Jan Sunde, FREJA’s Managing Director in Denmark, sends his Christmas greetings and looks back on the year that went by.
Dear reader.
The year is coming to an end and we look back at 2019 as a year in which we have been affected by a number of external factors such as a trade conflict between China and the US, Brexit, and swine fever in China. The authorities have gradually deteriorated the conditions for the transport business and thereby reduced the Danish trade and industry’s ability to compete.
More or less all decisions and lines of business in FREJA have been affected by one or more of the challenges mentioned above. However, FREJA has kept a focus on delivering solid transport and logistics solutions dedicated to our customers. FREJA’s policy is orderliness as well as stable and reliable relations, and long before the business started to consider CSR, this has been a part of the everyday life in FREJA.
We value our customers and suppliers, and in FREJA we find that cooperation and co-development with our customers and business partners may best be compared to a marathon, not a sprint.
With these words, I wish to thank you for the cooperation and trust in FREJA in 2019.
On behalf of FREJA Transport & Logistics A/S, I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
FREJA in Poland – New opportunities for you
As of January 1, 2020, Transcargo will change its name to FREJA Transport & Logistics Sp. z o.o. FREJA is excited about this investment in Poland, as the new facilities will support trade lanes to the Nordic countries and Western Europe, making it possible for us to offer more and better solutions to our customers.
In 2020, the FREJA brand will include new warehousing and logistics capabilities in Szczecin, Łódź, Błonie, Gdynia, and Tczew to ease your flow of goods via Poland. “Despite the geographical fact that Szczecin is not in the center of Poland, I fully understand why FREJA chose this place and made such a large investment. The Szczecin area is the center of Scandinavian investments in Poland, and it is in the intersection of transport corridors leading from Scandinavia to Poland and Central Europe with the East-West corridors” says Artur Wachnik, FREJA’s Regional Director in Szczecin.
Our brand new logistics center in Szczecin will be ready in May 2020. On nearly 8 hectares, we have built modern warehouses with a capacity of approximately 20.000 pallet spaces and parking lots for approximately 250 trucks. Not only is there plenty of room for our customers’ goods, but we also offer a wide range of services such as handling, packaging, labeling, storage, and other value-added services with the support of a modern WMS system.
FREJA’s Managing Director in Poland, Torben Mortensen, is excited to enhance the customer solutions in Poland: “We’ve always put a lot of emphasis on empathy for our customers and reliability in our offerings. Thanks to the investments made, FREJA has added a new dimension to this, because we now have more capacity, new logistics solutions, and a digital platform that supports businesses with goods from Poland to the Western part of Europe and the Nordics”.
In Poland, we will continue to offer trustworthy, committed, and flexible solutions. We run a professional business and we always try to live up to the eight FREJA values; Flexibility, Result-orientation, Engagement, Just in time, Attention, Network, Innovation, and Trust. It is important for FREJA to emphasize that we will keep these values with the new expansion in Poland. Ulrik Rasmussen, Group CEO of FREJA, says: “FREJA is known for its high level of business ethics, transparency, and undertaking activities related to corporate social responsibility. These values, in combination with entrepreneurship, ingenuity, and commitment guarantee flexible and trouble-free cooperation, mutual development and market success for both our customers and FREJA”.
We are excited to develop the FREJA brand and we look forward to the upcoming year. If you want to know more about our new location in Poland, feel free to contact Torben Mortensen on tor@freja.com or +45 3697 0109 or find our contact information here.
FREJA tests “intelligent gloves”
Innovation plays an important role at FREJA. It is through innovative thinking that we can deliver the best solutions to our customers and stand out from the competitors. For this reason, we work actively with innovation at FREJA across the organization.
The latest project we are working on is “intelligent gloves” at FREJA’s logistics center in Taastrup, Denmark, and the logistics center in Fjeldbo, Norway. Here we are in the process of testing ProGlove scanners to optimize the workflows in the logistics centers.
The ProGlove scanner is a lightweight scanner that provides confirmatory and corrective feedback, instantly. The scanner is placed on top of a glove, making it easy and quick to scan, while allowing employees to use their hands freely, which helps reduce the time it takes to complete a single process. “The glove makes the workflow easier for our colleagues, and it changes the way we work, as they do not have to put the scanner away every time boxes are handled,” says Thomas Mikkelsen, IT WMS Manager at FREJA.
