Building a strong foundation for growth
Frankfurt-based QCS is a medium-sized air and sea freight forwarder with 10 branches in all major logistic hubs in Germany, as well as offices and subsidiaries across the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Poland, and England. The company was founded in 1974 and today employs over 200 people. Since 2016, the air freight unit has seen continuous growth, at a year on year rate of 9.3%.
To continue its growth, the air freight unit in Frankfurt is focusing on winning new clients in geographies such as the Middle East or India. Furthermore, the team focuses on providing a high service-quality to existing clients to gradually build out accounts. To support this strategy, Nico Haltmayer, branch manager for the Frankfurt office, is constantly looking for ways to improve their operational processes.
“In order to continue our growth in the airfreight segment, we are always on the lookout for new technologies that we can leverage to support our team in their daily operations.”
This is where cargo.one comes in.
Saving considerable time during the quotation process
In the Frankfurt office, the airfreight unit has a 6-person business development team that is responsible for generating new business from both existing and new customers. Due to the nature of their role, they spend a lot of time negotiating rates on the phone or via email. Jointly, they have to write over 100 quotes daily to customers. Taking into account that they request prices from 2-3 airlines for each quote, this process takes up most of their time throughout the day.
For the team, cargo.one has developed into the go-to platform to request and book spot quotes online. Mahbod Momayezinejad, Head of Business Development, notes, “I always have cargo.one open in my browser. Once a suitable request comes in, I just switch screens and quickly get a bookable rate to that destination.”
"In our daily routine, we need to act fast and deliver competitive prices to the client. At the same time, it is extremely important that we generate business that is profitable to the company. In order to make good decisions, cargo.one supports us with a good overview of bookable spot rates that I can immediately use for my projects,"
says Patrik Kühlem, in charge of business development for Asia
Providing a premium service to customers
Over the years, QCS has built strong relationships with both national and international clients. With this earned trust, clients regularly send in ad-hoc requests for standard freight to be shipped without a large notice period. In many cases, these requests do not have the volume to justify using an allotment and are often time-critical, so a consolidated shipment is rarely possible. In these instances, speed is key: the team needs to make sure that the freight gets on the next suitable flight, while still being a profitable transaction for QCS.
Mahbod notes:
“It happens frequently that I get a request on Thursday night that a shipment should be there by Tuesday next week. Factoring in all the supply chain steps like pickup, screening, and packaging, I need to basically tell the customer right away to get the ball moving.”
In this case, Mahbod quickly enters the relevant flight details on cargo.one and immediately gets a comparison of available capacities from different airlines. Filtering for earliest arrival, he finds an offer with no stops that will make it possible to deliver the goods by Tuesday, while still helping him to stay within the agreed cost structure with the customer. He books right away and receives instant confirmation, then passing on the positive news to the client that the shipment can now be picked up.
Increasing transparency and collaboration across departments
Once Mahbod receives the booking confirmation via email, he reaches out to Maximilian Elsner, Export Manager, in the operations department. He will be in charge of coordinating the pickup, filling out the air waybill (AWB) and making sure that the shipment arrives without a delay. Maximilian has his own account on cargo.one and can quickly log in to check the current status of the booking in the Tracking Hub. In case of delays, he can notify Mahbod who will then align expectations with the client. All shipments from the station can be viewed by the team, making it easy to hand over projects and keep all relevant employees updated until the shipment has been successfully delivered.
“These collaboration features have made the rollout of the platform very smooth. I did not have to push cargo.one through the organization, but rather the whole team was talking about it and inviting each other to use it.“ notes Nico.
Looking into the future
"We want to make it a best practice to check for spot rates on every suitable project so that we get a feeling for prices and in the best case scenario can also book them right away. This holistic view will enable us to offer better transport possibilities to our clients, as we can be more flexible with dates and find combinations that work for both parties. We are excited about what the future holds with more carriers coming on board."
