National Tulip Day is on January 18. Not surprisingly, this flower has been given its own day, because like mills and clogs, tulips are inextricably linked to the Netherlands. These beautiful spring flowers, found on many bulb fields in our little country, are in the top 10 of Dutch export products; almost 2.5 billion tulip bulbs are exported abroad every year. But not without a struggle. Because how do we ensure that our tulips end up in the vase of good quality anywhere in the world?

From January 2020 the new Incoterms are in force. We have listed the most important changes for you and made them visual. Do you prefer to download the overview? That is possible through this link. 

We know that climate conditions in a sea container have a major impact on cargo during the transport of goods. Moisture problems, in particular, can lead to damage and therefore rejected loads. It is therefore important that those involved have sufficient knowledge of the risks when it comes to temperature and moisture. The decision to transport certain goods by standard sea container is determined by three important factors:

• External conditions (temperature, humidity, sun, rain, wind)
• Load (moisture content, temperature)
• Type of container (open/closed, ventilation/no ventilation, insulated/not insulated)

Before you can enjoy a good glass of wine, a lot of work has already been done. The production of wine in the vineyards in France or Argentine, for example, the transport with the various links in it, the sale to the company or consumer. Before the glass can be filled, we can state that the bottle has already had a long trip, with all the associated risks. Breakage, temperature and moisture are common risks in wine transportation. 

Sustainability is the necessary trend now. Innumerable initiatieves have been launched with the aim of creating a more sustainable world. Throwing away less food, recycling, living without natural gas, solar panels… We are all becoming more and more aware of the impact of our actions on the climate. Companies are also increasingly committed to reducing waste, and we regard that as a very positive development. Yet it seems to be a challenge to tackle waste chain-wide. Sustainability goes further than just its own link.

A delicious piece of chocolate cake, chocolate bar, muffin and a box of chocolates, most people cannot get enough of this brown (or white) gold. In Switzerland, most chocolate is consumed per person, but in the Netherlands we also eat an average of 5 kilos of chocolate per year. And did you know that the Netherlands is the number 1 importer of cocoa beans with an import value of 2.1 billion euros and an import quantity of 1.1 billion kilograms? Importing cocoa beans is not always without a struggle. A large part of cocoa imports is still being wasted due to damage that has occurred in the logistics process.

Internal discussions about under which budget the application of a container pack falls naturally occur regularly. Do they fall under the transport costs? Alternatively, the packaging costs? Does the container pack have to be added to the value of the load? Also, how does the value of the solution (preventing loss) relate to the investment? These issues are very logical because the costs for such a solution must be included under a specific budget.

The Netherlands is a real beer country. Not only is beer the most popular alcoholic beverage, but th...

Goods are shipped all over the world, and logistics companies have the task of organising this as effectively as possible for their customers. One of our customers, a logistics service provider in mainly personal care products, was commissioned to ship a load of soap blocks from Rotterdam to China.

Reefer containers are used for the worldwide export of perishables and temperature-sensitive goods such as vegetables, fruit, dairy products and meat, but also chemical and pharmaceutical products. It is connected to the ship’s electrical supply and cooled, in which the temperature is adjusted to the load. The temperature is monitored using sensors. Transporting with an operating reefer container is naturally more expensive than with a regular container.