extent now. The chain cannot keep carrying those extra costs. It costs twice as much to get goods from, for example, Brazil to Europe."

"There's always an imbalance between South America and Europe since more trade goes to Europe. The bottlenecks in the U.S. and China are worsening that imbalance. People in South America would like to send some more goods, but they simply don't have the equipment. Europe to South America tariffs have increased too. Quite a lot, in fact. We regularly export French fries from Belgium and the Netherlands to Brazil. That's now ten times as expensive. But that's not all bad; those prices were ridiculously low."

Looking ten years ahead
Easy Fresh's overseas transport of refrigerated and frozen cargo focuses on fruit and vegetables. "We're competitive because our local connections in origin and our location mean we're always on top of things. That combination is quite unique. We want to control everything, including the warehouse," says Teun.

"In the Netherlands, Frigo Breda helps us with that. But we have contacts worldwide. We'd like to have offices in all production countries. In Asia, we already have a regional team, and there's a spin-off that will become clear within the organization this year. We should be the leading player concerning fruit and vegetable flows between continents within ten years."

That can be taken as a statement, and, in Europe, the company will certainly have to rely on Frigo Breda for that. "We currently have some 70,000 pallet spaces for mainly frozen goods," explains Erik. "But, our future terminal facility for storing and distributing temperature-controlled food products will significantly expand that. Warehouse capacity-wise, we'll become a much bigger player in Europe. Looking ahead a decade, I think our capacity will triple," he concludes, ambitiously.

Erik Janse
Frigo Breda Forwarding
Tel: +31 (0)76 820 09 88
erik.janse@frigobreda.com 
www.frigobreda.com 

Teun Messemaker
Easy Fresh Logistics
www.easyfresh-logistics.com
tm.nl@easyfresh-logistics.com