New concept cuts shipper costs

The Port of Amsterdam
has come up with a novel
new concept to cut logistics
costs for its customers.
Its ‘matchmaking
initiative’ involves smaller
companies piggy-backing
off the resources of larger
businesses.
It’s necessary to look
at the logistics concept in
its entirety in order to cut
down costs, said Gert-Jan
Nieuwenhuizen, director
international projects with
the Port of Amsterdam.
“It’s about developing new
models that are sustainable
and that over the long
term create a better supply
chain,” he said.
“At the Port of
Amsterdam, for example,
we signed a contract with
a major shipper where
we worked together to
optimise the logistics
chain. Through the port
matchmaking model we
saw costs cut by putting
the large shipper in
touch with much smaller
companies that would not
necessarily have crossed
his path.”
Nieuwenhuizen said
by sharing intermodal
connections and transport
routes the smaller
companies with very little
clout were then improving
their efficiency and cutting
costs as much as the
large operator by sharing
operations. “We saw a
much larger uptake on rail
and a more balanced load
sharing, which ultimately
resulted in costs being
cut.”