Theteam at Horizon Air Freight come with broad shoulders and are uniquely aware of its responsibilities. Carrying the burden of keeping the world’s commer cial shipping fleets – from oil tankers to cruise ships and research vessels – moving efficiently can be immense and challenging.
For over 50 years, those who run and keep these fleets supplied with critical marine spares and equipment have turned to Horizon for global marine logistics by air, land, and sea.
“Wherever they need it, whenever they need it, Horizon offers door-to-deck delivery from any worldwide supplier to clients, no matter how remote they are and no matter what it takes,” confirmed Josh Roman, Horizon’s Chief Commercial Officer.
Incredibly, the business began as a favor to provide shipments to a vessel. The founders never looked back. Launched in 1970 at New York’s JFK International Airport, Horizon today is credited with keeping thousands of ships safe and sailing.
With more than 30 offices and ware houses internationally, and utilizing a
global network of agents, Horizon is primed and ready to fulfill clients’ demands and bridge the gap with customised solu tions to unique supply chain challenges.
Unique partnership
Previously, the business predominantly served cargo vessels, but in the last decade, Horizon has expanded into the boutique and expedition sectors. This direction was given added impetus in 2022 when Horizon added Delver Agents to Horizon Group serving the Arctic, Alaskan and Antarctic expeditions.
Delver Agents has, for the past 15 years, been located in Ushuaia, the capital city of Tierra del Fuego in Argentina on the south ernmost tip of South America, nicknamed the “El fin del Mundo” or “End of the World.”
Delver is the leading port agency and supplier supporting Antarctic expeditions from Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Global operators of cruise lines and fishing fleets trust Delver for ship services, freight for warding, impor t /export shipments, and crew and customs brokerage.
From parkas and pistons to mobile labs and submarines, it has established reliable supply routes to ports across the ‘Southern Cone’ of South America. End-to-end opera tions have risen to serving hundreds of port calls for expeditions mainly between October and March.
The newly combined entity ensures a global logistics supply chain with consol i dated door-to-deck delivery of marine spares, hotel supplies, food and beverage from vendors worldwide.
“We have built a strong reputation, as Antarctica can be an immensely difficult location for cruise lines to operate in. South America on its own is quite chal lenging!” said Delver Agents’ Managing Director, Veronica Palacios.
“Partnering with Horizon will allow us to take our services and client support to a whole new level. Delver is no longer an Argentina-only focused marine ser vices company. Delver now has a global reach with a larger structure, increased warehousing capabilities, and a deeper logistics network. It also enables Delver to continue growing as demand con tinues rising.”
Mr Roman reflected: “This partnership allows for further expansion into the logistics of hotel, food, and beverage for cruise lines and sea, air & land freight for all technical and marine, to hard-toreach places.
“Having Delver onboard is a great opportunity for the Horizon Group to look at opportunities peripheral to logistics, such as agency work, particularly in diffi cult and remote markets. We want to be a full solutions provider and with Delver as a great addition, we can both be seen as a truly global company, with exceptional local competencies.”
Expanding horizons
During lockdown, Delver Agents worked closely with clients to help them to con tinue running their operations. “It has been a long two years. There was a lot of anxiety and uncertainty, but it is a small success story to say we got through it,” Ms Palacios said.
Mr Roman acknowledged Horizon posted double-digit growth in the past three years, but emphasized: “We aren’t willing to sac rifice service quality by growing too fast.
“Horizon continues to be well positioned to maximise our capability to serve difficultto-reach locations. We are particularly focused on shipping spares and parts to locations such as Africa, Brazil, and remote parts of the Middle East, and providing logistics to Alaska, Antarctica, and the likes of Tahiti and smaller destinations in Asia.”
He added: “Previously we outsourced hotel food and beverage logistics to third parties in Ushuaia, but with our dedicated warehousing, we can now handle these shipments end-to-end thanks to new in-house solutions and our team in South America.”
For Horizon, the next few years will be to expand services and maintain brand
reputation in an increasingly competitive world. “While getting the right people in, training them up and aiding growth, we are also happy to explore new partnerships, such as the Delver Agents initiative,” Mr Roman confirmed.
Challenges remain with schedules rapidly changing, Covid impacting supply chains, and new entities coming into the industry. Ms Palacios said: “There have also been economic difficulties in Argentina, with the private sector impacted and pro duction decreased. Two feeder shipping routes from Ushuaia have been cut to one.
“Our supplies department is now working to accrue as much cargo for the coming season. It has been pretty intense trying to navigate all these issues.”
Fully invested in the marine space Horizon differentiates itself by emphasizing its laser focus on being fully invested in the marine space. It also has an in-house IT and software team of ten people that works with marine logistics and provides customised solutions to clients.
As the world grows ever more connected, the importance of commercial fleets grows, but the complexity of keeping those fleets supplied and running is also rising.
“In any relationship, partnership is key,” stated Mr Roman. “Horizon constantly seeks to add value above and beyond expectations. And we take pride in that.”
Trust, persistence, integrity, communi cation, data-sharing, and transparency were all flagged as important in Horizon’s and Delver’s dealings with suppliers and clients.
Ms Palacios added: “The future looks promising as bigger ships are built, Ushuaia port is expanding and the global logistics industry continues growing. Our partnership with Horizon will enable better global reach and resources and allow us to support clients responsibly and sustainably.”
Mr Roman concluded: “We see many changes and consolidation within the industry, but ultimately Horizon and Delver will keep driving value to clients in an environment that is constantly changing and moving.” n
