End-to-end vision boosts P&O Ferrymasters glassware business
12th October 2011
P&O Ferrymasters has secured a massive increase in its existing business with leading glass tableware maker Libbey Leerdam after winning a freight management contract for end-to-end supply chain solutions.
Effective from October 1, the contract will add almost 2,000 loads per year to a long-established haulage-based relationship involving around 550 moves p.a. from Libbey’s Netherlands factory to Italy, the UK, eastern Europe, Scandinavia and Greece. There is also potential for further major growth due to the manufacturer’s plans to cease ex-works non-payable shipments.
Libbey Leerdam – a division of the US-based group that is the world’s second largest glass tableware producer - is run from the Netherlands and the enhanced contract will be handled from the
P&O Ferrymasters Amsterdam office under general manager Marcel Manshanden. Fine tuning of operational procedures and testing of IT systems, including EDI messaging, was completed over a month-long pre-contract period.
The new contract – covering outbound FTL and LTL loads from Libbey’s plant in Leerdam and warehouse in nearby Gorinchem - was won against strong competition after P&O Ferrymasters first proposed the freight management solution.
Libbey visited the company’s biggest freight management customer on site in early March to see the concept in action and then invited bids from three candidates. P&O Ferrymasters set up a project team to carry out an on-site audit and data analysis. After presenting the results in April, the company was shortlisted to pitch against one other contender and clinched the deal despite a price differential.
Eric Staal, general manager sales & development Benelux, comments: “Although the rival company offered a guaranteed saving that exceeded ours, we seem to have impressed with our commitment, ownership and open-minded approach, which I understand is why Libbey chose us in the end.”