4 minute read
SEDIS LOGISTICS
INTERVIEW WITH Frédéric Tilman, Sales Director
COMPANY
REGION
Wallonia
Founded: 2001
Location: Blandain, Belgium, with offices in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Le Havre and Marseille
Number of employees: 252 in Belgium, 150 in Asia (China, Vietnam, Cambodia) and 20 in France.
Turnover (2019): EUR 100 million
Growth: 20%
Prizes, awards: Trends Gazelles 2008 – fastest growing company
Website: www.sedis-logistics.com
Founded in 2001, Sedis Logistics is a freight forwarder with head office in Blandain, Belgium. Driven by its customers’ needs, Sedis Logistics has developed into a company offering full and internally integrated supply chain solutions including air, sea, rail, and road transport, logistics and warehousing, customs clearance and fiscal advice.
“Sedis Logistics is a one-of-a-kind partner capable of managing each and every link of transport and logistics flows,” explains Frédéric Tilman, Sales Director of Sedis Logistics. “Whether global or local, our wide range of comprehensive logistics solutions are tailor-made to our customers’ needs and guarantee reliable, flexible and adequate support while avoiding supply chain issues,” he adds.
“Over the years, organizing overseas transport of general cargo from supplier to customer has become our
core business in order to meet our clients’ needs,” asserts Tilman. “Today, the company specializes in imports from Asia to Europe, and has established its own offices in China, Vietnam, Cambodia and France to this end,” Tilman adds.
STRONG ASIAN PRESENCE
Sedis Logistics’ forwarding solutions cover all production areas and meet the handling requirements of its customers’ multimodal flows. “We can organize and consolidate both Full Container Load (FCL) and Less than Container Load (LCL) shipments,” Tilman explains. “Moreover, our proven ability to conduct LCL shipments from Asia to Europe is a major competitive asset in the freight forwarding industry,” he adds. As a matter of fact, Sedis Logistics organizes weekly transportation of consolidated shipments from the main Chinese ports at competitive prices thanks to its presence in China.
In order to meet short customer deadlines, Sedis Logistics has also developed the Just Sea Time, an ocean freight solution dedicated to the express import of groupings from the Asian continent. With this service, Sedis Logistics is committed to facilitating the express and swift delivery
of goods to their final destination. “This LCL solution ensures the shortest transit time service by sea, from the main Chinese seaports to European customers, and operations are routed separately to facilitate takeover and receipt within the agreed time frame,” declares Tilman.
“We have also developed a worldwide network thanks to a close partnership with agents in other Asian countries as well as in Europe, America and the Middle East,” he continues. The support of partners and agents all around the world also enables the company to carry out cross-trade activities i.e. “any shipment between an origin and destination country that does not enter the customer’s country or the country where the shipper is registered,” explains Tilman.
COMPREHENSIVE SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS
In addition to its freight forwarding and shipping activities, Sedis Logistics provides full supply chain solutions supported by an integrated IT department. The company can, for instance, organize deliveries from ports, airports and warehouses to any given final destination while ensuring compliance with delivery schedules. “We adapt our solutions to our customers’ needs by working with a resilient network of transport partners and choosing the most appropriate haulage equipment for all types of deliveries,” Tilman states.
At the forefront of low-carbon technological innovation, Sedis offers its customers environmentally responsible means of transport at every step of the supply chain. “Our ecological transport solutions are brought together in one single service known as Cargo Green Line,” explains Tilman. “From the means of transport chosen at the outset from an Asian shipper to the means of distribution for a final European customer, we choose the best environmental options to reduce the carbon footprint,” he adds. This way, Sedis Logistics has adopted environmentally friendly solutions such as planning multimodal routes in close proximity to its logistics platforms, driving trucks that meet the latest European emission standards (Euro 6) and executing deliveries on pallets made from 100% recyclable polymers.
Moreover, Sedis Logistics maintains 185,000 m² of efficient warehousing facilities with a capacity of 25,000 TEU built according to the latest international standards. “Located in the heart of Europe, our warehouses allow us to perform various logistics activities such as unloading containers and storing goods, handling cross-docking
operations and providing value-add personalized services (repacking, labelling, quality control, picking and packing orders, etc.),” Tilman continues.
Finally, Sedis Logistics can also handle all customs and fiscal procedures for its customers. “Our experts provide customs advice to help our customers to clear goods in the most effective way and offer fiscal advice to help our foreign clients to meet European obligations,” Tilman declares.
STRATEGIC BASE CAMP TO DEVELOP INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS
According to Tilman, the strategic geographical position of Wallonia at the center of Europe as well as other considerable assets such as a highly qualified and flexible workforce have enabled Sedis Logistics to develop an international network with a strong presence in Asia, the Middle East and North America. “Because Belgium and Wallonia are ideally located at the crossroads of the major European motorways and enjoy direct maritime connections with the ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp, Zeebrugge and Dunkerque, we have been able to address our customers’ international needs and adapt to their markets,” asserts Tilman. Our internationalization process has always followed our customers’ wants and needs and we will continue do to so in order to further develop our global logistics network,” concludes Tilman.
