Aleksandar Milin, Director, Express Cargo

We have our own public customs warehouse registered for receiving and dispatching pharmaceuticals and equipment with a special temperature regime – and this is what makes our company attractive to clients, notes Express Cargo Director Aleksandar Milin, speaking to CorD.

Almost two decades of experience enables you to provide customers with the safe and fast transport of shipments from and to any point in the world. Do foreigners comprise the majority of your portfolio today?

We’ve been growing and developing slowly and securely, insisting on quality, which is why most of our clients today are foreigners, and that includes pharmaceutical companies and laboratories that are obviously satisfied with our services. Last year we increased the number of clients by 10-15 per cent, and that was exclusively on the basis of recommendations, which says enough about us and our work. Only the best is good enough for us, and that’s why we do not want to expand at the expense of quality.

We nevertheless also believe that certificates are important as a guarantee of quality, such as the German quality standard TÜV SÜD ISO 9001 that we possess.

You’ve also set yourself apart from the competition as a company that’s highly specialised in the transport of sensitive consignments and special purpose transport. Do you still hold a leadership position in this area?

We were pioneers in the transporting of samples of blood and blood plasma under special temperature conditions and samples for research in the pharmaceutical industry, and we remain leaders in that area. Part of our activities fall under the category of “critical services”, and in order to operate iin this area we had to obtain a series of permits and approvals from government agencies.

In addition to that, the equipment we have at our disposal and the vehicles with which we work are also specific and specially equipped, and we are also obliged to have specially trained personnel.

I pay a lot of attention to rewarding and motivating people to advance and progress, but everyone must begin from the starting position of courier

We have our own public customs warehouse registered for receiving and dispatching pharmaceuticals and equipment with a special temperature regime – and this is what makes our company attractive to clients, because we are constantly innovating and offering something we think they will need.

Transport times are very important in our work, and when it comes to blood samples that means 24 hours for Europe and 36 to 48 hours for the U.S. This means that, from the instant we receive a sample from a laboratory, it arrives at a laboratory in some European Union countriy within 24 hours, or at a laboratory in America within 36 or 48 hours, depending on whether the lab is located on America’s east or west coast.

The market is ever more demanding. Does that mean that you have to constantly improve your services and working methods?

Continuously improving services and working methods, and investing in equipment, personnel and new outlets, in accordance with the demands of the market, old and new clients, is of course implied with us, and this is definitely something that sets us apart from others. With this in mind, I must mention the new 250-square-metre warehouse that we opened at an airport in the Netherlands in November, but that won’t mark the end, as we’ll continue expanding.