So far, people are positive about the “intelligent gloves”, but the technology is just one of many opportunities to raise the level of logistics in FREJA. In addition to this, several other support activities also enable smarter workflows.
At FREJA, we find it important to engage our employees as they contribute to the development of the company. That is why we also encourage them to take part in FREJA’s innovation. “It is exciting to be allowed to test new products that can make our work easier for us. I am glad that I can help develop FREJA, and it is great to be part of a company that actively works with innovation, both to provide better solutions to our customers, but also with the employee in mind” Says Christian Aurdal, Technical Manager Logistics in FREJA.
To learn more about how we work with innovation in FREJA, please contact FREJA’s Head of Digital & Innovation, Kenneth Sandgaard, at ksa@freja.com or +45 9670 5342.
Incoterms® 2020 – What does it mean for you?
Since 1936, the International Chamber of Commerce, ICC, has issued and continuously updated the well-known and recognized rules of international trade: Incoterms.
The latest issue – the 8th edition – is Incoterms® 2020, which will come into force on January 1st, 2020.
Compared to Incoterms® 2010, the only change of the actual clauses is that DAT (Delivered at Terminal) is now replaced by DPU (Deliver at Place Unloaded). The purpose of DPU is the same as it was with DAT: the vendor must be able to accept transport risk and costs until the cargo has been unloaded at a specifically agreed place.
A number of the existing rules have been changed. The most important of these are:
- CIP: the minimum requirement to the cargo insurance coverage, which the vendor is required to take out to cover the buyers transport risk, has been raised from being Institute Cargo Clauses C (ICC C) to being ICC A.
- FCA: a new option concerning the use of onboard bill of lading for sea freight.
- FCA, DAP, DPU, and DDP: it has been clarified that these rules may also be used in connection with the delivery by the use of the vendor’s own means of transport.
However, the biggest news in Incoterms® 2020 is that the description of each rule has undertaken a very comprehensive restructure and rephrasing, so they now appear in a modern and easily accessible version.
Incoterms® 2020 regulates the relationship between vendor and buyer
- General obligations
- Delivery
- Transfer of risk
- Carriage
- Insurance
- Delivery and transportation documents
- Export/import clearance
- Checking/packaging/marking
- Allocation of costs
- Notices
In addition to the actual transport, we as forwarding agents can assist vendor and buyer with a long list of other obligations, which comes with Incoterms® 2020. This might be customs clearance, documentation, and making an insurance policy on ICC A terms.
If you have questions about Incoterms® 2020, you are more than welcome to contact your local FREJAn or FREJA’s Leif Pedersen or Lone Reinau Harrestrup.
The illustration shows the distribution between vendor and buyer of transport relevant elements in Incoterms.
When it comes to insurance, there is only insurance obligation when CIP is used. However, FREJA recommends that goods insurance also be taken out when using other clauses.
FREJA launches MyFREJA v. 1.1
FREJA’s popular Business Intelligence platform, MyFREJA, has been updated and FREJA is proud to introduce MyFREJA v. 1.1.
With MyFREJA v. 1.1, it is now possible to do separate analyzes on your subcontractors and customers. The new platform gives you a quick overview of which trading partners define your supply chain, both based on activity and cost. This will identify any Pareto principles, and it will be clear where the greatest effect for optimization can be found.
About the new update, FREJA’s Head of Digital & Innovation, Kenneth Sandgaard says: “With this solution, our customers can quickly form an overview of their supplies and easily identify cost-to-serve insights. Our customers can thus help themselves to a greater analytical understanding of their supply chain, and we at FREJA 4PL Services can more easily help fulfill the potential for an improved operation of the entire chain.
If you want to know more about how MyFREJA can be used to optimize your business, go to our website to read more, or contact Kenneth Sandgaard directly at ksa@freja.com or +45 9670 5360.
December 9, 2019, we had a MyFREJA v. 1.1 event in our office in Stilling, Denmark. Take a look at the video to see the highlights from the event.