After ten years of operation in Indonesia, freight forwarding

After ten years of operation in Indonesia, freight forwarding and logistics provider PT Danzas Saranaperkasa, a subsidiary of Switzerland-based Danzas Group, has successfully managed to retain its strong customer base for its reliable and excellent forwarding and logistics-related service.

Danzas has seen significant progress in the Asia Pacific region, including in Indonesia, over the last two years, especially following Danzas Group's move to integrate with American Express International (AEI), the largest American freight forwarder. "We have seen significant increase in terms of size and products," PT Danzas Saranaperkasa's Technical Adviser to Director Chris Redmund said.

As part of its commitments to provide best service to customers, Danzas plans to expand networks and coverage in Indonesia by establishing up to 10 offices in Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi over the next two years. "With the new offices, customers are expected to enjoy our added-value logistics services. Cargo is no longer moved to Jakarta and thus, this will shorten time delivery," he said. "Basically, our offices are very close to where the customers are located," Chris said.

Currently, Danzas' offices are found in Jakarta, Surabaya in East Java and Semarang in Central Java. Despite the economic downturn five years ago, logistics providers remained in business as usual. "Import market in the country has been reduced by the economic crisis to 50% but export market has been on the rise due the weakening of the rupiah (against the US dollar). The situation was favorable for overseas buyers," he said. "What we have found is that despite the crisis, the forwarding and logistics market still offers tremendous opportunities," he added.

The tremendous potential for forwarding and logistics market in Indonesia is behind the Danzas' move to expand network in the country. Danzas' strong presence in Indonesia is inseparable from Danzas Group's global business strategy.

Founded in 1815, Danzas Group has undergone tremendous changes over the last four years, especially after being acquired by Deutsche Post World Net, Germany's top post office. Under the umbrella of the Deutsche Post World Net, Danzas Group has now become the world's leading provider of IT-supported solutions. Since its establishment, Danzas has set up 180 offices across the globe. In the realm of airfreight forwarding, Danzas has merged with AEI from the United States, making it the number one in air freight.

Danzas is also well recognized as one of the leading providers of ocean freight services and global project forwarding. In Indonesia, Danzas has been providing customers with sea and air freight service, targeting companies engaged in international export and import activities. In parallel with Danzas Group's strategy in which quality and customer service take center stage, Danzas has undergone consolidation by limiting the number of partners, such as shipping lines and airlines, "to allow closer relationship and, above all, to ensure the safe delivery of goods," Chris said.

Danzas has a high flexibility in terms of services it offers to customers, whether door to door or port to port, depending on what customers need. With experienced experts in logistics, Danzas also offers a whole range of logistics services for companies involved in worldwide trading and forwarding business. This is in line with the growing trend of companies engaged in worldwide trading to outsource the logistics task so that they can fully concentrate on production. As in other countries, Danzas's experts offer logistics solution that best meet customers' needs. Its Solution Business Unit optimizes the entire supply chain by ideally aligning inbound logistics.

The core activities of Danzas Solutions are rounded off with a full range of quality value-adding services. Finishing, co- packaging, price labeling, invoicing, order processing and reverse logistics, merchandising and financial services are all part of the package. "Our job is not just to fly goods from a warehouse to there (a destination), but our job is basically take goods from the door of our customers or suppliers and make sure that they can reach end consumers through the whole supply chain," he said.

Efforts are also underway to optimize the cooperation with Danzas' sister company, well-known worldwide express DHL to ensure the punctual and safe delivery of customers' goods, Chris said. To secure the availability of space for customers taking advantage of Danzas' service, Danzas' work is based on a long- term management. "We always plan ahead, not on day by day basis. So once a customer needs a space, the space is available," he said. Like other customers worldwide, Indonesians are benefited from Danzas' leading edge on IT system.

Keeping up to date with the latest and best that technology has to offer is one of Danzas's major success factors. Global systems that manage the transportation functions and provide visibility of shipments throughout the supply chain as well as the capability to connect to its customers are vital aspects of Danzas' IT strategy. The global monitoring system, for instance, allows customers to follow the shipment, to know where the goods are located and to immediately detect if there are exceptions happening.

"Our customers in the fast-moving consumers goods, garments, furniture, electronics and telecommunication sectors, among others, rely on us to operate according to the highest IT standards," he said. "There is a huge IT back up. This naturally includes article traceability and data processing in order to guarantee full transparency and control throughout the supply chain. In principle, systems are constantly adjusted to customers' needs," Chris said convincingly.

Danzas' top priority is to fulfill customer satisfaction. Therefore, high heed is paid to human resources. Armed with highly trained and skilled staff, the company has been ISO 19001 certified. "This means that we have international standard procedures. So, any complaint filed by a customer is dealt with according to standard procedure," he said, adding that the company is now gearing up for ISO 2001 standard.

"We are in the process of changing business to cater to customers' needs," Chris concluded. Clearly, using Danzas's forwarding and logistics services means that there are many advantages you can gain. They include the large network, state-of-the-art IT back up, guaranteed space availability and in time and safe delivery.