4 Co-operation with Færch Plast / Logistics Partner for Micro Matic A/S nished products from Micro Matic world's largest manufacturer New Groupage Terminal in Esbjerg The in Kaunas to Micro Matic's worldof draught beer systems, Micro Blue Water has for a number of years been servicing Færch Plast A/S, Holstebro as large-scale supplier of transport to the British and Irish markets. Over the years, the co-operation has developed into more than just transport from A to B, along with the clients' increasing demands to "just in time" deliveries and correct notification with their own order details. We therefore no longer consider ourselves just a standard supplier to Færch Plast A/S, but rather a partner and the last link in the chain to the final consignee, who nowadays expects to get a consistent quality from placement of the order to final receipt and who does not separate the transport as such, but expects to get a Færch Plast product through and through. For this kind of co-operation, it is a must that we as carrier have customised our standard services to the increasing demands of Færch Plast, through IT development and establishment of a buffer store at Blue Water Manchester in England. From this store, we undertake to deliver urgent orders, within 2 to 8 hours from order receipt, throughout the UK. This is just one of many services, contributing to making Færch's clients feel confident when choosing their supplier. Last year, our partnership with Færch expanded further, as their entire stock of finished products, for the British and Irish markets, was transferred to our terminal in Esbjerg. A couple of months later, we became further integrated in respect of IT, as Færch Plast changed systems and chose Movex for their inventory control. The system has
now been integrated at Blue Water's terminals, which store and handle finished products to the British and Irish customers. This has made heavy demands on our software and not least hardware in the form of wireless network at our warehouses and installation of scanners and terminals on our trucks. All these initiatives have made it possible for Færch Plast A/S to check their inventory of products, at the different terminals, and they have also secured standard working procedures. Blue Water's terminals serve as Færch Plast locations, with Blue Water's terminal staff working online with the client's IT system. Our partnership with Færch Plast is focused on environmentally correct transport and storage. We have therefore changed our present UK/ Ireland terminal at Esbjerg Harbour for a new and modern terminal. This terminal, with a capacity of 4000 sqmtrs., is situated on the northern outskirts of Esbjerg, offering more ideal approaches close to the motorway, resulting in less heavy traffic through midtown. In September, we took over the new terminal, renovated it and added a 100-metre loading platform with parking capacity for almost 40 trailers. The terminal is equipped with the latest technology, and all ingoing and outgoing goods are controlled via bar coding, terminals in the trucks and scanners with a capacity of up to 32 clients. In this way, it is possible for the individual storage client to control his stock via his own system, even though the goods may be stored several thousand kilometres from the production site.
Matic A/S, have chosen Blue Water as their new logistics partner. Micro Matic export their products to more than 120 countries and they have production facilities in Beijing/China, Kaunas/Lithuania and Odense/Denmark. Blue Water Lithuania is charged with the task of distributing all fi-
wide dealer network. Blue Water Odense is responsible for the co-ordination of sea and airfreight from Micro Matic in China to Denmark and Lithuania as well as delivery of semiproducts from Micro Matic Odense to Micro Matic in Kaunas.
Visiting Micro Matic in Kaunas - left to right: Jacob Hornegaard and Jonas Ahmed/Blue Water Odense, Jørn Jensen/Micro Matic Odense, Egidijus Petrenas/Blue Water Vilnius, Edita Ambraskiene/Micro Matic Kaunas, Carsten Olsen/Blue Water Herning, Rima Alkovikaite and Arturas Pankevicius/Micro Matic Kaunas and Ronald Hansen and Søren Nielsen/Blue Water Odense.
Heavy Increase in Road Tax (MAUT) in Germany In recent years, the different governments have increased their focus on user charge (road tax) on the European road network. Many European countries have introduced different road tax systems, but the introduction of the German road tax, the so-called MAUT, has in particular resulted in heavy increase of the cost estimate. This autumn, the German government has made serious efforts to introduce a heavy MAUT increase. On 1.11.2008, they accepted a pro-
posed compromise, which, however, still involves a heavy increase in our production costs. Based on official German statistics, showing the distribution of trucks with different EU standard engines, we have calculated the effective increase to be no less than 55.4 %. We are therefore reluctantly compelled to charge our customers for this heavy tax increase. Our new MAUT map is available on: www. bws.dk.
Middle East Project for Louis Poulsen Lighting A/S
New terminal address for groupage UK/IE: Lillebæltsvej 39, 6715 Esbjerg N.
Louis Poulsen Lighting A/S has entrusted Blue Water Copenhagen with the transport of 3800 park/street lamps from Denmark to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. The project includes transport of 22 x 40' containers, to be shipped from week 38 to week 49 - 2 containers per week - to King Abdullah University of
Science and Technology, where the lamps will be used in a large-scale project 80 kilometres north of Jeddah. The order is the biggest ever received by Louis Poulsen (the value is DKK 26.7 million) and an urgent assignment as well, so the company is very busy these days.