The current crisis has put a spotlight on the important role that food and hygiene product logistics plays in our society. VCHD Cargo has specialised in food logistics since its foundation and carries on with this service even at a time when the entire Europe is paralysed by measures to combat the spread of the new coronavirus.
“Some of our vehicles continue to bring in fruit, vegetable, yogurts as well as frozen meat from the hardest-hit parts of Spain, France and Italy,” says VCHD Cargo chairman Ing. Petr Kozel, adding: “Our customers continue to import goods and we all realize how important it is to maintain a high standard of food offer in our country.”
All food delivered from Southern Europe by VCHD Cargo, mostly refrigerated and frozen food as well as other temperature-sensitive products, is transported in temperature-controlled vehicles. This includes meat and dairy products, fruit and vegetables. All trailers are equipped with a temperature-control unit and temperature readings can be monitored online. All vehicles also have a contact thermometer. Our fleet also includes two-storey refrigeration vehicles that fit up to 66 europallets. VCHD Cargo drivers are trained in all the specific requirements on food transport including correct handling of goods. Dispatchers have proper qualifications, regularly attend training and are able to communicate with customers in English, Germany, French and Italian. Furthermore, all vehicles are monitored and their current location is always known thanks to GPS tracking.
Although European markets have started to recover a little bit over the past few weeks, production shutdowns in big industrial export companies have resulted in a lack of export shipments that are usually paired with food imports in the other direction. Transport companies are, therefore, left with imports only that can pose a lot of problems due to low utilisation of the vehicle’s capacity. “As a transport company, this can be a problem for us. The shutdown of the automotive industry and reduced production in other industries mean that there is very little to export to areas that are an important source of imports, primarily Spain and Italy but also the Benelux,” says Petr Kozel, explaining: “For now, we accept export transport from the Czech Republic to Germany, followed by shipments from Germany to areas where we have import deals. Despite the best efforts of our dispatchers, sometimes our trucks have to go to Spain empty, sometimes as far as 600 km. At the moment, we and our trucks are driven by the high quality of our services and our long-term vision. We want to be a company that our customers can rely on even in hard times and we are confident that they will appreciate our strategy based on quality and long-term relations.”