'Making' a transport

At Bladt Logistics we pride ourselves in making the transport function as easy as possible for our customers. Oftentimes, a single phone conversation or email will do, and then we will handle the rest. But what actually happens while you go about your business?

A constantly changing function

In the days of yore, when Preben Bladt founded the company, the job of the freight forwarder consisted mostly of paperwork, particularly in relation to border-crossing. The transport itself tended to follow "beaten paths" - train, truck, ship - and competition was not a pronounced factor. Similarly the customer's side of the market was relatively homogenous. The demands from businesses changed only little, and usually only slowly.

Today is a different world, as most people are aware. At the border, things have become easier in many ways thanks to international agreements - on the other hand, however, new and diverse demands for documentation and responsibility have arisen. The market itself is very different, with a much greater focus on the competition between actors. For customers, too, things are different; companies are more intricate and change faster - new needs come into being and old ones vanish sporadically and in short order. At the same time transport options change and develop, and new suppliers pop up as others disappear.

A big part of our job is to have up-to-date insight into all of this.

With many actors

Following the dialogue with our customer, we translate the need into a set of specifications encompassing everything from import and export particulars to the nature of the cargo. Is it heavy, light, wet or dry? Toxic or flammable? - and so on. We consider departure and arrival time, economy, and whether or not the cargo needs to be stored or transloaded along the way. Concurrently we also define the requisite documentation. 

As such, a considerable portion of the work is picking the right transporters. It may sound simple but often a transport may consist of interactions between several of our partners and subcontractors. For example, the truck that takes the goods to the ship, the shipping line operating the long ocean trip, the hauler picking up the cargo at the the port of arrival, the warehouse it goes to, and the distribution network that brings the shipments to the final recipient(s). Changing anything at any point in such a chain affects everything else.

Here it is our responsibility to make sure everything is coordinated with everybody, ensuring dependable delivery at the right speed, and at the right price.

And just one point of contact

You don't have to care about any of this. When we have your approval we will assemble all of it into one combined product: The transport - which is what is presented to you, the customer, along with a price, and which is what is set in to action per our agreement, with no further action or corncern on your part.

But now you know a little more about what happens behind the curtain while you proceed to do what you to best - just like us.