PortTrans

"We deliver goods which belong to a category of a higher difficulty. Such deliveries require special attention and as well a more complex circulation of documents. The trust of the client is very important, so the human factor takes on a new meaning", emphasized director Alexander Shumeiko. The company is primarily comprised of logisticians, who create and then put into action logistics schemes for the delivery of cargo between North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, China and Kazakhstan. "You cannot work in logistics just for the pay, this is a profession you have to love. It is a difficult and low margin business. We connect services, there are no unique solutions, we operate on a 24/7 principle. Over the years, we have created a team of such fanatics. We aim to do everything based on a 100%, so anyone who doesn't adhere does not last in our company. One more key principle of our company - lack of initiative is frowned upon. We also try to achieve a policy of complete interchangeability. This allows us to be flexible and efficient in the making of decisions", states Alexander. The second, larger part of the team are the drivers. The company's vehicle fleet has been undergoing constant growth in the recent future. "Our own vehicle fleet requires not only costly technical equipment, but also drivers, which often do not receive adequate training in Estonia. Drivers are an integral part of our team, in my own time, I learned many things from experienced haulers. We invest in our drivers as they are the representatives of our company, we pay them a good salary and never send them out on a route without funds. Our Russian drivers, who live in the Pskov and Pechory regions receive the same salary as our Estonian drivers. These are the reasons our drivers stay us. However, our selection process is still quite rigorous", states Shumeiko. A sort of union of drivers has formed in the company, around which the entire team is based. Many problems are solved by the drivers themselves, there have also been cases when an employee has been fired on the account of the drivers. When asked why the company has experienced such good results in 2007, Shumeiko responds that there was nothing exceptional that marked this year for DLE OU. "We worked as we do every year, but perhaps we have been able to form more contracts this year. Maybe it was in the stars", quips Alexander. Aside from astrological factors, in the past year, DLE OU has invested 14.1 million krooni in the vehicle fleet, which has been almost completely renovated in the past two years. Today, the vehicle fleet contains of 39 trucks, 90% of which have been released after 2004. The company plans to invest even more into the development of the vehicle fleet. In the past two years, representative offices of Port Trans, a daughter company of DLE OU, have been opened in Kiev, St. Petersburg and Almaty. "The presence of international offices allows us to be more flexible. This applies to the processing of contracts, and to the decisions concerning transportation matters", says Shumeiko. For example, after the opening of the St. Petersburg office, a portion of the vehicle fleet was re-registered in Russia, which allowed for increased ease in the organization of transportation. The company's plans for the future include "geographical expansion". Primarily, this will mean opening an office in Finland, which the company has been considering for a long time. Secondly, the company aims to increase transportations within Russia. "The Russian market of internal transportations is not developed yet. There are some major transportation companies within Russia, but currently only cover 10% of the market demand with respect to quality service. In addition, the demand for such service is constantly growing. We have begun to develop in this field, employing our own, Russian, Estonian, as well as subcontracted forces. We have a long way to go until financial gains, however right now, we are working on developing our reputation. This is the direction we plan to develop in," shares the head of the company about the future plans of the company.